As Third-Party Vulnerabilities Rise, CISOs Accelerate Push for Security Modernization  

Panorays’ latest survey of 200 U.S. CISOs reports a renewed rise in software supply chain incidents, with 60% observing increases and over three-quarters ranking third-party risk as a major concern (23% say it’s the top risk). Only 15% have full visibility into their software supply chains, while most still rely on static vendor questionnaires despite 71% admitting they can’t accurately assess third-party risk. Two-thirds are adopting AI tools to modernize vendor risk assessments, yet just 21% have incident response plans for supplier-related breaches (36% at large enterprises vs. 16% at smaller ones), underscoring both AI’s role in expanding the attack surface and its potential to enhance resilience.