Vendors are becoming cyber gateways
Security research warns traditional perimeter defences are weakening while threat actors increasingly compromise business‑process outsourcing providers, turning third‑party vendors into attack gateways that can impact logistics operations. That trend makes vendor diligence and segmentation of operational systems (WMS, badge systems, scheduling) a growing part of facility risk management. (securityboulevard.com) (thecyberexpress.com)
A warehouse can lock every front door and still get hit through the side entrance its payroll contractor uses. Google Threat Intelligence says a group called UNC6783 is breaking into business process outsourcing firms first, then using those firms’ access to reach the real target. (thecyberexpress.com) Business process outsourcing firms are the companies that handle work like customer support, payroll, claims, scheduling, and back-office processing for other companies. When one of those vendors logs into a client’s systems every day, that vendor becomes part of the client’s attack surface. (cisa.gov) Google’s researchers said UNC6783 has already used this playbook against dozens of companies across multiple industries. The group reportedly leans on phishing and social engineering, which means tricking a person into handing over access instead of breaking through a firewall first. (thecyberexpress.com) That is a shift from the old picture of cybersecurity as a castle wall around one company’s network. Security researchers writing in 2026 say traditional perimeter defenses are weakening because companies now depend on cloud services, contractors, and vendors that sit outside that old wall. (securityboulevard.com) The numbers are moving the same way. Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report said third-party involvement in breaches doubled to 30%, based on more than 22,000 security incidents and 12,195 confirmed breaches. (verizon.com) For logistics operators, the risk is not just stolen files sitting in an office system. A vendor account can touch the warehouse management system that routes inventory, the badge system that opens doors, or the scheduling tools that decide who shows up for a shift. (cisa.gov) CISA uses the term operational technology for the systems that run physical processes, and its guidance says those environments should be designed for safety and business continuity, not treated like ordinary office software. In a distribution center, that can mean keeping picking, access control, and dock operations from sharing the same trust path as email and vendor portals. (cisa.gov) The practical fix starts before a contract is signed. CISA’s vendor risk guidance tells companies to assess suppliers and service providers up front, because weaknesses in managed services and third-party access can spread to every customer using them. (cisa.gov) The second fix is segmentation, which is the digital version of putting fire doors between rooms in a building. If a contractor account gets stolen, segmentation can keep that login from jumping from a help-desk portal into a warehouse management console or a door-access server. (cisa.gov) That is why vendor reviews are starting to look less like procurement paperwork and more like facility security. The company that processes invoices or staffing requests may now be as important to warehouse resilience as the lock on the gate. (verizon.com)
