You're onboarding a new third-party vendor for network access. What security risks should you watch out for?

When onboarding a new third-party vendor for network access, watch out for several security risks. Ensure the vendor has strong security practices to prevent unauthorized access or data breaches. Verify their compliance with relevant regulations and standards. Assess the risk of potential malware or ransomware attacks through their systems. Ensure they have robust data encryption methods. Beware of insider threats from vendor employees. Implement strict access controls and limit their access to only necessary systems. Regularly audit their activities and maintain clear communication channels for reporting any security issues.

Key Vendor Security Risk: - Vendors may not have robust security measures in place, making them an easy target for attackers. - Vendors may not comply with industry regulations or organization's compliance requirements. - Vendors handling sensitive data may inadvertently expose it. - Vendors may gain access to sensitive areas or data. - Vendor employees with malicious intent could misuse their access to cause harm. - Vendors may use subcontractors who introduce additional security risks.

Evaluating a vendor's security posture is paramount, as their weaknesses can directly impact your network. Consider a healthcare provider vetting a new software vendor. They must verify that the vendor's security protocols match their stringent standards, given the sensitive patient data involved. By reviewing the vendor's breach history, employee training, and network security measures, the provider ensures robust data protection. If the vendor lacks adequate defenses, such as poor encryption or insufficient access controls, they could expose patient records to cyber threats, jeopardizing the provider's compliance and reputation.

When implementing a third-party product, we incorporate its risks into our network. Supply chain attacks are particularly popular among hackers for infiltrating highly secure networks—third-party products are the weak link for organizational security teams because we lack control over their security status. Beyond examining the vendor's security breach history, I recommend working only with vendors who adhere to regulatory standards such as SOC2 or equivalent. It's also crucial from a privacy perspective that the vendor complies with important regulations like HIPAA or GDPR.

Other important notes: Always create an account for each staff member of the vendor that needs access. You cant properly log who is accessing what resource and when if they are using a joint account. Set an expiration date for their account and / or audit intervals whether its monthly, quarterly, yearly or other interval. Automatic expiration is best and force them to re-establish approval and access. Enforce strong passwords and MFA if they are accessing your network or tenant.

Access Control for third-party vendor is a double-edged sword. While we must provide minimal permissions for functionality, we must also prevent potential exploitation of our organization's data or systems during an attack. It's a delicate situation, as breaches through us could impact other companies. I've observed risks in SaaS vendors access access. Most SaaS require non-human identity to access necessary information in our environment. However, these identities are difficult to authenticate. They can't use two-factor authentication due to the lack of human oversight, and their actions in the environment are typically automated. This presents unique security challenges that need careful consideration.