Security Alert Trusted Vendor Breach

Trusted Vendor Compromised? Here’s What to Do Next.

When a bookkeeper, CPA, payroll provider, or any trusted vendor is breached, your business and personal information may be exposed as part of the incident. This page walks you through calm, practical next steps.

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Use this guide for yourself, your team, and any vendor affected. You can also forward this link directly to them.

1. Understand the Risk

What a Trusted Vendor Breach Really Means

A breach on your vendor’s side doesn’t necessarily mean your systems are hacked — but it does mean your information may now be in the hands of attackers. That’s why it’s important to secure both your personal identity and your business environment.

Personal Identity Exposure

Often affected

  • •Social Security Numbers and dates of birth.
  • •Home address, phone number, and email accounts.
  • •Copies of IDs, tax returns, and financial statements.

Business Information Exposure

Often affected

  • •EIN / Business Tax IDs and registration info.
  • •Vendor contracts, invoices, and bank details used for payments.
  • •Payroll, employee records, and financial reports shared with vendors.
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Important: Attackers may wait weeks or months before using this data. Stay alert for unusual emails, login attempts, or payment requests that reference your vendor.
2. Protect Yourself

Immediate Steps to Secure Your Personal Identity

Start with your own accounts and identity. These steps can be done in under an hour and close the most common attack paths.

Lock Down Your Email & Accounts

  • •Change passwords for email, banking, and financial apps.
  • •Turn on Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) everywhere it’s offered.
  • •Review recent logins and sign out of unknown devices.

Freeze and Monitor Your Credit

  • •Place a credit freeze with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
  • •Set up alerts for new accounts or major changes.
  • •Watch for any notices from the IRS about unfamiliar filings.

Secure Your Phone & Number

  • •Restart your phone and apply all pending updates.
  • •Enable a SIM lock/pin with your carrier.
  • •Turn on biometric login and MFA for iCloud/Google accounts.
3. Protect Your Business

Business Security Checklist After a Vendor Breach

Even when the incident starts with a vendor, attackers often pivot to your business — especially email, cloud apps, and devices. These are the controls we recommend and implement for our clients.

Core Cybersecurity Essentials
  • ✔24/7 SOC monitoring and Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) on all workstations and servers.
  • ✔Advanced email security, phishing protection, and threat filtering.
  • ✔MFA enforced across email, remote access, and line-of-business apps.
  • ✔Encrypted backups for Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace and critical servers.
  • ✔Regular patching, OS hardening, and removal of unused accounts.
  • ✔DNS/web filtering to block malicious sites and command-and-control traffic.
Vendor Access & Data Controls
  • ✔Use secure portals or encrypted methods for sharing sensitive files (not plain email attachments).
  • ✔Limit what vendors can access and separate employee, accounting, and owner-level data.
  • ✔Review and remove old vendor logins, shared mailboxes, and integrations.
  • ✔Require MFA for any vendor systems your team uses.
  • ✔Train staff to verify any unusual payment, payroll, or bank change requests by phone.
  • ✔Conduct an annual vendor security review as part of your cyber insurance requirements.
4. Stay Alert

Common Red Flags After a Vendor Breach

Many attacks following a vendor breach are quiet and targeted. Slow down and verify anything that touches money, payroll, or sensitive information.

Suspicious Email & Payment Requests

  • •“Urgent” invoices or new payment instructions.
  • •Requests to change bank routing details or add new payees.
  • •Emails that look normal but feel slightly “off” in tone or wording.

Impersonation & Social Engineering

  • •Messages pretending to be from your vendor, bank, or “IT support”.
  • •Links asking you to log in to unusual portals or approve changes.
  • •Calls or texts asking for codes, passwords, or remote access.
5. How We Can Help

Get a Calm, Professional Review of Your Environment

Our team at Scorpion Technology works with small and mid-sized businesses to secure the exact systems that attackers go after after a vendor breach — email, identity, cloud apps, and critical devices.

Need an Extra Set of Eyes on Your Security?

We can quickly review your business for signs of compromise, verify email and account safety, and make sure you meet the requirements your cyber insurance carrier expects.

You can also share this page with your vendor. We’re happy to coordinate with their IT to help them move toward a more secure setup.