In 2025, Hertz disclosed that sensitive customer data was stolen after a third-party vendor providing file transfer services was compromised. Hertz was not the primary target of the attack, and its internal systems were not directly breached. However, because a vendor had access to customer data, the incident still resulted in exposed personal and financial information and required Hertz to answer to customers, regulators, and stakeholders about how the data was accessed and how it would prevent it from happening again. Source: Reuters, April 2025
This is the reality of third-party risk today, oftentimes referred to as supply chain risk management. Organizations are increasingly impacted by security failures that originate outside their own environments, but the responsibility and consequences still land squarely on them.
Modern organizations rely heavily on third-party companies, applications, and services to operate efficiently. From cloud platforms and SaaS tools to vendors supporting HR, finance, legal, development, and AI-driven workflows, third parties are deeply embedded in day-to-day business operations.
While these partnerships bring speed and innovation, they also introduce significant risk. Every third party you work with expands your attack surface, often in ways that are difficult to see, control, or fully understand. According to Whistic in their 2025 Third-Party Risk Management Impact Report, of the companies they surveyed, 70% have experienced a data breach, and 77% of those breaches originating with a third party making it so third-party risk has become one of the most common and damaging entry points for attackers. Up from 55% in 2023.
Source: Whistic, State of Third-Party Risk in 2025: 3 Trends to Reshape Your TPRM Strategy
This is no longer just a technical issue. It is a business risk, a compliance concern, and a trust issue that directly affects revenue, reputation, and long-term growth. Third-party vendors and AI-enabled services have become one of the most common initial access points for attackers in modern environments.
Third-party risk refers to the potential security, compliance, and operational threats introduced by vendors, service providers, and external partners that have access to your systems, data, or processes.
These third parties may include:
Attackers understand that vendors often have broad access and weaker controls. Instead of attacking a well-defended organization directly, they target third parties as it may be their only avenue in. When a vendor is compromised, the impact frequently spreads to every organization connected to them.
When third-party access is granted to your environment, you are also extending trust. That access often includes sensitive data, internal systems, operational workflows, and customer or employee information.
If a trusted vendor is compromised and the data of your organization is exposed, the responsibility does not end with the vendor. The liability, the data loss, and the consequences remain with your organization where difficult conversations and questions from clients, regulators, and stakeholders, including:
Clients do not separate vendor failure from organizational responsibility. Regulators do not accept blame-shifting. Enterprise customers expect accountability and proof of oversight.
A third-party breach quickly becomes your breach, regardless of where the failure originated. Saying a third party was responsible does not remove accountability. Organizations are expected to demonstrate that they took reasonable steps to assess, monitor, and manage vendor risk.
Failing to do so exposes leadership to legal, financial, and reputational consequences, even when the breach originates elsewhere.
Strong internal security programs are critical, but they are not enough on their own. Many organizations invest heavily in internal controls while assuming vendors are holding themselves accountable.
In reality, vendor security practices often vary widely. Internal policies may not align with how third parties manage access, data retention, monitoring, or incident response. These gaps create blind spots that attackers exploit.
Without validation, vendor compliance is assumed rather than confirmed. That assumption becomes a liability during audits, investigations, or enterprise security reviews. This includes verifying that third parties meet security expectations and that risks are actively managed, not assumed.
Common compliance gaps tied to third-parties include:
Compliance is not just about having policies in place. It is about being able to prove that security controls are effective across your entire ecosystem, including the vendors you depend on. Regulatory scrutiny increasingly focuses on how organizations assess, validate, and monitor third-party and AI-related risk, not just their internal controls.
Third-party risk is now a standard part of enterprise procurement and vendor evaluation processes. Security questionnaires, compliance reviews, and vendor risk assessments are often used as gatekeepers or negotiations before contracts are even considered.
When organizations cannot clearly explain how they manage third-party and AI-related risk, the impact shows up quickly. Deals slow down. Security reviews become obstacles. Confidence erodes before a contract is signed. Can affect negotiating prices even.
Weak third-party risk management can:
In competitive sales cycles, organizations are often compared side by side. Buyers are not just evaluating features, pricing, or performance. They are evaluating security risks, operational integrity, and evidence-based practices are a priority. If one organization can demonstrate stronger security practices, validated testing, and clear accountability, it can make the difference between a deal and no deal.
Vendors and third-party providers that take security seriously and actively test their environments are better positioned to support their marketing and sales teams. Penetration testing results, remediation progress, and third-party risk validation provide tangible proof that security is managed and mitigated, not assumed and potentially a major dealbreaker.
That proof becomes leverage. It helps shorten sales cycles, address security objections with confidence, and differentiates your organization when competing for larger, more security-conscious clients.
Security is no longer just protection or a cost center. When validated and communicated effectively, it becomes a competitive advantage.
