Business leaders expect suppliers to ensure they are cyber secure

Most UK business leaders expect suppliers to be cyber secure and nearly a third of businesses would terminate contracts because of suppliers’ security failings, a survey has revealed
Some 31% of UK businesses would terminate contracts with suppliers whose negligence caused them to become a victim of cyber crime, according to a survey published by business internet service provider Beaming.
The research, conducted by consultancy Opinium, revealed that most UK business leaders polled believe their suppliers are obligated to ensure they do not expose them to unnecessary cyber security risks.
One in five (17%) would take legal action to recover financial losses incurred from a breach as a result of a supplier’s negligence, and a similar number (20%) would use the incident to negotiate a further discount. Just 3% of businesses said they would take no action.
The survey also showed that victims of cyber crime could find it more difficult to attract new customers, with 35% of the business leaders questioned saying they would not work with a supplier they thought would make them more vulnerable to cyber crime, while just over a quarter (27%) said they would avoid using a company that had been publicly associated with a major cyber security breach.
A quarter of those questioned said they would not work with companies that did not have a documented cyber security policy in place, a quarter said they would not work with a supplier that had not met any information security certifications, such as ISO27001 or Cyber Essentials, and one in five (19%) said they would avoid potential suppliers that had no cyber security insurance.
The research showed that small businesses are most at risk of damaging their reputation and business relationships by neglecting their cyber security obligations. Of the firms surveyed that employ between 10 and 49 people, just over half (51%) had a documented cyber security policy and one-third (38%) had insurance in place for breaches and data theft at the beginning of 2018.
Meanwhile, only half (51%) of businesses employing fewer than 10 people were using a network perimeter firewall to stop threats from reaching their systems, and just one in three (30%) had intrusion detection systems to spot malicious activities or cyber security policy violations.
Sonia Blizzard, managing director of Beaming, said cyber attackers often seek to infiltrate one organisation as a stepping stone to attack others.
“This research clearly shows that business leaders see cyber security as a shared responsibility,” she said. “Businesses that neglect to take the steps necessary to protect themselves and their partners could find that a single breach could irreparably damage their hard-earned reputations and relationships.”
According to Blizzard, consideration of risk must extend beyond businesses’ own boundaries to incorporate customers, partners and other organisations they come into contact with.
“Rather than simply guarding what is ours, we need a cyber security culture that means we all look out for those we do business with too,” she said. “If enough businesses are well secured, the ability for denial of service attacks, viruses and other attacks to spread will be greatly diminished
Source computerweekly
Industry: Cyber Security news

Latest Jobs
-
- 6 month contract Operational Cyber Security - SIEM, Vulnerability, Cyber Essentials + London, Inside IR35
- City of London
- Depending on experience
-
6 month contract inside IR35 Operational Cyber Security London c50% of the role is day to day operations / administration / liaising with 3rd party monitoring suppliers. More though investigations, getting ready for cyber essentials plus. Following up on vulnerability management. 20-30% active monitoring of alerts, tooling etc. 10% reporting / light oversight of junior Experience with Microsoft defender / Azure, Splunk, Tenable Experience in maintaining Cyber Essentials Plus is a big bonus. Knowledge across ISO27001, NIST GDPR required. Inside ir35 need someone in their London (city) office 2-3 days a week.
-
- CONTRACT Fluent French AND English Cyber Security Project manager - 12 month
- United Kingdom
- Dependent on experience
-
Fluent French / English Contactor cyber Security Project Manager needed. Experience in migrating technical cyber services from one physical region to another. Experience with Crowdstrike, Tanium, Palo Alto and or Zscaler ideal or comparable solutions. Language fluency in French AND English is essential. 12 month contract. Looking to start June. Day rate dependent on Experience. Apply today for more details
-
- GRC Security Contractor - Achieve SOC2 Type 1 Compliance - 6 month
- London
- Dependent on experience
-
GRC security practitioner needed to ensure a financial service business to achieve SOC 2 type 1. Experience managing the end to end process is key, you will be the key individual to deliver this within a 6 month deadline. Experience of SOC 2 type 1 / type 2. The gathering of evidence, baseline of 27001, ukdpa, GDPR NIST etc. Looking to interview ASAP.
-
- Contact 12 month- Security Operations- Crowdstrike Falcon Insight EDR / Analyst.
- United Kingdom
- Dependent on experience
-
Security Operations engineer / Analyst with Crowdstrike Falcon Insight EDR experience for a 12 month contract. Experienced Contractor with Crowdstrike Falcon Insight: Endpoint detection and Response (EDR) experience needed - 12 month rolling project. Implementation, configuration and Analyst experience needed with Crowdstrike Falcon Insight: (EDR) Migration project- relocating capability internationally. technically implementing, configuration of that that migration and then transition to BAU role monitoring. DCL Search exclusive associate Project.