In 2019, threat actors began increasingly targeting third-party service providers—including trusted partners and links in supply chains relied on by government agencies—because they serve as a force multiplier in attacking organizations at scale.
While the promise of less stringent security protocols was once the main draw toward third-party access, the 2019 CrowdStrike Services Cyber Front Lines Report found that threat actors also use this strategy to embolden the reach and tenacity of attack.
CrowdStrike found supply chain and third-party risks are frequently cited by mature organizations as among their top cybersecurity concerns due to the challenges in preventing such attacks and the damage they can inflict. As a result, in 2020 federal agency IT leaders should consider the adoption of these six steps to effectively mitigate third-party compromises.
1. Follow basic cyber hygiene.
Dig into most data breaches and you will find a large number of events like failed authentication attempts that were never spotted by the organization prior to a successful attack. There is simply no substitute for diligent preventive maintenance on your agency’s critical systems to ensure they are not vulnerable. Patching systems within 30 days and monitoring critical event logs are essential tasks, even if (perhaps especially if) the system is outsourced to a third-party provider.
2. Establish a vendor risk management program.
These programs reduce the risk of breaches and minimize impacts should one occur. Lowering risks to your agency from third parties—including supply chain members—means collecting information about partners’ security protocols via questionnaires, using security risk rating services and requiring compliance with certain standards. Reducing the impact of a third-party breach includes restricting access to your environment (for instance, keeping third parties in a ..
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