As AI adoption accelerates, security teams are being forced to evaluate data exposure, access controls, and vendor trust at a much faster pace than traditional risk models were designed for. Many AI platforms require access to sensitive data to function effectively, including proprietary information, customer records, internal communications, and operational data.
Usage of AI in third-party solutions using proprietary data that is not disclosed include:
As organizations become more reliant on AI-driven tools, third-party risk becomes more complex and more difficult to track. Without strong governance and validation, AI can amplify existing security gaps rather than solve them.
While third-party risk cannot be eliminated, it can be managed effectively with the right approach.
Key components of a strong third-party risk strategy include:
Trust alone has never been sufficient. Validation is required.
Many organizations do not fully identify third-party and AI-related risk exposure until it is validated through real-world security testing, known as penetration testing. Penetration testing is a controlled, real-world security assessment designed to simulate how an attacker would attempt to compromise your systems, applications, and data. Rather than relying on assumptions, policies, or self-reported controls, penetration testing actively attempts to identify and exploit weaknesses to show how an organization could actually be breached.
This approach provides clarity where traditional and compliance-related activities fall short. While questionnaires and attestations can indicate intent, penetration testing validates whether security controls work in practice.
Penetration testing plays a critical role in identifying third-party and AI-related risk because it focuses on how systems interact in the real world. This includes testing environments where vendors, integrations, and external services have access, as well as areas where AI tools process or move sensitive data.
Through penetration testing, organizations can uncover:
Testing also helps organizations prioritize remediation based on real risk rather than theoretical severity. Findings are tied to business impact, allowing security, compliance, and leadership teams to focus efforts where they matter most.
When conducted regularly, penetration testing becomes a key component of ongoing risk management. It provides defensible proof of due diligence, supports compliance requirements, and strengthens confidence with enterprise clients who expect more than surface-level assurance.
Organizations that treat cybersecurity as a proactive, ongoing process gain more than protection. They gain clarity, efficiency, and confidence across the business.
Addressing security earlier and more intentionally saves time and reduces disruption. When risks are identified and validated through testing, teams avoid last-minute scrambles driven by audits, incidents, or stalled deals. Security findings become proactive structured inputs; the fixes for these become a part of the standard lifecycle instead of an emergency fix.
This approach also reduces cost over time. Remediating issues early is far less expensive than responding to breaches, regulatory findings, or rushed security demands during procurement reviews. A defined testing and remediation process helps organizations prioritize fixes based on real-world impact, rather than spreading resources thin across low-risk issues.
Internally, proactive security improves alignment. Leadership, IT, compliance, and development teams share a common understanding of risk and remediation priorities. This reduces friction, improves accountability, and creates a repeatable process for managing third-party and AI-related exposure as the organization grows.
From a market perspective, security maturity becomes a competitive advantage. Organizations that can demonstrate active testing, documented remediation, and thoughtful vendor oversight are better positioned to win trust. This confidence shows up in sales conversations, enterprise evaluations, and long-term client relationships.
Perhaps most importantly, proactive security provides assurance. It allows organizations to move forward knowing they took the proper steps to protect sensitive data, maintain operational integrity, and support business growth with intention rather than hope.
Security done early and done well does not slow growth. It removes uncertainty and enables sustainable growth.
Organizations that reach this point often recognize that third-party and AI-related risk are no longer just theoretical but impossible to ignore. It is active, long-term measurable, and tied directly to compliance, trust, and business growth. Addressing that risk requires more than a checkbox assessment or a one-time review. It requires validation.
Zelvin Security approaches penetration testing with a business and compliance-first mindset. Our goal is not just to find vulnerabilities, but to help organizations understand how those weaknesses impact real-world risk, regulatory expectations, and enterprise confidence.
What sets Zelvin Security apart is how we test and how we communicate results.
We focus on realistic attack paths that include third-party access, integrations, and AI-driven workflows. This means testing how vendors, applications, and external services interact with your environment and where those connections introduce exposure that often goes unnoticed.
Our testing is designed to support:
We do not believe in generic reports or unvalidated findings. Zelvin delivers a very pragmatic approach to real-world security risk and recommendations to remediate or mitigate that risk.
As reliance on AI and third-party platforms continues to grow, organizations need a partner who understands that security, compliance, and growth are interconnected. Zelvin Security helps you validate your security posture, demonstrate accountability, and build confidence with clients, regulators, and enterprise partners.
Security should support your ability to grow sustainably, not slow it down. We help make that possible.
Third-party relationships are unavoidable in today’s digital environment, but unmanaged cyber risks are not.
Ignoring vendor and AI-related security gaps increases the likelihood of breaches, compliance failures, and lost business opportunities. Organizations that take a proactive approach to understanding and validating their exposure are better equipped to protect their data, their clients, and their future growth.
Identifying the risk is the first step. Working to remove that risk as a part of normal business workflows is what sets secure organizations apart.