Topic starter
30/07/2026 9:41 am
TL;DR: Third-party access to corporate networks expands the attack surface through broad VPN access, shared accounts, long-lived credentials, and weak visibility, according to Securden and cited source material. Least privilege, JIT access, phishing-resistant MFA, secure brokering, and automated offboarding are now baseline controls, not optional hardening.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Securden: “Best Practices for Securing Third-Party Access to Corporate Networks”.
Key questions
Q: What breaks when third-party access is handled like ordinary VPN access?
A: The control model breaks because a VPN only proves connectivity, not entitlement to privileged actions.
Q: Why do long-lived vendor credentials increase security risk?
A: Long-lived vendor credentials extend the time an attacker can exploit a stolen or abandoned account.
Q: What do security teams get wrong about third-party access oversight?
A: They often track vendor access as a procurement issue instead of a lifecycle control.
Practitioner guidance
- Define named third-party identities Replace shared vendor accounts with named, role-specific identities so every session can be tied to a person and a contract scope.
- Set access expiry to contract reality Link permissions to project end dates, procurement records, or service agreements so vendor access expires when the work does.
- Require phishing-resistant MFA for all vendors Use strong MFA methods for every external account, with certificate-based or key-based authentication for privileged sessions.
Bottom line: Third-party access becomes a governance issue when external identities inherit broad network reach and persistent credentials.
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30/07/2026 10:53 pm
Third-party access is an identity lifecycle problem, not a network convenience problem. External users need access because business operations require it, but that access must be governed as a named identity with a clear start, scope, and end. When organisations treat vendor connectivity as an exception path, they create persistent trust that outlives the work. The practitioner implication is to manage third-party access with the same lifecycle discipline used for any other high-risk identity population.
A few things that frame the scale:
- 92% of organisations expose NHIs to third parties, raising concerns about supply chain security, according to the Ultimate Guide to NHIs.
A question worth separating out:
Q: How should organisations compare secure brokering with traditional VPN access for vendors?
A: Traditional VPN access gives broad network trust, while secure brokering mediates access to specific systems and keeps the session visible. The difference matters because third-party governance depends on limiting reach and preserving accountability, not just getting a remote user connected. For vendor access, brokering is the tighter control model.
👉 Read our full editorial: Third-party access governance needs tighter identity controls