Every Organization Should Ask These 8 Questions Before Choosing Their Cybersecurity Provider

Being cybersecurity ready offers many advantages, but your organization can always target hackers unless you do not know critical details. According to a Junior Research report in 2019, the expense of cybersecurity breaches in 2024 will reach to $5 Trillion every year from $3 Trillion currently. The data is helpful, especially for large organizations that depend on third-party cybersecurity services for their day to day operations. Data by Opus and Ponemon Institute shows that 60% of organization attacks happen due to the third-party actors. Data breaches can destroy the brand image of any organization and also result in a financial crisis. To limit data breaches, the organization should have a reliable third-party vendor that it can trust.

Here's why any organization should research while preferring a new provider and why third-party threats are pressing. Fewer vendors mean fewer threats. Currently, companies depend on many vendors to perform their day to day operations. For instance, in 2019, Apple alone had 200 supplier companies. In most of the cases, these threats come from third-party vendors. For instance, hackers attacked Agama, a cryptocurrency app which had vulnerabilities in its third party javascript library.

According to Juniper, "the new research, The Future of Cybercrime & Security: Threat Analysis, Impact Assessment & Mitigation Strategies 2019-2024 noted that while the cost per breach will steadily rise in the future, the levels of data disclosed will make headlines but not impact breach costs directly, as most fines and lost business are not directly related to breach sizes. 

How to choose a reliable vendor? 

1. Are your vendor's offerings compatible with your organization's needs? 
2. Your cybersecurity provider should have an excellent cyber score. 
3. Did your vendor experience any data breach or attack in the past? 
4. If the provider has an immediate incident response project. 
5. Whether your cybersecurity provider offers 'right to inquire.' 
6. If the vendor has an intelligence program for potential threats. 
7. Whether the vendor has industry certification or not. 
8. If the third party provider has a chief information security officer or a security contact. 

Answers to these questions will help your organization select third-party cybersecurity provider wisely.