Third-party vendors caused nearly one in five data breaches last year. These incidents exposed billions of records and cost millions in remediation. The following statistics detail the scale and impact of these supply chain vulnerabilities.
Key Takeaways
- PII was the most common data type in 45% of third-party breaches in 2023, exposing 1.8 billion records
- The average cost of a third-party data breach reached $4.88 million in 2023, 10% higher than company-direct breaches
- In 2023, third-party vendor breaches contributed to 19% of all reported data breaches worldwide, impacting over 2.6 billion records
- Average time to identify third-party breach was 204 days in 2023
- 61% of third-party breaches targeted healthcare organizations in 2023
Third party data breaches continue to rise, making vendor security essential for protecting customer information.
Related reading
01 · Category
Characteristics23 stats
01
PII was the most common data type in 45% of third-party breaches in 2023, exposing 1.8 billion records
02
Credentials compromised in 29% of third-party incidents, leading to 2.1 million unique logins stolen in 2023
03
Financial data affected 22% of third-party breaches, with $3.4 billion in card data exposed 2023
04
Medical records breached in 38% of healthcare third-party incidents, totaling 112 million records in 2023
05
Intellectual property stolen in 15% of third-party supply chain attacks in 2023
06
Customer names and emails exposed in 67% of third-party retail breaches 2023
07
52% of third-party breaches involved ransomware encrypting sensitive business data in 2023
08
Cloud storage buckets misconfigured exposed 28% of third-party PII data in 2023
09
Third-party API keys leaked in 19% of developer tool breaches, compromising app data 2023
10
Biometric data breached in 8% of third-party incidents, rising 300% since 2021
11
Payment card data hit in 25% of e-commerce third-party breaches, 450 million cards 2023
12
Trade secrets compromised in 12% of manufacturing third-party attacks 2023
13
Employee SSNs exposed in 34% of HR third-party vendor breaches 2023
14
Source code repositories breached via third parties in 14% of software incidents 2023
15
Location data from third-party tracking leaked in 21% of mobile breaches 2023
16
Encrypted data still breached in 11% of third-party decryption attacks 2023
17
Third-party database dumps contained 41% hashed passwords in 2023 leaks
18
IoT device firmware data exposed in 9% of third-party smart home breaches 2023
19
Video surveillance feeds compromised via third-party CCTV in 7% urban breaches 2023
20
Genetic data from third-party health apps breached 5.2 million records in 2023
21
Gaming account data, including virtual assets, hit in 16% third-party platform breaches 2023
22
Legal documents exposed in 13% law firm third-party cloud breaches 2023
23
Third-party logistics data with shipment details breached 28 million records 2023
Interpretation
Characteristics Interpretation
In the Characteristics of third party breaches, personally identifiable information leads with 45% of incidents exposing 1.8 billion records in 2023, making it the clear top target type across third party exposures.
02 · Category
Economic25 stats
01
The average cost of a third-party data breach reached $4.88 million in 2023, 10% higher than company-direct breaches
02
Third-party breaches cost organizations an average of $5.2 million including lost business in 2023
03
Financial losses from third-party incidents averaged $1.76 million per megabyte of data exposed in 2023
04
US firms faced $6.5 million average cost for third-party breaches in 2023, up 15% YoY
05
Third-party cloud breaches cost $5.9 million on average, highest among vectors in 2023
06
Global economic impact of third-party breaches totaled $12.5 billion in 2023
07
Healthcare third-party breaches averaged $10.93 million per incident in 2023
08
Third-party supply chain attacks led to $4.35 million average downtime costs in 2023
09
Notification costs for third-party breaches averaged $0.36 million per event in 2023
10
Lost revenue from third-party breaches hit $1.5 million average for retail in 2023
11
Third-party incidents increased customer churn costs by 22% to $3.2 million average in 2023
12
Average fine for third-party GDPR breaches was €2.1 million in 2023
13
Third-party breach recovery costs averaged 28% higher at $2.8 million in 2023
14
Finance sector third-party breaches cost $5.9 million average including regulatory penalties in 2023
15
Multi-year third-party breach fallout averaged $7.4 million lifetime cost in 2023 studies
16
Third-party ransomware breaches cost $4.54 million average ransom plus recovery in 2023
17
Detection and escalation for third-party breaches cost $1.52 million average in 2023
18
Post-breach customer compensation for third-party incidents averaged $1.1 million in 2023
19
Third-party IoT breaches led to $3.7 million average infrastructure costs in 2023
20
Average stock price drop after third-party breach announcements was 7.5% equating to $2.3 billion market cap loss in 2023
21
Third-party data breaches increased insurance premiums by 18% costing firms $450k extra annually in 2023
22
Legal fees from third-party breach lawsuits averaged $1.8 million per case in 2023
23
Third-party vendor fines totaled $1.2 billion under CCPA in 2023 for breaches
24
Opportunity costs from third-party breaches reached $2.1 million average per incident in 2023
25
Third-party supply chain breaches caused $6.2 million average in manufacturing downtime 2023
Interpretation
Economic Interpretation
From an economic perspective, third-party data breaches are consistently more costly than company-direct incidents, averaging $4.88 million in 2023 and rising to $5.2 million when factoring in lost business.
