Multi-Party Data Breach: Understanding Ripple Effects

Multi-Party Data Breach: Understanding Ripple Effects

Multi-Party Data Breach: The multi-party data breach, also referred to as ripple events, impacts multiple organizations, where the primary victim serves as a target and every interconnected chain is equally impacted. Though these incidents naturally result in greater losses than single-party breach incidents, they are less frequent and usually hurt countless numbers of organizations at a time.

A recent research conducted by RiskRecon and Cyentia Institute on multi-party breaches revealed how they impact several interconnected organizations in today’s computer world and how much damage such breaches can cause.

What Did the Study Say?

• 897 multi-party breach incidents involving three or more interrelated companies have been analyzed since 2008.
• 147 new and different ripple incidents were observed in the study among which 108 occurred in the past 3 years.
• Typically, a multi-party breach incident can cause 10 times more financial damage than a conventional single-party breach.
• The worst ripple incident causes 26 times more financial damage as compared to the worst single-party breach event.
• A typical multi-party breach event takes 379 days to impact 75% of its downstream targets.
• On average, the number of affected organizations by multi-party breach events is 4 across the entire set.

According to numerous studies, a multi-party breach can be of various types. However, there are two most commonly used methods:

• Supply Chain Breach
• Widespread Third-Party Breach

With the emergence of this advanced online threat, information of millions are at risk and no business is entirely safe from a multi-party breach. The authorization of third-parties and vendors usually opens up several pathways for ripple events.

This modern problem requires modern solutions, and organizations need to be more cautious. Cybersecurity experts and analysts suggest every business ensure that their permitted third parties or vendors are not providing a doorway into their networks.