Page 87 - Cyber Defense eMagazine forJune 2021

The Third-Party Remote Access Security Crisis
New research shows that organizations are not taking the necessary steps to reduce third-party remote
access risk

By Joe Devine, CEO, SecureLink

It used to be that the biggest cybersecurity threat was a sticky note. These days, however, your weakest
link is no longer the errant piece of paper with a password scribbled on it, but rather your trusted third-
party vendors.
Attackers have gotten smart. They’ve seen more and more companies turn to third-party vendors to
quickly and efficiently scale up operations. They’ve realized that instead of targeting a single company,
they can, instead, target one small third-party vendor and potentially gain access to multiple high-profile
companies. They haven’t just found another backdoor, they’ve found a backdoor that leads to a number
of other backdoors.

Over the past year, high-profile data breaches of Marriott, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, SpaceX and
Tesla have all been linked to third-party vulnerabilities. And according to new research 51% of
organizations have experienced a data breach caused by a third-party.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – June 2021 Edition 87
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