03 · Category
Prevalence30 stats
01
In 2023, third-party vendor breaches contributed to 19% of all reported data breaches worldwide, impacting over 2.6 billion records
02
Third-party incidents rose by 23% from 2022 to 2023, representing 28% of supply chain attacks
03
44% of organizations experienced a third-party data breach in the past year, up from 37% in 2021
04
Supply chain compromises via third parties accounted for 61% of breaches in manufacturing sector in 2023
05
Third-party breaches increased by 15% year-over-year, with 1,200 incidents reported in Q4 2023 alone
06
32% of all cyber incidents in 2023 involved third-party access credentials
07
Third-party related breaches made up 25% of total breaches tracked by ITRC in 2023, affecting 145 million individuals
08
From 2020-2023, third-party breaches doubled in frequency, from 12% to 24% of total incidents
09
18% of Fortune 500 companies faced third-party breaches in 2023
10
Third-party cloud misconfigurations led to 35% of breaches in SaaS environments in 2023
11
Global third-party breach incidents hit 850 in 2023, a 28% increase from 2022
12
27% of ransomware attacks in 2023 exploited third-party vulnerabilities
13
Third-party API exposures caused 22% of web app breaches in 2023
14
In healthcare, third-party breaches surged 40% in 2023 to 320 incidents
15
15% of all data exposures in 2023 stemmed from third-party file-sharing services
16
Third-party credential stuffing attacks rose 50% in 2023, comprising 29% of login breaches
17
21% of organizations reported third-party breaches via email phishing in 2023 survey
18
Third-party supply chain attacks affected 1 in 5 enterprises in 2023
19
26% increase in third-party breaches targeting retail in Q3 2023
20
Third-party incidents accounted for 33% of multi-stage breaches in 2023
21
In 2023, 1,500 third-party breaches were disclosed in the US alone, up 20%
22
Third-party remote access tools were exploited in 24% of breaches in 2023
23
19% of all leaked credentials in 2023 originated from third-party compromises
24
Third-party breaches in finance sector hit 450 cases in 2023, a 25% YoY rise
25
30% of detected breaches in 2023 involved third-party shadow IT
26
Third-party vendor assessments failed in 40% of breach root causes in 2023
27
Global average of 2.3 third-party incidents per organization in 2023
28
Third-party breaches comprised 23% of ICS/OT incidents in 2023
29
17% surge in third-party mobile app breaches in 2023 app stores
30
Third-party DNS hijacks led to 12% of domain breaches in 2023
Interpretation
Prevalence Interpretation
For the prevalence angle, third-party data breaches are clearly widespread and accelerating, with 44% of organizations reporting one in the past year and third-party incidents rising 23% from 2022 to 2023, making third-party risk a persistent reality rather than a rare exception.
