Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

During the Vendor Risk Management process, information is in constant flux. From risk assessments to risk remediation processes, communication involving sensitive security control data continuously flows between an organization and its monitored vendors. If intercepted, this information stream could be used as open source intelligence for a third-party data breach campaign, nullifying the very efforts a VRM program is trying to mitigate.

The vulnerabilities perforating the global supply chain have remained dormant for many years. But the violent disruptions of the pandemic finally pushed these risks to the surface, revealing the detrimental impacts of their exploitation to the world.

The financial industry is no stranger to data breaches. Financial institutions have access to millions of personally identifiable information (PII) records, which they must secure to the highest standard. The value of this data is open knowledge – hackers will actively search for existing cybersecurity weaknesses to gain unauthorized access to customers’ financial information.

‍ NIST Special Publication 800-171 (NIST SP 800-171 or NIST 800-171) is a set of security controls within the NIST Cybersecurity Framework that establishes baseline security standards for federal government organizations. NIST SP 800-171 is mandatory for all non-government organizations operating with federal information systems.

Cyber VRM is the practice of identifying, assessing, and remediating the cybersecurity risks of third-party vendors. This involves combining objective, quantifiable data sources like security ratings and data leak detection with subjective qualitative data sources like security questionnaires and other security evidence to get a complete view of your third-party vendors’ security posture. A Cyber VRM solution facilitates this practice.

The technology industry is at the forefront of digital transformation, enabling all other industries to achieve greater operational capabilities and connectivity through innovative solutions. Tech companies, such as SaaS vendors, provide crucial software infrastructure to hundreds or even thousands of other organizations. These vendors access, store and transmit large volumes of sensitive information, including valuable healthcare and finance data.

Data governance is a broad term that refers to the strategy of managing availability, usability, standard compliance, consistency, data integrity, and data security in organizations and companies. While the term is notorious for escaping definitions, data governance is often defined as the first essential branch of data management strategy.

NIST SP 800-161 revision 1 outlines a cybersecurity framework for mitigating security risks in the supply chain. NIST SP-800-161 is a subset of NIST 800-53, a broader cyber risk mitigation framework that’s foundational to most cybersecurity programs. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) designed NIST 800-161 to improve cyber supply chain risk management for all U.S federal agencies.

Organizations must implement effective account protection measures or put themselves at heightened risk of data breaches and other serious cyber attacks, such as ransomware injections. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a crucial component of any organization’s cybersecurity program. MFA adds an additional layer of security, helping prevent hackers from gaining unauthorized access to sensitive data.

The HECVAT (Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit) is a security assessment framework in the form of a questionnaire that’s specifically designed for higher education institutions to measure vendor risk. HECVAT attempts to standardize higher education information security and data protection requirements for cloud service providers and third-party solutions, specifically for their consistency, compatibility, and ease of use.