Aparna Sundararajan on Third Party Risk

CISOs in Australia and New Zealand are increasing their focus on third-party risks.

And although the pandemic has shone a new light on the vulnerabilities posed by external suppliers, this new focus is partly uncovering pre-existing threats.

Amongst other challenges, pre-existing supply chain threats include:

• data sovereignty and jurisdictional issues associated with offshore partners
• operational difficulties arising from immature cybersecurity infrastructure
• compliance frictions that result from inconsistent awareness programs and certification
• financial fragility due to material impacts on cash flow and lines of credit.

ADAPT data from November 2020 shows that 78% of the region’s cybersecurity executives are grappling with a rise in third-party vulnerabilities due to the pandemic: with 13% enduring increases of more than 25% above pre-crisis levels.

Whilst businesses report marginal increases in the frequency of security incidents and resulting downtime, 88% are experiencing a heightened focus on securing the organisational perimeter.

Local CISOs, therefore,…