Vendors Take Brunt Of Banks’ Cybersecurity Fears

Financial institutions are cracking down on the security practices of third-party vendors they do business with, imposing a more stringent review of business relationships to ensure safety of operations. The shift is straining relationships between banks and vendors, the Wall Street Journal reports, as contractors are deluged with demands for information – including about their practices, employees, and physical facilities – before they even win a client’s business. “It is definitely creating a bit of tension because different customers are asking the vendors to adhere to all kinds of different requirements from a security perspective,” Sumedh Thakar, chief product officer at Qualys Inc., told the WSJ. The change was spurred by orders from regulators such as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau requiring banks to tighten oversight of third-party relationships.