New Research Exposes Critical Gap: 64% of Third-Party Applications Access Sensitive Data Without Authorization
None
<p class="sc-iYsSXP hbVeNb"><span><strong>Boston, MA, USA, January 21st, 2026, CyberNewsWire</strong></span></p><p></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.reflectiz.com/">Reflectiz </a>today announced the release of its <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.reflectiz.com/learning-hub/web-exposure-2026-research/">2026 State of Web Exposure Research</a>, revealing a sharp escalation in client‑side risk across global websites, driven primarily by third‑party applications, marketing tools, and unmanaged digital integrations.</p><p>According to the new analysis of 4,700 leading websites, 64% of third‑party applications now access sensitive data without legitimate business justification, up from 51% last year — a 25% year‑over‑year spike highlighting a widening governance gap.</p><p>The report also exposes a dramatic surge in malicious web activity across critical public‑sector infrastructure. Government websites saw malicious activity rise from 2% to 12.9%, while 1 in 7 Education websites now show active compromise, quadrupling year‑over‑year. Budget constraints and limited manpower were cited as primary obstacles by public‑sector security leaders.</p><p>The research identifies several widely used third‑party tools as top drivers of unjustified sensitive‑data exposure, including Google Tag Manager (8%), Shopify (5%), and Facebook Pixel (4%), which were frequently found to be over‑permissioned or deployed without adequate scoping.<img decoding="async" src="https://securityboulevard.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/475_Learning_hub_1_1768730342LDezoFS2eQ.jpg"></p><blockquote><p>“Organizations are granting sensitive‑data access by default rather than exception — and attackers are exploiting that gap,” said VP of Product at Reflectiz, <strong>Simon Arazi</strong>. “This year’s data shows that marketing teams continue to introduce the majority of third‑party risk, while IT lacks visibility into what’s actually running on the website.”</p></blockquote><p>Key findings include:</p><ul> <li>64% of apps accessing sensitive data have no valid justification.</li> <li>47% of applications running in payment frames (checkout environments) are unjustified.</li> <li>Compromised sites connect to 2.7× more external domains, load 2× more trackers, and use recently registered domains 3.8× more often than clean sites.</li> <li>Marketing and Digital departments account for 43% of all third‑party risk</li> </ul><p><img decoding="async" src="https://securityboulevard.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/437_Critical_alerts_charts_17687303525SAQ7y9myP.jpg">The report also introduces updated Security Leadership Benchmarks, highlighting the very small group of organizations meeting all eight criteria. Only one website — ticketweb.uk — achieved a perfect score across the framework.</p><p>The 2026 report includes:</p><ul> <li>Sector‑by‑sector breakdowns of web exposure risk</li> <li>Full list of high‑risk third‑party applications</li> <li>Year‑over‑year industry trends</li> <li>Technical indicators of compromise</li> <li>Best‑practice controls for security and digital teams</li> </ul><p>The complete 43‑page analysis is available for download:</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.reflectiz.com/learning-hub/web-exposure-2026-research/">https://www.reflectiz.com/learning-hub/web-exposure-2026-research/</a></p><p><strong>About Reflectiz</strong></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.reflectiz.com/">Reflectiz</a> empowers organizations to secure their websites and digital assets against modern web threats. Its award-winning, agentless platform provides continuous visibility into all client-side activity, detecting and prioritizing security, privacy and compliance risks. Reflectiz is trusted by global enterprises across financial services, e-commerce, and healthcare to protect their data, users, and brand reputation.</p><h5>Contact</h5><p><span><strong>VP Marketing</strong><br></span><span><strong>Daniel Sharabi</strong><br></span><span><strong>Reflectiz</strong><br></span><span><strong><a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d1b5b0bfb8b4bdffa291a3b4b7bdb4b2a5b8abffb2bebc">[email protected]</a></strong><br></span></p><div class="spu-placeholder" style="display:none"></div><div class="addtoany_share_save_container addtoany_content addtoany_content_bottom"><div class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_20 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="https://securityboulevard.com/2026/01/new-research-exposes-critical-gap-64-of-third-party-applications-access-sensitive-data-without-authorization/" data-a2a-title="New Research Exposes Critical Gap: 64% of Third-Party Applications Access Sensitive Data Without Authorization"><a class="a2a_button_twitter" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2026%2F01%2Fnew-research-exposes-critical-gap-64-of-third-party-applications-access-sensitive-data-without-authorization%2F&linkname=New%20Research%20Exposes%20Critical%20Gap%3A%2064%25%20of%20Third-Party%20Applications%20Access%20Sensitive%20Data%20Without%20Authorization" title="Twitter" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_linkedin" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/linkedin?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2026%2F01%2Fnew-research-exposes-critical-gap-64-of-third-party-applications-access-sensitive-data-without-authorization%2F&linkname=New%20Research%20Exposes%20Critical%20Gap%3A%2064%25%20of%20Third-Party%20Applications%20Access%20Sensitive%20Data%20Without%20Authorization" title="LinkedIn" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2026%2F01%2Fnew-research-exposes-critical-gap-64-of-third-party-applications-access-sensitive-data-without-authorization%2F&linkname=New%20Research%20Exposes%20Critical%20Gap%3A%2064%25%20of%20Third-Party%20Applications%20Access%20Sensitive%20Data%20Without%20Authorization" title="Facebook" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_reddit" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/reddit?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2026%2F01%2Fnew-research-exposes-critical-gap-64-of-third-party-applications-access-sensitive-data-without-authorization%2F&linkname=New%20Research%20Exposes%20Critical%20Gap%3A%2064%25%20of%20Third-Party%20Applications%20Access%20Sensitive%20Data%20Without%20Authorization" title="Reddit" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_email" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/email?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2026%2F01%2Fnew-research-exposes-critical-gap-64-of-third-party-applications-access-sensitive-data-without-authorization%2F&linkname=New%20Research%20Exposes%20Critical%20Gap%3A%2064%25%20of%20Third-Party%20Applications%20Access%20Sensitive%20Data%20Without%20Authorization" title="Email" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share"></a></div></div>