By the beginning of November this year, researchers had already seen significant spikes in ransomware operations and huge breaches that compromised tens of millions of records. What was remarkable was not only the number of attacks, but the industries they covered. There were hits to airlines and insurers, software makers and purveyors of online retail sites, basically everyone.
What's interesting is that the majority of attacks weren't aimed at the target company’s own defenses. The attackers chose instead to enter through the vulnerable vendors and third-party service the company outsourced to.
At least 20 major incidents were reported in April by IT Governance Ltd, and they have confirmed that over 21 million records have been breached. A separate report by the Cyber Management Alliance pointed out how companies (like Allianz Life and WestJet) had been infiltrated by scammers (like Scattered Spider) that had managed to burrow into cloud-based CRM systems and loyalty-data platforms.
As the attackers had a “field day” exploiting vulnerability after vulnerability, it was a stark reminder of how much even supposedly heavily fortified modern businesses depend on insecure third-party services.
Attackers go Upstream
A closer look at the month’s events is revealing. As opposed to hitting corporate servers, threat groups have gone after suppliers, outsourced platforms, and managed service environments. Those tiny entry routes gave them access to way bigger targets that would have been way harder to compromise (if not for the upstream vulnerabilities). In a number of attacks, data theft was combined with systemwide encryption that left victims with two potential nightmares to deal with: crippled operations and stolen data that could quickly turn into ransom leverage.
With the most common breach factor for October being ERP tools, SaaS stacks, or third-party support systems, the message to vendors and integrators isn't subtle: The edge of exposure is beyond an organization's network perimeters. New risks are being added daily through the network of software vendors, contractors, cloud platforms, and integration partners (that businesses rely on to keep running). Similarly, according to a report by Cyble (published by Industrial Cyber News), their team tracked 41 software-supply-chain incidents in October, which is not only a record for them but an increase of more than 30 percent from previous peaks. More importantly, many of those attacks struck at vendors that thousands of organizations depend on. One compromise, many victims.
Third-party hacks with industry-spanning shock waves
Suppliers to critical infrastructures were also in the spotlight. The F5 Networks breach, which leveraged at least 40 vulnerabilities and prompted emergency orders from the United States federal government, showed how exposure at one vendor can cascade throughout sectors that rely on its technology. A timeline from the Center for Strategic and International Studies [CSIS] blog offers cause for alarm by highlighting the fact that providers, application-delivery networks, and industrial control platforms are still the most common targets, worldwide.
For cybersecurity vendors, this means the focus needs to widen beyond their own product stack. They now need to have a deep understanding of the dependencies, update cycles, and access paths to every single component they integrate their stack with. “If you can't effectively map your own supply chain, you're putting the entire ecosystem at risk.”
Breaches are the New Norm
While breaches are quickly becoming the norm and are expected, the real differentiator is how fast an organization can find the problem, limit the damage, and then effectively win back its reputation. New polls indicate that close to a third of senior procurement and risk executives have seen their supply chains attacked at a higher rate in recent months. That lines up with the month’s findings: Adversaries are going after the path of least resistance, which in this case, is an entire network of vendors, services, and platforms, expanding the attack surface exponentially.
For the channel ecosystem, the priority now needs to be practical preparedness. Companies want greater visibility into their own third-party access, they want to monitor outsourced systems more closely, and they want recovery plans that work when a crisis hits. As supply‐chain vulnerabilities continue to be the biggest risk factor, vendors that prioritize rapid response, third‐party risk intelligence, and continuity planning will have a clear advantage as these pressures continue to build.
