Hackers gained access to 110 million credit cards from Target in December 2013 by compromising the security of a third-party vendor, a Target branch store’s HVAC provider. While companies pay enormous sums to lock down their most sensitive data, how much are they still leaving exposed via third parties? The cost of a serious data breach is hard to calculate, but it is generally accepted as high. One report estimated it at $400 million for 70 organizations in various industries globally. If a company is serious about security, what was previously agreed with verbal promises has to be supplanted with a paper trail.”]