Organizations' data and systems can be compromised by seemingly benign entities—third-party contractors, vendors, and outsourced service providers—when those entities are seemingly innocent. External entities that perform these tasks must have access to sensitive data and systems. However, improper management of these access rights often results in data breaches and other security incidents when they are not properly managed. 

According to a Security Scorecard study (via Security magazine) published in February 2024, third parties pose a continuing security risk to organizations. According to the report, 98% of all companies have been compromised by a third party, and 29% of all breaches have been attributed to third-party attacks. Consequently, organizations should consider implementing efficient and effective third-party risk management strategies to safeguard their assets from the threat of external threats. 

Keeping an organization's security, compliance, and operational concerns in mind is essential when it comes to auditing the access rights of external vendors and contractors. In addition to protecting data integrity, confidentiality, and availability, it also serves multiple other important functions within an organization. Security Posture Enhanced by Auditor: Audits ensure that only authorized third parties can access sensitive systems, and as a result, security incidents can be prevented by monitoring activity for abnormal behaviour. Data Access Control over data access is part of several compliance standards across regulated industries. 

By conducting regular third-party access audits, companies can ensure compliance with regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and SOX, document access specifics, and prevent potential legal and financial repercussions. To ensure the continuity of business, organizations need to enforce access controls that align with the roles of third parties to prevent unauthorized changes or disruptions that may hurt their operations. Critical systems will benefit from this approach in terms of operational integrity. 

Third-Party Access Auditing: Third-party access auditing helps prevent the risk of security breaches and privacy incidents, which could result in significant financial losses, legal fees, and fines in the future due to remediation costs and legal fees. In addition to protecting their data, organizations can protect their financial health from the negative impacts of data breaches by proactively managing and auditing third-party access. It is important to maintain stakeholder trust and reputation by conducting regular audits that demonstrate users' commitment to data security, which in turn strengthens stakeholder trust. The process assists in preventing breaches of customer trust, which can result in loss of customer trust as well as damage to users' reputations, thereby fostering long-term customer relationships. 

There is a potential risk associated with third-party access, which is why organizations need to manage and audit these permissions continuously. This article will provide users with five key steps they can follow to effectively audit their third-party access. Identify and catalogue third-party accounts by identifying and cataloguing them. Users' enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems could contain vendor accounts, while their project management tools may contain contractor accounts. The need to list these accounts, describe their access levels, and make clear the data or systems they can interact with is extremely important. 

Check the scope of access, and ensure that it is necessary. This involves reviewing the third party's roles and responsibilities concerning the scope of access. There must be no more access granted to third parties than is necessary to fulfil their contractual obligations and they should follow the principle of least privilege. It is vital to understand how third-party entities manage employee lifecycles. Engage with these entities to learn, in particular, how they manage the creation, modification, and termination of access rights. Having an audit trail is imperative because a mistake in deactivating the access of an ex-employee could result in unauthorized access and potential security breaches. 

Establish a regular audit trail. Invest in implementing a system that will audit the access of third parties regularly, such as a platform for identity governance and administration. It involves logging all access events as well as reviewing these logs to detect any unauthorized or abnormal patterns of access. It is important to determine how frequently these audits should be conducted based on the sensitivity of the information being accessed and the history of the third party. The third-party access policy should be integrated into the overall security policy of users' organizations. 

For a firm's security policy to function effectively, third-party access controls and auditing also need to become a standard part of it. Using this policy control, users can ensure that any access granted to third parties is subject to the same security measures and scrutiny as any access granted to internal users. Access by third parties raises several red flags Organizations must keep an eye out for certain warning signs that may indicate that third-party access rights are being misused or mismanaged. The use of generic email accounts or shared log-ins should be avoided by third parties. 

This can cause challenges in attributing actions to specific users since a generic email address or shared login allows them to use multiple accounts. Accessing data unexpectedly during unusual hours, accessing data unexpectedly or making too many attempts to log in can all be indicators that the account of a third party has been compromised. Offboarding Processes Lack: Make sure that there are processes in place that will make sure not only that new third-party access is obtained, but that these third-party access processes will make sure it is effectively offboarded when the contract expires or changes. 

A third-party attack poses a significant risk that is often overlooked until it leads to a breach of the security system. To mitigate this risk, organizations can rely on robust auditing practices to ensure that they are handling it correctly. It is not just about protecting sensitive data, it is also about maintaining the integrity of the IT environment and maintaining customers' and stakeholders' trust in it, as well as ensuring that data is kept confidential. Achieving and managing third-party access is imperative for businesses today. It is both a security measure and an imperative for business operations.