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Security Fundamentals & Crypto · Intermediate

Vendor Diversity

Using products from different vendors in layered defenses so a single flaw cannot defeat all layers.

Definition

Vendor diversity reduces the risk that one vulnerability, supply-chain compromise, or vendor outage affects every layer. It is an application of defense in depth and resilience. The trade-off is higher management complexity and training costs.

Example

Using one vendor's firewall at the perimeter and a different vendor's firewall in front of the data center.

Exam tip

Vendor diversity increases resilience but also operational complexity.

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