Third-party behaviors increase risk to organizations

A new Third-Party Risk Report from secure enterprise browser tech company Talon Cyber Security focuses on the ways in which third-party workers increase security risks and organizations vulnerable to data breaches.

Talon surveyed 258 third-party workers, including contractors and freelancers, and finds 89 percent work from personal, un-managed devices, which organizations lack visibility into and therefore cannot enforce the enterprise’s security posture on.

Respondents admit to using the devices they work on for various tasks including: browsing the internet for personal needs (76 percent), online shopping (71 percent), checking personal email (75 percent), saving weak passwords in the web browser (61 percent), playing games (53 percent), allowing other family members to browse (36 percent), and sharing passwords with co-workers (24 percent).

"It is well documented that third-party workers can increase risk," says Ohad Bobrov, co-founder and CTO, Talon Cyber Security. "Looking at recent high-profile breaches, third parties have consistently been at the epicenter, so we took a step back with this research to better understand the potential root causes. The findings paint a picture of a third-party work landscape where individuals are consistently working from personal, un-managed devices, conducting risky activities, and having their productivity impacted by legacy security and IT solutions."

Looking at the technologies that third parties use to access corporate applications and data, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solutions are prominent, with 45 percent of respondents using these while working for organizations.

But despite widespread adoption, VDI and DaaS can create environments that are complex, expensive, and deliver poor user experiences. In fact, 48 percent of respondents say IT and security tools impact their productivity in some way.

You can get the full report on the Talon site.

Photo Credit: Olivier Le Moal / Shutterstock