Lack of cybersecurity could threaten key partnerships
When it comes to small businesses, possibly only 10 percent of them have a robust cybersecurity plan in place. That’s concerning considering some cyberthreats could introduce a catastrophic event, one that could cost a company its biggest clients, or sink the business entirely. Additionally, there’s an expectation that there will be more third-party compliance agreement requirements in the coming years — where larger businesses insist companies in their supply chain meet a certain cybersecurity threshold. “We’re already seeing that,” says Ross Patz, CHFI, CEH, IT & Cybersecurity Manager at Clark Schaefer Consulting. “Large businesses are requiring their vendors to complete a third-party risk assessment. And so the critical question becomes, can the business pass muster — does it have protocols and protections in place to withstand a variety of cyberattacks and mitigate risk to an acceptable level? If not, it could cost them the relationship.”
