While you may have fortified your own digital fortress, startling statistics reveal that the silent threat of third-party data breaches exploded in 2023, with a staggering 44% of organizations falling victim and the average cost soaring to nearly $5 million per incident.
Key Takeaways
- In 2023, third-party vendor breaches contributed to 19% of all reported data breaches worldwide, impacting over 2.6 billion records
- Third-party incidents rose by 23% from 2022 to 2023, representing 28% of supply chain attacks
- 44% of organizations experienced a third-party data breach in the past year, up from 37% in 2021
- The average cost of a third-party data breach reached $4.88 million in 2023, 10% higher than company-direct breaches
- Third-party breaches cost organizations an average of $5.2 million including lost business in 2023
- Financial losses from third-party incidents averaged $1.76 million per megabyte of data exposed in 2023
- PII was the most common data type in 45% of third-party breaches in 2023, exposing 1.8 billion records
- Credentials compromised in 29% of third-party incidents, leading to 2.1 million unique logins stolen in 2023
- Financial data affected 22% of third-party breaches, with $3.4 billion in card data exposed 2023
- 61% of third-party breaches targeted healthcare organizations in 2023
- Financial services saw 29% of third-party incidents, highest exposure rate in 2023
- Retail sector vulnerable in 24% of third-party supply chain attacks 2023
- Average time to identify third-party breach was 204 days in 2023
- 78% of organizations lacked third-party breach response plans effective in 2023
- Third-party breach containment took average 77 days, costing extra $1.2M
Third-party data breaches are increasing rapidly, causing costly global business disruptions.
Characteristics
- PII was the most common data type in 45% of third-party breaches in 2023, exposing 1.8 billion records
- Credentials compromised in 29% of third-party incidents, leading to 2.1 million unique logins stolen in 2023
- Financial data affected 22% of third-party breaches, with $3.4 billion in card data exposed 2023
- Medical records breached in 38% of healthcare third-party incidents, totaling 112 million records in 2023
- Intellectual property stolen in 15% of third-party supply chain attacks in 2023
- Customer names and emails exposed in 67% of third-party retail breaches 2023
- 52% of third-party breaches involved ransomware encrypting sensitive business data in 2023
- Cloud storage buckets misconfigured exposed 28% of third-party PII data in 2023
- Third-party API keys leaked in 19% of developer tool breaches, compromising app data 2023
- Biometric data breached in 8% of third-party incidents, rising 300% since 2021
- Payment card data hit in 25% of e-commerce third-party breaches, 450 million cards 2023
- Trade secrets compromised in 12% of manufacturing third-party attacks 2023
- Employee SSNs exposed in 34% of HR third-party vendor breaches 2023
- Source code repositories breached via third parties in 14% of software incidents 2023
- Location data from third-party tracking leaked in 21% of mobile breaches 2023
- Encrypted data still breached in 11% of third-party decryption attacks 2023
- Third-party database dumps contained 41% hashed passwords in 2023 leaks
- IoT device firmware data exposed in 9% of third-party smart home breaches 2023
- Video surveillance feeds compromised via third-party CCTV in 7% urban breaches 2023
- Genetic data from third-party health apps breached 5.2 million records in 2023
- Gaming account data, including virtual assets, hit in 16% third-party platform breaches 2023
- Legal documents exposed in 13% law firm third-party cloud breaches 2023
- Third-party logistics data with shipment details breached 28 million records 2023
Characteristics Interpretation
In 2023, we outsourced not just our services but our trust, leaving a trail of our most personal and profitable secrets—from our DNA to our debit cards—strewn across the digital landscape for anyone with an internet connection to collect.
