The annual breach report recorded a 60% increase in incidents originating with third parties, a figure describing a risk beyond the reach of any company's internal assessment.
The mechanics are simple and uncomfortable. Every connected supplier is a path inward, and the decision to connect is usually taken by a business unit on usefulness grounds, without passing through security review.
The growth has a structural explanation. The number of integrations per company grew alongside the software-as-a-service model, and every new tool arrives asking for broad access because broad access makes deployment easier.
That month's own cases illustrate the pattern: a security vendor with code accessed, a franchisee document system, a corporate management platform. In none of them was the final target the company hit.
The practical defence is tedious and fits in an afternoon: list every active integration, remove what nobody uses, reduce the scope of what remains, and note the notification deadline in each contract. None of it is expensive, and it's what separates being told from finding out through the press.