Supply Chain Vulnerabilities Start Outside Your Network
Supply chain vulnerabilities aren’t only missing patches or weak passwords inside your company. A lot of the time, the risk begins with someone else.
It could be a vendor with poor password practices, an outdated integration you forgot about, or hardware with unpatched firmware.
When these gaps exist outside your direct control, they’re harder to see.
But they still expose your systems.
And if one supplier is breached, that’s an attacker’s entry point into your infrastructure. We’ve seen this play out too many times: Third-party security is your liability.
Why Penetration Testing Works for Supply Chain Security
Pentesting is the best and fastest way to spot these supply chain weaknesses. It goes beyond checklists and scans.
We think like real attackers and test systems, vendors, and dependencies like they would.
A supply chain pentest simulates attacks from the outside. Similar to how a hacker might use a trusted partner’s connection to get inside your environment. This means we’re not just testing your systems but also how they connect to third-party services and tools.
Our penetration testing includes:
- Simulated attacks using compromised vendor credentials.
- Testing software integrations for weak authentication.
- Reviewing hardware dependencies and embedded firmware.
- Assessing trust relationships and remote access configurations.
Each test reveals how external security flaws directly increase your internal exposure.
What Makes Third-Party Security So Tricky?
Vendor risks often hide in plain sight.
Integrations that made sense years ago may now create access points for attackers. Updates aren’t always managed centrally. Hardware often slips past regular review cycles.
We’ve found:
- Insecure API integrations
- Forgotten access tokens
- Vendors with weak or reused passwords
- Third-party cloud tools with excessive permissions
Often, these issues don’t trigger alerts until after a breach. Cybersecurity testing helps us catch them early.
Supply Chain Vulnerabilities We’ve Seen Before
Ignoring third-party security is like ignoring a rattling engine. It only gets worse.
Attacks like the SolarWinds breach and MOVEit exploit proved how dangerous a single vendor’s exposure can be.
These weren’t technical outliers. They were business-as-usual integrations gone bad.
Attackers know that third-party services often have wide access to core systems. By targeting one weak supplier, they can move laterally into larger networks.
Penetration testing replicates this exact scenario to demonstrate how it could happen to you. Then, we’ll show you how to stop it.
Remember, you don’t need to be a grand global enterprise to be affected. Small and medium businesses use dozens of connected services. Each one adds potential risk.
What a Supply Chain Pentest Can Reveal
When we conduct supply chain penetration testing, we uncover:
- Shadow IT tools with poor security settings
- Overly broad API access from partners
- End-of-life hardware still in use
- Lack of MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) on supplier portals
- Weak input validation in integrated software
These risks are common, but the good news? Once identified, they’re fixable. But you need to see them first.
Build Stronger Defences with Penetration Testing
Cybersecurity isn’t just what you control. It’s what you connect to. As the saying goes, your defence is only as strong as your weakest supplier.
Pentesting helps you make informed decisions about vendor risk. It gives you the evidence you need to tighten access, set boundaries, and choose secure partners.
Supply chain pentests are also powerful tools for meeting compliance standards like GDPR, NIS2, and the Cyber Resilience Act. It proves that you’re taking proactive steps to reduce third-party risk.
If reducing your attack surface is a priority, penetration testing should be non-negotiable. It’s the most direct way to reveal the gaps that others miss.