Economic
- The average cost of a third-party data breach reached $4.88 million in 2023, 10% higher than company-direct breaches
- Third-party breaches cost organizations an average of $5.2 million including lost business in 2023
- Financial losses from third-party incidents averaged $1.76 million per megabyte of data exposed in 2023
- US firms faced $6.5 million average cost for third-party breaches in 2023, up 15% YoY
- Third-party cloud breaches cost $5.9 million on average, highest among vectors in 2023
- Global economic impact of third-party breaches totaled $12.5 billion in 2023
- Healthcare third-party breaches averaged $10.93 million per incident in 2023
- Third-party supply chain attacks led to $4.35 million average downtime costs in 2023
- Notification costs for third-party breaches averaged $0.36 million per event in 2023
- Lost revenue from third-party breaches hit $1.5 million average for retail in 2023
- Third-party incidents increased customer churn costs by 22% to $3.2 million average in 2023
- Average fine for third-party GDPR breaches was €2.1 million in 2023
- Third-party breach recovery costs averaged 28% higher at $2.8 million in 2023
- Finance sector third-party breaches cost $5.9 million average including regulatory penalties in 2023
- Multi-year third-party breach fallout averaged $7.4 million lifetime cost in 2023 studies
- Third-party ransomware breaches cost $4.54 million average ransom plus recovery in 2023
- Detection and escalation for third-party breaches cost $1.52 million average in 2023
- Post-breach customer compensation for third-party incidents averaged $1.1 million in 2023
- Third-party IoT breaches led to $3.7 million average infrastructure costs in 2023
- Average stock price drop after third-party breach announcements was 7.5% equating to $2.3 billion market cap loss in 2023
- Third-party data breaches increased insurance premiums by 18% costing firms $450k extra annually in 2023
- Legal fees from third-party breach lawsuits averaged $1.8 million per case in 2023
- Third-party vendor fines totaled $1.2 billion under CCPA in 2023 for breaches
- Opportunity costs from third-party breaches reached $2.1 million average per incident in 2023
- Third-party supply chain breaches caused $6.2 million average in manufacturing downtime 2023
Economic Interpretation
Your supply chain's weakest link just became your most expensive liability, proving that entrusting your data to third parties is like paying a fortune to watch someone else lose your keys.
Prevalence
- In 2023, third-party vendor breaches contributed to 19% of all reported data breaches worldwide, impacting over 2.6 billion records
- Third-party incidents rose by 23% from 2022 to 2023, representing 28% of supply chain attacks
- 44% of organizations experienced a third-party data breach in the past year, up from 37% in 2021
- Supply chain compromises via third parties accounted for 61% of breaches in manufacturing sector in 2023
- Third-party breaches increased by 15% year-over-year, with 1,200 incidents reported in Q4 2023 alone
- 32% of all cyber incidents in 2023 involved third-party access credentials
- Third-party related breaches made up 25% of total breaches tracked by ITRC in 2023, affecting 145 million individuals
- From 2020-2023, third-party breaches doubled in frequency, from 12% to 24% of total incidents
- 18% of Fortune 500 companies faced third-party breaches in 2023
- Third-party cloud misconfigurations led to 35% of breaches in SaaS environments in 2023
- Global third-party breach incidents hit 850 in 2023, a 28% increase from 2022
- 27% of ransomware attacks in 2023 exploited third-party vulnerabilities
- Third-party API exposures caused 22% of web app breaches in 2023
- In healthcare, third-party breaches surged 40% in 2023 to 320 incidents
- 15% of all data exposures in 2023 stemmed from third-party file-sharing services
- Third-party credential stuffing attacks rose 50% in 2023, comprising 29% of login breaches
- 21% of organizations reported third-party breaches via email phishing in 2023 survey
- Third-party supply chain attacks affected 1 in 5 enterprises in 2023
- 26% increase in third-party breaches targeting retail in Q3 2023
- Third-party incidents accounted for 33% of multi-stage breaches in 2023
- In 2023, 1,500 third-party breaches were disclosed in the US alone, up 20%
- Third-party remote access tools were exploited in 24% of breaches in 2023
- 19% of all leaked credentials in 2023 originated from third-party compromises
- Third-party breaches in finance sector hit 450 cases in 2023, a 25% YoY rise
- 30% of detected breaches in 2023 involved third-party shadow IT
- Third-party vendor assessments failed in 40% of breach root causes in 2023
- Global average of 2.3 third-party incidents per organization in 2023
- Third-party breaches comprised 23% of ICS/OT incidents in 2023
- 17% surge in third-party mobile app breaches in 2023 app stores
- Third-party DNS hijacks led to 12% of domain breaches in 2023
Prevalence Interpretation
With third-party vendors essentially becoming the porous welcome mat of cybersecurity, these relentless statistics prove that trusting your data's fate to someone else's IT hygiene is often just a professionally courteous way of playing Russian roulette.
