(NOTE: This story was originally posted to CRN.com March 30.)

Closing The 'Third Party' Gap

If security is part of your offerings, do you have customers that are vulnerable to risks posed by third-party vendors and suppliers?

Some of the most notable breaches of the past five years – including Target – have occurred because hackers have attacked a less-protected third-party vendor, then leveraged that to breach a larger target. According to a study by the Ponemon Institute, 73 percent of businesses said they see the cybersecurity risk from vendor partners increasing, with 65 percent saying it's difficult to manage that risk. For partners, that means a huge opportunity, executives from security company BitSight said in interviews with CRN. Here are seven areas partners can leverage third-party risk assessment tools to help their clients address security gaps in this area.