How to Make Sure Your Vendors Are as Secure as They Say

June 2, 2025

You rely on your vendors to conduct business, but these vendors are just as susceptible to cyberattacks as your business is. How can you make sure you’re working with vendors who prioritize security? That’s what we’re covering in today’s blog.

How to Determine Your Vendors’ Level of Security

Know Who You’re Working With

Understand that any vendor you work with will have access to a certain amount of information for your business. Make sure you keep a list of who’s doing what for you, as well as what data they can access. Furthermore, make sure that these vendors are handling that access responsibly, and don’t offer more permissions than necessary.

Do Your Due Diligence

Take some time to get to know your vendors, including how they operate and maintain their security. Use a checklist during these interviews to help you assess their policies and procedures. Remember to base your decisions on what your vendors actually do for security, not what they claim to do, and you should routinely assess whether the current arrangements are working for your organization.

Understand Your Contracts

Comb through any contracts with scrutiny to know what your vendors are liable for in the event of a data breach or other similar cybersecurity incident. The last thing you want is to be caught off-guard by stipulations you weren’t even aware of in the first place, or a vendor shadily (and legally) passing the blame elsewhere.

Operate on a “Need to Know” Basis

Your vendors should also operate under the principle of least privilege, where you only give them access to the tools and resources they absolutely need for their roles and responsibilities. Give them just enough of what they need to provide the services you expect from them. This keeps a cyberattack from disrupting too much should one actually occur.

Go Ahead with Your Plans

Don’t make decisions regarding your vendors haphazardly. If you’re satisfied with a vendor, make sure they stay ahead of trends with security and keep them in the loop should anything change along the way. It also helps to check in with them during any major widespread cybersecurity issue to see what they’re doing about it.

First Column IT can help your business stay ahead of vendor security with our managed services. Learn more today by calling us at (571) 470-5594.

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