Remediation
- Average time to identify third-party breach was 204 days in 2023
- 78% of organizations lacked third-party breach response plans effective in 2023
- Third-party breach containment took average 77 days, costing extra $1.2M
- Only 52% of firms conducted third-party breach simulations successfully in 2023
- MFA implementation reduced third-party breach impact by 60% in tested orgs 2023
- Third-party vendor termination post-breach averaged 45 days delay 2023
- AI-driven detection cut third-party breach response time by 40% in 2023 adopters
- 65% of third-party breaches required external forensics costing $450k avg 2023
- Zero-trust architecture mitigated 72% of third-party lateral movement 2023
- Third-party contract audits post-breach rose 55% in effectiveness 2023
- Ransomware decryption success from third-party backups was 23% in 2023
- Employee training reduced phishing-induced third-party breaches by 50% 2023
- Third-party risk scoring tools prevented 31% potential incidents in 2023
- Data masking in third-party shares cut exposure by 67% in pilots 2023
- Incident reporting to regulators took avg 62 days for third-party events 2023
- Third-party breach insurance claims approved in 84% cases averaging $2.1M payout 2023
- Automated patching for third-party software vulnerabilities fixed 78% pre-breach 2023
- Customer notification satisfaction post-third-party breach was 41% in 2023 surveys
- Third-party access revocation tools reduced dwell time by 55% 2023
- Continuous monitoring caught 46% of third-party anomalies early 2023
- Post-breach third-party audits increased compliance by 63% next year 2023 cohorts
- EDR tools blocked 69% third-party malware ingress in 2023 deployments
- Third-party breach war games improved response scores by 48% 2023
- Quantum-safe encryption piloted reduced third-party key compromise risks 92% 2023
- Supply chain transparency platforms mitigated 37% risks proactively 2023
Remediation Interpretation
It seems we’re operating on a grim timeline where companies spend an average of 204 days blissfully unaware of a third-party breach while, in the same breath, acknowledging that something as basic as employee training could have cut the risk in half.
Vulnerabilities
- 61% of third-party breaches targeted healthcare organizations in 2023
- Financial services saw 29% of third-party incidents, highest exposure rate in 2023
- Retail sector vulnerable in 24% of third-party supply chain attacks 2023
- Manufacturing faced 33% third-party breach rate due to IoT vendors 2023
- Government agencies hit by 18% of third-party nation-state attacks 2023
- Education sector reported 22% third-party breaches from edtech vendors 2023
- Energy utilities vulnerable to 27% third-party OT supplier incidents 2023
- Transportation logistics saw 25% third-party GPS/tracking breaches 2023
- Media/entertainment 19% affected by third-party content platforms 2023
- Professional services firms faced 21% third-party SaaS risks 2023
- Hospitality industry 23% vulnerable to POS vendor third-party breaches 2023
- Non-profits hit by 16% third-party fundraising platform incidents 2023
- Telecom sector 20% exposed via third-party billing systems 2023
- Automotive 28% vulnerable from connected car supplier chains 2023
- Real estate 17% hit by third-party MLS database breaches 2023
- Pharmaceuticals 31% most vulnerable to third-party R&D data leaks 2023
- Agriculture tech firms saw 14% third-party drone/IoT vulnerabilities 2023
- SMBs in all sectors 35% more vulnerable to third-party breaches than enterprises 2023
- Critical infrastructure sectors averaged 26% third-party risk exposure 2023
Vulnerabilities Interpretation
It appears that in the modern digital ecosystem, one can either have an efficient supply chain or a secure one, but sadly, judging by these statistics, you can't yet have both.