More related reading
04 · Category
Remediation25 stats
01
Average time to identify third-party breach was 204 days in 2023
02
78% of organizations lacked third-party breach response plans effective in 2023
03
Third-party breach containment took average 77 days, costing extra $1.2M
04
Only 52% of firms conducted third-party breach simulations successfully in 2023
05
MFA implementation reduced third-party breach impact by 60% in tested orgs 2023
06
Third-party vendor termination post-breach averaged 45 days delay 2023
07
AI-driven detection cut third-party breach response time by 40% in 2023 adopters
08
65% of third-party breaches required external forensics costing $450k avg 2023
09
Zero-trust architecture mitigated 72% of third-party lateral movement 2023
10
Third-party contract audits post-breach rose 55% in effectiveness 2023
11
Ransomware decryption success from third-party backups was 23% in 2023
12
Employee training reduced phishing-induced third-party breaches by 50% 2023
13
Third-party risk scoring tools prevented 31% potential incidents in 2023
14
Data masking in third-party shares cut exposure by 67% in pilots 2023
15
Incident reporting to regulators took avg 62 days for third-party events 2023
16
Third-party breach insurance claims approved in 84% cases averaging $2.1M payout 2023
17
Automated patching for third-party software vulnerabilities fixed 78% pre-breach 2023
18
Customer notification satisfaction post-third-party breach was 41% in 2023 surveys
19
Third-party access revocation tools reduced dwell time by 55% 2023
20
Continuous monitoring caught 46% of third-party anomalies early 2023
21
Post-breach third-party audits increased compliance by 63% next year 2023 cohorts
22
EDR tools blocked 69% third-party malware ingress in 2023 deployments
23
Third-party breach war games improved response scores by 48% 2023
24
Quantum-safe encryption piloted reduced third-party key compromise risks 92% 2023
25
Supply chain transparency platforms mitigated 37% risks proactively 2023
Interpretation
Remediation Interpretation
In the remediation phase, organizations in 2023 took an average of 204 days to identify third-party breaches and 77 days to contain them, with 78% lacking effective response plans and only 52% running successful breach simulations.
05 · Category
Vulnerabilities19 stats
01
61% of third-party breaches targeted healthcare organizations in 2023
02
Financial services saw 29% of third-party incidents, highest exposure rate in 2023
03
Retail sector vulnerable in 24% of third-party supply chain attacks 2023
04
Manufacturing faced 33% third-party breach rate due to IoT vendors 2023
05
Government agencies hit by 18% of third-party nation-state attacks 2023
06
Education sector reported 22% third-party breaches from edtech vendors 2023
07
Energy utilities vulnerable to 27% third-party OT supplier incidents 2023
08
Transportation logistics saw 25% third-party GPS/tracking breaches 2023
09
Media/entertainment 19% affected by third-party content platforms 2023
10
Professional services firms faced 21% third-party SaaS risks 2023
11
Hospitality industry 23% vulnerable to POS vendor third-party breaches 2023
12
Non-profits hit by 16% third-party fundraising platform incidents 2023
13
Telecom sector 20% exposed via third-party billing systems 2023
14
Automotive 28% vulnerable from connected car supplier chains 2023
15
Real estate 17% hit by third-party MLS database breaches 2023
16
Pharmaceuticals 31% most vulnerable to third-party R&D data leaks 2023
17
Agriculture tech firms saw 14% third-party drone/IoT vulnerabilities 2023
18
SMBs in all sectors 35% more vulnerable to third-party breaches than enterprises 2023
19
Critical infrastructure sectors averaged 26% third-party risk exposure 2023
Interpretation
Vulnerabilities Interpretation
In the vulnerabilities category, healthcare stands out as the biggest target with 61% of third-party breaches in 2023, showing that weak points in third-party relationships most commonly affect health organizations.
report visual · Projection
Third-party breach impact is rising—and still hitting sensitive data
Third-party breaches are increasing and frequently expose high-risk data types, with ransomware and misconfigurations remaining common pathways.
44 % (share of breaches/incidents/organizations) / % (data type prevalence)
Start
-34.29%
CAGR · 2y
19 % (share of breaches/incidents/organizations) / % (data type prevalence)
Projected
20222024
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Marie Larsen. (2026, February 13). Third Party Data Breach Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/third-party-data-breach-statistics
MLA
Marie Larsen. "Third Party Data Breach Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/third-party-data-breach-statistics.
Chicago
Marie Larsen. 2026. "Third Party Data Breach Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/third-party-data-breach-statistics.
Sources & references
80 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
akamai.com