2026 Wholesale & Retail TPRM Report

Written by: The Black Kite Research Group: Ferhat Dikbiyik, Chief Research & Intelligence Officer, and Ekrem Selçuk Çelik, Cybersecurity Researcher

The modern Retail and Wholesale landscape has undergone an unexpected transformation. While the industry was once defined by the traditional logistics of warehouses and shipping, the attack surface has fundamentally shifted toward a complex, interconnected network where digital partners now outnumber physical providers. 

This evolution has created a broad and expansive risk surface, where a single vulnerability in a shared service provider can trigger a systemic impact across the entire ecosystem.

Black Kite’s latest report analyzes 840 major enterprises and 2,620 critical vendors to map the complex risks threatening the Retail and Wholesale ecosystem. 

Inside the Report:

• The Ransomware Attacker's Playbook: An analysis of past attacks on 636 victims reveal the attacker's strategy: "Big Game Hunting" in Retail and "Volume Games" in the Wholesale mid-market.
• Current & Future Risk: A deep dive into the security posture of industry companies compared against their vendors reveals an identity crisis. Over 70% of major Retailers, nearly 60% of Wholesalers, and 52% of their supply chain vendors have exposed credentials in Stealer Logs – an open door to threat actors.
• Active Threats in CISA KEV: A look at vulnerabilities being weaponized in real-world campaigns across the industry reveal over 57% of Retailers, 53% of Wholesalers, and 42% of their critical supply chain are exposed.

Read the report to learn how to move beyond checklist compliance toward proactive, intelligence-driven risk management that prioritizes your most critical threats.