Vendor Management & Cyber Security: The Overlooked Risk Factor in MSP Contracts

Why Your Vendors Might be Your Biggest Cyber Weakness in 2026 

When most people think about cybersecurity, they think about firewalls, passwords, MFA, antivirus tools, or maybe that one phishing email everyone still talks about. But here’s the part no one talks enough about:  

Your cyber risk isn’t just inside your walls, it’s hiding inside your vendors, too.  

In today’s world, your business isn’t just connected to the internet. It’s connected to a whole chain of software tools, service providers, and third-party platforms that touch your data every single day. And if one of them gets hit, it can hit you just as hard. 

Let’s unpack why vendor risk matters, a lot more than most contracts acknowledge, what to look for, and how your MSP should be helping protect you.  

Cyber Risk Isn’t Just Internal – It Lives in Your Vendors 

We’re seeing a major rise in supply-chain attacks, cyber-attacks that don’t target you directly, but instead target a technology or provider you rely on.  

Some of the biggest breaches you’ve heard about.  

Yep, they happened because someone trusted a vendor with weak security.  

Supply-chain attacks are rising because:  

• Vendors often have direct access to your systems or data. 

• One compromised tool can impact hundreds or thousands of businesses at once. 

• Attackers go after the weakest link, and sometimes that’s not you – it’s the provider you depend on.  

It’s no longer enough to ask, “Are we secure?” 

Now the question is, “Are the people we trust secure, too?” 

What Vendor Cybersecurity Should Include 

Most businesses assume their vendors have solid security practices, but assumptions don’t stop ransomware. Here’s what any vendor with your data, your credentials, or your network access should be able to demonstrate.  

1. Clear & Documented Security Policies 

Vendors should have written policies, not verbal promises, around:  

• Data storage 

• Access controls  

• Password standards 

• Employee training  

• Incident response 

If they can’t show a policy, they probably don’t have a process. 

2. The Right Tools in Place 

Good vendors use:  

• MFA 

• Endpoint protection 

• Monitoring tools  

• Encryption 

• Logging and audit controls 

If your internal team is required to meet these standards, your external partners should too.  

3. Incident Reporting Expectations 

If something happens on their end, how and when will you be notified? Time matters. Clarity matters even more.  

A vendor should be able to answer confidently: 

• How fast do they report an incident? 

• What details do they provide?  

• Do they have a point of contact? 

• How will they help contain impact? 

If the answer feels vague, that’s a red flag. 

Why MSP Contracts Often Overlook Vendor Risk 

You’d think vendor management would be a standard part of an MSP contract. But here’s the surprising reality: it often isn’t. 

Why? Because most MSPs assume:  

• The vendor is responsible for their own cybersecurity. 

• The client has already vetted the vendor. 

• If the vendor is “big enough,” they must be secure. 

• Anything outside the core network isn’t “in scope.” 

These assumptions create gaps, and gaps create risk. In other words, too many MSPs leave vendor management in the “not my problem” bucket.  

But your business? Your data? Your reputation?  

It is your problem if something goes wrong. A modern MSP should be helping you bridge those gaps, not ignore them.  

How to Evaluate a Vendor’s Cyber Maturity 

Here is a simple 10-point checklist you can use to gauge whether a vendor is truly secure or giving you a false sense of confidence.  

1. Do they use MFA on all accounts? 
2. Can they provide written security policies?  
3. Do they meet industry-specific compliance standards?  
4. Are their employees trained on cybersecurity? Do they complete security awareness trainings internally? 
5. Do they have endpoint protection and monitoring tools in place?  
6. Is data encrypted in transit and at rest?  
7. Do they conduct regular security audits?  
8. Can they share their incident response plan? 
9. How quickly do they notify customers after a security event? 
10. Do they undergo annual penetration tests or vulnerability scans? 

If you can check off most of these boxes, great. If not, it may be time to rethink the relationship or bring in your MSP to help evaluate next steps.  

How Standley Brings Clarity, Discipline & Vendor Protection to Vendor Management 

At Standley, our team takes vendor risk seriously because ignoring it puts your business at risk, and that’s not how we operate.  

Vendor Management Through vCIO Support 

Our vCIO and technology advisory services help you: 

• Vet new vendors 

• Review vendor security practices 

• Align tools with your cybersecurity standards 

• Evaluate contract language around data protection 

• Build vendor requirements into your overall roadmap 

We help you make decisions confidently, not blindly. 

Where BTRs Uncover Unmanaged Risk 

During your Business Technology Reviews (BTRs), we routinely identify issues like:  

• Tools with outdated security  

• Vendors with broad, unnecessary access 

• Old integrations that no one is monitoring  

• Shadow IT services no one realized were storing company data 

These are the things that don’t show up on a balance sheet but absolutely show up in a breach investigation.  

Ready to Strengthen the Weakest Link in Your Cyber Chain? 

Vendor risk is one of the most overlooked, yet dangerous, parts of cybersecurity. But you don’t have to navigate it alone.  

Let’s review your vendors, tighten gaps, and build a cybersecurity strategy that protects you from every angle, not just the most obvious.  

Schedule a free assessment today, and let’s safeguard your business from the risks you didn’t even know were lurking in your vendor stack.