Black Kite Research Exposes The "Silent Breaches" Lurking Within Interconnected Ecosystems

Ransomware, unauthorized network access, and software vulnerabilities within third party networks dominate as the most significant threats of 2024

/EIN News/ -- BOSTON, Feb. 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Black Kite, the leader in third-party cyber risk intelligence, today published its sixth annual Third Party Breach Report, which provides deep analysis of public breaches and regulatory filings from 2024, along with proprietary data collected by the Black Kite Research and Intelligence Team (BRITE). The report shows that “silent breaches” lurking within interconnected ecosystems dominated in 2024. Threat actors capitalized on systemic vulnerabilities, turning trusted vendor relationships into gateways for disruption and creating cascading effects that wreaked havoc on industries such as healthcare, retail, and logistics.

“Digital interconnectedness drives progress, but it also heightens risk. Because of our increasing reliance on software platforms and tools, the exploitation of a single vulnerability can have a catastrophic impact,” said Ferhat Dikbiyik, chief research and intelligence officer at Black Kite. “Amidst these challenges, critical lessons emerged, revealing pathways to resilience and improved cybersecurity practices. BRITE research offers a detailed look at these findings to inform cybersecurity leaders as they build their 2025 strategies.”

Trends in methods of compromise
The report reveals how “silent breaches” underscore the risk posed by unseen vulnerabilities in third-party networks. By exploiting these hidden weaknesses, attackers not only disrupted individual organizations but also exposed the fragility of entire supply chains. BRITE uncovered the following trends:

• Unauthorized network access accounted for more than 50% of publicly disclosed third-party breaches in 2024.
• Ransomware remained one of the most disruptive cyberthreats in 2024 — accounting for 66.7% of known attack methods — with attackers increasingly leveraging third-party vectors to amplify their impact.
• Software vulnerabilities continued to pose significant risks in 2024, including the exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities predominantly affected internet-facing network devices, operating systems, and widely used applications, underscoring the continued reliance of attackers on unpatched or misconfigured systems.
• Credential misuse emerged as a growing avenue for data breaches in 2024, accounting for nearly 8% of known attack methods. Public data breaches and credential dumps on dark web marketplaces provided a steady supply of compromised credentials, and the rise of automated tools for credential stuffing and brute force attacks further exacerbated this trend.
• One out of every four third-party breaches in 2024 originated with software vendors, which demonstrates a shift away from previously highly targeted areas — technical services represented only 11.5% of breaches in 2024 — indicating a growing preference for targeting software supply chains as organizations further digitize their operations.
  

“The cyberthreat landscape in 2024 was shaped by evolving attack methods and persistent vulnerabilities, with many incidents exploiting the interconnectedness of third-party relationships,” said Dikbiyik. “As organizations increasingly rely on third-party vendors, attackers have adapted their strategies to exploit these dependencies, leading to cascading risks across industries.”

But there is good news: BRITE’s research also shows improvements in cybersecurity posture after incidents across many industries. Healthcare vendors, which were responsible for 9% of third-party breaches in 2024, had the most change, with 62.5% achieving better grades following an incident. This can be partially attributed to regulatory requirements in frameworks like HIPAA, which continue to drive advancements in cybersecurity posture. Similarly, 33% of financial services providers improved. In contrast, only 21.7% of software services vendors, which face relatively less regulatory pressure, showed measurable improvement.

Healthcare remains the most impacted industry
Healthcare organizations accounted for 41.2% of third-party breaches in 2024. This dominance is attributed to the high value of patient data, operational dependencies on third-party providers, and the sector's inherent vulnerabilities. Finance & Insurance (14.9%) and Manufacturing (14%) followed as industries most affected by third-party breaches, underscoring the disproportionate risk faced by these critical sectors.

The report also includes an in-depth analysis of the most notable cyber incidents of 2024, including Cencora, Change Healthcare, Snowflake, Crowdstrike, Blue Yonder, Cleo, and more. Readers will find recommendations for strengthening their cybersecurity practices to avoid costly, disruptive third-party breaches, such as the adoption of proactive monitoring, robust risk assessments, vendor collaboration, and more.

Visit the website to read the report or get an overview on the Black Kite blog.

About Black Kite
Black Kite gives companies a comprehensive, real-time view into cyber ecosystem risk so they can make informed risk decisions and improve business resilience while continuously monitoring more vendors, partners, and suppliers in an ever-changing digital landscape.

Through an automated process, and a combination of threat, business and risk information, Black Kite provides cyber risk intelligence that goes beyond a simple risk score or rating.

Black Kite serves more than 3,000 customers in a wide range of industries and has received numerous industry awards and recognition from customers.

Learn more at www.blackkite.com, or on the Black Kite blog.

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Media Contact:
Geena Pickering
Look Left Marketing
blackkite@lookleftmarketing.com