Commentary: It’s not just that attacks are rising, it’s where they’re landing. The systems we rely on to move sensitive data between vendors, partners, and teams are now prime targets. What we’re seeing this year isn’t background noise; it’s a flashing warning sign that our approach to third-party security needs to evolve. Vendor risk isn’t a box you check at onboarding, it’s dynamic, and it’s directly tied to broader business risk. Security leaders need continuous visibility, tighter guardrails, and a clear line of sight between external exposure and internal impact.
The most alarming shift isn't just that attacks are increasing today—it's where they're aimed. Google's latest Zero-Day Exploitation Analysis reveals that a staggering 44% of zero-day vulnerabilities now specifically target enterprise data exchange systems, including managed file transfer (MFT) platforms. At the same time, Verizon's 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report shows third-party breaches have doubled to 30% of all incidents in just 12 months. These aren't just statistics—they're warning flares signaling a fundamental shift in how boards and security leaders must approach vendor selection and risk management.
The implications are profound: The systems designed to securely move your organization's most sensitive data have become prime targets for sophisticated attackers. As regulatory pressures mount simultaneously, security leaders face unprecedented pressure to maintain compliance while defending against increasingly targeted threats.
Shadow Selection Process You Don't See Coming
Kiteworks Data Security and Compliance Buyer Behavior Survey reveals a game-changing reality: 63% of buyers now require detailed security and compliance information before even engaging a vendor. This pre-engagement vetting has created a "shadow selection process" where security teams quietly eliminate vendors from consideration without those vendors ever knowing they were in the running.
The survey found that nearly a quarter of vendors get rejected over security concerns, often tied to compliance failures, while more than half of buyers struggle to find the security documentation, they need during evaluations. This creates a decisive competitive advantage for vendors who provide transparent, comprehensive security documentation.
This shift comes as legacy file sharing and transfer solutions increasingly become liability hotspots. Nearly 60% of organizations lack proper governance controls for third-party data exchanges, creating exploitable blind spots that attackers are actively targeting. The question for security leaders isn't if their file transfer solutions will be targeted, but when.
For security leaders, this translates into a clear imperative: demand unprecedented transparency from vendors. The days of accepting vague security assurances are over. Today's security-conscious buyers want specific details about architecture, encryption methods, access controls, patch management procedures, and incident response protocols—all before they'll consider scheduling a demo.
Compliance Has Become the New Differentiator
In regulated industries, compliance capabilities have evolved from checkbox exercise to strategic imperative. The survey uncovered that 31% of respondents identified compliance as the decisive factor in their final vendor selection—ranking it above price, features, and even user experience.
This prioritization reflects the growing complexity of navigating regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, CMMC 2.0, the EU Data Act, and the EU AI Act (effective September 2025). With penalties for noncompliance reaching into millions of dollars, security certifications have become the gold standard of trust, with 56% of respondents rating them "extremely important" during vendor discovery.
The result is a dramatic acceleration of zero trust adoption across regulated industries. Organizations demand solutions that authenticate, encrypt, and monitor every data exchange, regardless of channel or endpoint. The old perimeter-based approach simply isn't viable when your most sensitive data regularly crosses organizational boundaries.
What's driving this compliance focus? The convergence of three powerful forces: increased regulatory scrutiny with harsher penalties, board-level attention to compliance failures following high-profile breaches, and the recognition that compliance frameworks often align with security best practices. This convergence has elevated compliance from a back-office function to a core business requirement that directly impacts vendor selection.
The survey also reveals that 41% of organizations now require vendors to demonstrate compliance with specific frameworks before they can proceed past the initial evaluation phase. This represents a significant shift from just three years ago, when only 23% imposed such requirements, underscoring how quickly compliance has become a critical selection criterion.
What Modern Buyers Demand
Beyond robust security controls and compliance frameworks, security and compliance leaders evaluate vendors based on three additional factors that would have been secondary considerations just two years ago.
