Top insights for IT pros
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Time to consolidate.
That’s the message from IT professionals who are increasingly skeptical about using multiple third-party vendors for threat detection and other security needs. IT Brew has been hearing those concerns all year, primarily because using vendors leads to threat surface expansion and can result in worrying breaches.
Comcast customers got a wake up call to the danger earlier this year when their information was leaked via a debt-collection agency used by the cable television company. The breach, which was revealed in an Oct. 3 filing with the state of Maine, affected 237,703 Comcast customers. Users may have had their “name, address, Social Security number, date of birth,” and other information revealed, Comcast said in a letter sent to affected customers.
Stat-tastic. A new study from cybersecurity firm Vectra AI found that a majority of respondents in security operations center (SOC) teams are losing confidence in vendors when it comes to tools and deploying AI. Security vendors overuse notifications and alarms, 62% of respondents said, and these “pointless” alerts are seen as being used to “avoid responsibility for a breach.” That was an increase from 2023’s survey, in which 42% of respondents said the same.
“The data suggests that the tools being used for threat detection and response, along with the vendors who sell them, aren’t holding up their end of the deal,” Mark Wojtasiak, Vectra VP of product marketing, said in a statement accompanying the report.
Mistrust extended to a lack of faith in being accountable, with 71% of SOC practitioners reporting that they believe third-party vendors should take more responsibility for their failures to stop breaches. That’s up from 43% in 2023.
Ongoing problem. Part of the reason for that loss of confidence is the knock-on effect of vendor targeting by threat actors, RSA Security CEO Rohit Ghai told IT Brew in May. By opening the door to attacks through poor security hygiene, third-party vendors—often the last line of defense—are delegitimizing their own sector of the industry. And cybercriminals are only too happy to oblige.
“By targeting cybersecurity vendors and breaching them, they’re actually eroding confidence in the cyber industry at large,” Ghai said.