Third party risks ‘a serious risk’

Third party risks to organisations has been described as a "serious threat", a new study by the Ponemon Institute and Shared Assessments as revealed.

The report, titled Tone at the Top and Third Party Risk, also found that most respondents believe that this particular threat is on the rise.

The main reason for this is down to "disruptive technologies", the authors of the report were told.

Organsations said that they consider the widespread take-up of cloud-based services and the Internet of Things to increases third party risks.

"The threat landscape is constantly evolving, and as a result, third party risk is only going to increase," commented Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute.

"It has become imperative for organisations to create formal programs for vendor risk management in order to avoid being compromised, and more importantly, business leaders need to set a strong example.

The paper also found that a major problem within enterprises in this key area is that accountability appears to be lacking any direct responsibility.

Consequently, not having single individual or department in charge of managing third party risk leaves organisations more vulnerable to threats.

The authors of the report recommend that those in positions of authority within an enterprise should set a "positive tone" when it comes to third party risk mitigation.

Advantages of this approach include boosting awareness among third party vendors of the need for good cybersecurity policies, such as data protection.

Charlie Miller, senior vice president with the Shared Assessments Program, said: "The highest level of organisations, the board and C-Suite, need to better communicate their values across the enterprise, setting a positive tone and creating formal programs to mitigate this risk, ultimately helping companies to improve their risk management practices.