We all love SaaS platforms. Fast deployments! Easy integrations! Budget-friendly licensing models (until you scale and cry)! But what too many organizations forget is that behind every shiny SaaS solution is a third party — and behind every third party is a potential breach waiting for an invitation.
JPMorgan Chase recently dropped an open letter to their suppliers that didn’t mince words: if you touch their data or operations, you are expected to treat security, privacy, resiliency, and compliance as seriously as they do — or you’re out.
And honestly? They’re right.
Every SaaS vendor you trust is another headline waiting to happen. Manage third-party risk like your future depends on it — because it does.
The Problem: SaaS Expands Your Attack Surface. Wildly.
Every SaaS tool you onboard becomes part of your digital ecosystem — but unlike your internal systems, you don’t control how that vendor operates behind the scenes. Are they patching vulnerabilities immediately? Are their developers trained on secure coding practices? Is their internal network segmented properly?
If the answer is “no” (or worse, you don’t know), congratulations: you’ve outsourced not just functionality, but risk.
And if your vendor has a security lapse, it won’t be their name in the headline first. It’ll be yours. Good luck explaining to your customers that the CRM you picked because it had a cute UI lost their PII.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
JP Morgan’s letter isn’t just another corporate memo destined for the recycling bin. It represents a fundamental shift in how businesses must approach their digital supply chain. Why now?
- Regulatory scrutiny is intensifying: Agencies aren’t buying the “our vendor did it” excuse anymore. Just ask companies hit with GDPR fines.
- Attack surfaces are expanding exponentially: The average enterprise now uses over 300 SaaS applications. That’s 300 potential entry points.
- Supply chain attacks are skyrocketing: Attackers have figured out the math—why hack hundreds of companies individually when you can compromise one vendor and hit all their customers?
Third-Party Risk Management isn’t optional anymore
A lot of organizations still treat third-party risk management like it’s an annual box-checking exercise. JPMorgan’s letter made it very clear: that era is over.
Today, leading organizations demand:
- Rigorous upfront vetting of vendors (not just a “security whitepaper” from 2019).
- Contractual accountability (with clear consequences for non-compliance).
- Continuous monitoring (because risk is dynamic, not static).
- Integrated incident response planning (so you’re not improvising under pressure).
Simply put: if you don’t treat vendor management as a living, breathing program, you’re gambling — and not in a fun Las Vegas way. More like a “hope regulators go easy on us” kind of way.
Bottom Line: SaaS Vendors Can Either Power Your Growth — or Endanger It.
This isn’t fear-mongering. It’s reality. Every vendor is an extension of your environment. If you don’t manage them like your own internal systems, you’re effectively betting the brand, the balance sheet, and the board’s trust on a third party’s security practices.
SaaS can and should accelerate your business. But only if you bring the same scrutiny and discipline to your third-party risk programs that you apply to your own IT operations.
JPMorgan isn’t being harsh. They’re being pragmatic.
So should you.
