It is important that the right steps are taken to prevent a breach from taking place. Sadly there are alot of weak links in the cyber security infrastructure that increases the risk of such breaches taking place.
In this article we will look at what should be looked at to ensure that a vendor meets your cyber security policy requirements.
Vendor Security Management Best Practices
When a business implements a vendor security management program there are a number of steps that need to be taken to ensure that the companies data is kept safe.
We will look at this in further detail in the subsequent sections.
Vendor Security Requirements
It is essential that businesses define clear security expectations of the vendors they choose to work with.
Alignment with both industry standards as well as any regulatory requirements is a must.
Including such security requirements into vendor contracts helps to reinforce how important for you as the client to have your vendor adhere to these expectations and lays the foundation for the Third Party Risk Management (TPRM) program to be successful.
Vendor Security Capabilities Assessment
A details security assessment should be carried out on a businesses vendors to evaluate and understand their security capabilities.
Some Standardized questionnaires include the Standard Information Gathering (SIG) questionnaire or the Cloud Security Alliance’s Consensus Assessments Initiative Questionnaire (CAIQ). Both of these can be used to gather information about a vendor’s security practices.
A business can chose to go 1 step further and commission an independent audit to validate the vendor claims and ensure that they meet the businesses security standards.
Continuous Monitoring & Improvement
For a TPRM program to be a success, it requires regular security reviews and audits to monitor the vendors performance and ensure that it is sticking to the security requirements your business has laid out.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can help a business track how effective a vendors security measures are.
It is also very important that the security requirements of the business are kept up to date in order to keep up with any changes in legislations as well as the rapidly evolving threat landscape.
Managing Vendor Security Through Leveraging Technology
To help streamline their TPRM processes, companies can benefit by implementing a vendor management software.
These platforms provide a central repository for vendor information, automate security assessments as well as integrate with other security tools to provide detailed visibility into the vendor’s security.
These platforms can greatly improve the efficiency & effectiveness of a TPRM initiative.
Another step that businesses can take is joining industry specific threat intelligence groups. This can help an organization to stay up to date on emerging threats and vulnerabilities.
Sharing threat information with vendors encourages them to participate in such initiatives helps to foster a collaborative and proactive approach to vendor security risk management.
Collaboration can lead to improved security across the supply chain & help contribute to a more secure ecosystem for all involved.
Vendors security plays an important role in TPRM. It is important for businesses to prioritize data, network, and physical security along with compliance with industry standards and regulations when evaluating a vendor.
Implementation of best practices in vendor security management, includes the establishment of security requirements, assessing vendor capabilities & ensuring continuous monitoring and improvement. This helps to contribute to a solid TPRM program.
In addition, using a vendor management software & also taking part in threat intelligence sharing initiatives help to further strengthen an organizations vendor security risk management efforts.
Through a proactive approach, businesses can better protect themselves, their data, and systems as well as mitigate potential risks and maintain their reputation and trust that they have earned from their customers and stakeholders.
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