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Cybercriminals increasingly use vendors as a route into customer networks
Safety National’s cyber insurance head said vendor attacks create a multiplier effect, where one compromised provider can expose hundreds or even thousands of organizations.
Insurance Business reports that as cybercriminals increasingly target vendors at scale, third-party risk is becoming a major concern for businesses and insurers. Spencer Timmel, Head of Cyber Insurance at Safety National, said attackers often view vendors as a more efficient path to reach ultimate targets.
He added that instead of breaching a well-defended organization directly, a threat actor may compromise a software provider, cloud platform, managed service provider, payroll company, claims administrator, or other partner with trusted access to multiple customers. The outlet says this can create a multiplier effect, because one compromised vendor can expose hundreds or even thousands of organizations.
Insurance Business also cited Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report, which found third-party involvement in 48% of breaches in its dataset, representing a 60% increase from the prior year. The report also identified vulnerability exploitation as a leading breach entry point, highlighting the risk from widely deployed software and internet-facing systems.