Audit logs are essential for ensuring the security of an organization’s information systems. They track all events that occur within a system, including log-on attempts, file access, network connection, and other crucial operations. Should But, without proper management, audit logs are mostly a wasted opportunity – nothing more than scraps of data whose importance and potential are never harnessed.

Third-party risk is everywhere and the cybersecurity posture of those third parties is more important now than ever before. With organizations using 130 SaaS solutions on average, onboarding the “wrong” vendor — one that doesn’t share the same cyber practices or hygiene as you do, or that sharing sensitive data with would be cause for concern — could land an organization in hot water.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States approved their cyber rules on July 2023, originally proposed in March 2022 for public comments (SEC, 2022; 2023). This has sparked many conversations about how the board of directors and executive management should think about cybersecurity and to what extent public disclosures should be made about cybersecurity incidents and risks. Most notable among them is the requirement that material cyber incidents be reported within four days.

The past decade has seen governments around the world introduce significant new legislation covering data, cybersecurity, and technology. This has been part of a sustained effort to regain some influence over big tech and impose good governance practices on how businesses capture, protect, and manage data. This shift towards greater regulation has been largely led by the EU, which implemented the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018.

As global data privacy and cybersecurity regulations continue to increase, the pressure for organizations to manage compliance risk grows. The first step in your journey to better compliance risk management is compliance risk assessment. With risk management methodologies, a compliance risk assessment analyzes how an organization might not meet its regulatory compliance obligations.

Corporate compliance is not a new idea; for many years, organizations everywhere have had to comply with certain rules and standards to reduce risks and vulnerabilities. Those rules might be defined internally by the company’s compliance team or by an external party such as a regulatory agency — but either way, they are rules that the company must follow. An effective compliance function assures that the organization complies with both internal and external rules.

Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) will allow your organization to assess and elevate its third-party risk management (TPRM) program. By monitoring specific metrics over time, your risk management team will be able to reveal your TPRM program’s overall health and particular areas where personnel can implement changes to improve localized performance. According to one 2023 study, about 98% of organizations worldwide are connected to at least one breached third-party vendor.

Whether it’s supporting initiative prioritization, as discussed in Part 1, or justifying budget requests, pursuing cost-effective strategies, and calculating risk appetite levels, as discussed in Part 2, CRQ has the power to transform an organization’s mindset to include cybersecurity in strategic risk planning conversations. This transformation, known as a Shift Up strategy toward cyber management, has become more critical than ever as cyber threats evolve.

Could you imagine our interstate highway system without roadway bridges? I don’t think anyone would argue that bridges are not an essential part of an effective ground transportation network. So it doesn’t surprise me that when I ask people what makes a highway bridge “good,” I get quick responses with pretty consistent answers: guardrails, proper lighting, clear signage, smooth driving surface, lane markings, load capacity, structural integrity, and so on.

The number of tools organizations use is growing everyday. According to Zylo 2023 SaaS Management Index Report, the average organization has 291 SaaS applications in their tech stack — a number which only increases as your organization grows. The more tools that are added to your tech stack, the more third-party risk your business incurs. These risks could result in threats like data theft, service outages, or loss of revenue and customer trust. ‍