59% insurance sector breaches caused by third parties

Research from SecurityScorecard highlights the prominence of third-party risks in the insurance industry. The report, which reviews the breach histories of the top 150 insurance companies worldwide, shows that 59% included third-party attack vectors. According to the report, this is the highest rate observed so far. Furthermore, it is more than two times greater than the global cross-industry average (29%).

28% of insurance companies reported breaches, surpassing those reported by S&P 500 (21%) and the United States energy industry (14%). In the past two years, 56% of companies experienced at least one compromised credential, and in the past year, 17% were impacted by malware infections and device compromises.  

The research found that insurance carriers were disproportionately impacted by third-party incidents. Carriers, comprising 27% of the sample, accounted for 50% of the companies affected by third-party breaches