According to the 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) by Verizon, the number of data breaches linked to third parties doubled in a single year, attaining a stunning 30% share of all data breaches that occurred last year.
Modern-day cybercriminals are militarily rational and pragmatic. They continually probe the defense perimeter of their victims to spot the weakest link – including victim’s suppliers, IT vendors, various consultants, law firms and accountants – to steal the data they need. Instead of wasting their time, money and other resources by attacking their well-protected victims directly, cyber gangs simply take what they want from under-protected third parties that have the same data in their possession.
