Most organizations enlist the help of external partners and might share sensitive data with them in the process. For instance, companies might share customer email addresses with marketing firms to develop an email advertising campaign. Sharing data with third parties, while often necessary to a business’ operations, could increase the risk of exposing sensitive data to bad actors. In 2021, the third-party software provider, Kaseya, experienced a cyberattack which compromised not only Kaseya’s systems but the files of as many as 1,500 companies. Security teams should address third-party data sharing in data security plans and connect with their external partners to understand their security protocols.