First, integration capabilities have emerged as a make-or-break factor, with 42% of buyers considering them a key value driver. Even more telling, 39% report eliminating vendors specifically due to integration concerns. The message is clear: security solutions that don't play well with existing systems rarely deliver their promised value, regardless of how advanced their protection might be.
Second, vendor stability has taken on new urgency, with nearly two-thirds of respondents carefully vetting a vendor's longevity and financial health during the selection process. This focus stems from recognition that switching security vendors mid-implementation creates substantial risk—and that security implementations are increasingly complex, long-term commitments.
Third, centralized visibility has become non-negotiable. As the Verizon report notes, many data exchange systems operate outside traditional EDR and SIEM monitoring, creating dangerous blind spots. Buyers are demanding unified platforms that provide comprehensive visibility across all communication channels, eliminating the silos that attackers exploit.
This visibility requirement extends beyond mere log collection to include detailed analytics on data movement patterns, user behaviors, and potential policy violations. Organizations now expect dashboards that translate complex security data into business-relevant insights that can be shared with non-technical stakeholders and auditors alike.
Building Your 2025 Data Security StrategyFor organizations evaluating their data security approach for 2025 and beyond, the survey findings offer a clear roadmap:
First, prioritize zero trust architecture for all data exchange systems. This approach assumes no user or system should be inherently trusted and ensures that every data transfer is authenticated, encrypted, and monitored at each stage. For the 44% of zero-day vulnerabilities now targeting these systems, zero trust represents the most effective mitigation strategy.
Implementing zero trust for data exchange means applying the principle of least privilege to all file sharing and transfers, enforcing strong authentication for every transaction, encrypting data both in transit and at rest, and maintaining detailed audit logs of all access attempts. The goal is to eliminate implicit trust from your data exchange workflows, regardless of where those exchanges occur.
Second, implement rigorous third-party risk management to counter the 30% of breaches now occurring through partners and suppliers. This means moving beyond point-in-time assessments to continuous monitoring, clear security requirements in contracts, and strong authentication for all third-party connections.
The survey indicates that organizations with mature third-party risk management programs experience 63% fewer security incidents related to partner access. These organizations typically treat their supply chain as an extension of their own security perimeter, applying the same scrutiny to partner security controls that they apply internally.
Third, demand comprehensive compliance frameworks from your vendors. Their certifications should align precisely with your regulatory requirements, and they should provide transparent documentation of their security controls. Remember: if you can't verify it, you can't trust it.
When evaluating compliance capabilities, look beyond certifications to examine how deeply compliance is integrated into the vendor's product architecture. The most effective solutions make compliance inherent in the product design rather than bolting it on as an afterthought. This approach not only streamlines audits but also reduces the compliance burden on your internal teams.
Fourth, treat integration capabilities as a core security requirement, not a "nice-to-have" feature. Security solutions that create implementation friction rarely deliver their promised value, as they're often bypassed or improperly configured to accommodate workflows.
Integration should extend beyond technical compatibility to include user experience considerations. Solutions that seamlessly integrate with existing workflows while maintaining security achieve substantially higher adoption rates than those requiring users to learn new processes or switch between multiple interfaces.
What's Next: Compliance as a Competitive AdvantageLooking ahead, compliance capabilities will continue to evolve from risk mitigation to competitive differentiator. Organizations that master the balance between security controls, compliance frameworks, and operational efficiency will gain substantial advantages in highly regulated industries.
Zero trust will become table stakes for data exchange, with organizations that fail to implement it facing increasing scrutiny from regulators, cyber insurers, and business partners. The most successful organizations will be those that view compliance not as a checkbox exercise but as an integral part of their security and business strategy.
The days of treating data exchange systems as simple utilities are over. In 2025, they've become prime targets for sophisticated attackers and critical components of your compliance posture. Those who adapt quickly by securing their data exchange systems with zero trust principles, robust compliance frameworks, and seamless integration will stay ahead of both attackers and regulators.
Those who don't? They're simply counting down to their security incident—and explaining to the board why they missed the warning signs hiding in plain sight.