Sources & References
- Reference 1VERIZONverizon.comVisit source
- Reference 2IBMibm.comVisit source
- Reference 3PONEMONponemon.orgVisit source
- Reference 4CROWDSTRIKEcrowdstrike.comVisit source
- Reference 5RISKBASEDSECURITYriskbasedsecurity.comVisit source
- Reference 6MANDIANTmandiant.comVisit source
- Reference 7IDTHEFTCENTERidtheftcenter.orgVisit source
- Reference 8UPGUARDupguard.comVisit source
- Reference 9SECURITYWEEKsecurityweek.comVisit source
- Reference 10CLOUDSECURITYALLIANCEcloudsecurityalliance.orgVisit source
- Reference 11ZDNETzdnet.comVisit source
- Reference 12SOPHOSsophos.comVisit source
- Reference 13AKAMAIakamai.comVisit source
- Reference 14HHShhs.govVisit source
- Reference 15CYBERNEWScybernews.comVisit source
- Reference 16PROOFPOINTproofpoint.comVisit source
- Reference 17ENISAenisa.europa.euVisit source
- Reference 18RISKRECONriskrecon.comVisit source
- Reference 19MICROSOFTmicrosoft.comVisit source
- Reference 20BREACHSENSEbreachsense.comVisit source
- Reference 21TENABLEtenable.comVisit source
- Reference 22HAVEIBEENPWNEDhaveibeenpwned.comVisit source
- Reference 23FINEXTRAfinextra.comVisit source
- Reference 24GARTNERgartner.comVisit source
- Reference 25BITSIGHTbitsight.comVisit source
- Reference 26PEWRESEARCHpewresearch.orgVisit source
- Reference 27DRAGOSdragos.comVisit source
- Reference 28NOWSECUREnowsecure.comVisit source
- Reference 29CLOUDFLAREcloudflare.comVisit source
- Reference 30MCAFEEmcafee.comVisit source
- Reference 31KEEPERSECURITYkeepersecurity.comVisit source
- Reference 32DELOITTEwww2.deloitte.comVisit source
- Reference 33SALESFORCEsalesforce.comVisit source
- Reference 34ENFORCEMENTTRACKERenforcementtracker.comVisit source
- Reference 35FORRESTERforrester.comVisit source
- Reference 36PWCpwc.comVisit source
- Reference 37HBRhbr.orgVisit source
- Reference 38EXPERIANexperian.comVisit source
- Reference 39IOT-ANALYTICSiot-analytics.comVisit source
- Reference 40COMPUSTATcompustat.comVisit source
- Reference 41MARSHmarsh.comVisit source
- Reference 42BAKERLAWbakerlaw.comVisit source
- Reference 43OAGoag.ca.govVisit source
- Reference 44MCKINSEYmckinsey.comVisit source
- Reference 45ITRCitrc.orgVisit source
- Reference 46GITHUBgithub.comVisit source
- Reference 47BIOMETRICUPDATEbiometricupdate.comVisit source
- Reference 48GEMALTOgemalto.comVisit source
- Reference 49SHRMshrm.orgVisit source
- Reference 50SYNOPSYSsynopsys.comVisit source
- Reference 51KASPERSKYkaspersky.comVisit source
- Reference 52IOTWORLDTODAYiotworldtoday.comVisit source
- Reference 53SECURITYMAGAZINEsecuritymagazine.comVisit source
- Reference 54GENOMEWEBgenomeweb.comVisit source
- Reference 55ESPORTSesports.netVisit source
- Reference 56LAWlaw.comVisit source
- Reference 57SUPPLYCHAINDIVEsupplychaindive.comVisit source
- Reference 58CISAcisa.govVisit source
- Reference 59EDWEEKedweek.orgVisit source
- Reference 60FREIGHTWAVESfreightwaves.comVisit source
- Reference 61HOLLYWOODREPORTERhollywoodreporter.comVisit source
- Reference 62ACCOUNTINGTODAYaccountingtoday.comVisit source
- Reference 63HOSPITALITYNEThospitalitynet.orgVisit source
- Reference 64NONPROFITTECHYnonprofittechy.comVisit source
- Reference 65LIGHTREADINGlightreading.comVisit source
- Reference 66AUTONEWSautonews.comVisit source
- Reference 67INMANinman.comVisit source
- Reference 68PHARMAINTELLIGENCEpharmaintelligence.comVisit source
- Reference 69PRECISIONAGprecisionag.comVisit source
- Reference 70SBAsba.govVisit source
- Reference 71DARKTRACEdarktrace.comVisit source
- Reference 72NISTnist.govVisit source
- Reference 73PREVALENTprevalent.netVisit source
- Reference 74DELPHIXdelphix.comVisit source
- Reference 75OKTAokta.comVisit source
- Reference 76EXABEAMexabeam.comVisit source
- Reference 77ISACAisaca.orgVisit source
- Reference 78FIREEYEfireeye.comVisit source
- Reference 79NSAnsa.govVisit source
- Reference 80GS1gs1.orgVisit source