Monitoring Your Vendor’s Cybersecurity Posture

Most organizations work with multiple vendors across departments, subsidiaries & divisions, handling sensitive and mission-critical data. According to Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report, 15 percent of breaches involved either a third party or supplier, such as software supply chains, hosting partner infrastructures, or data storage partners. Thus, organizations, before onboarding vendors involved in crucial processes, must ensure that the vendors are able to safeguard their data against potential cybersecurity threats and attacks. This “chain of custody” is crucial in the successful protection of these assets.

Without question, having a vendor with a poor cybersecurity posture is risky. They are prone to breaches, resulting in financial losses and reputational damage that could affect potential prospects, lawsuits from parties that have been affected, and increased audit follow-up.

Here are steps businesses can take to assess their vendor’s security posture:

➡ Assess the vendors: First and foremost, an organization should determine the vendors’ cybersecurity posture in detail. It can either be done manually by the organization or by using a platform that would automatically do it for them, like IBM Verify ISPM, if there is identity continuity between both parties.
➡ Audit Regularly: Conduct regular audits of vendors to ensure they adhere to security policies and cybersecurity best practices. The audits should include reviewing their cybersecurity controls and incident response plans.
➡ Rigorous Monitoring: Frequent and constant monitoring of the process on the vendors’ side can help organizations track any changes in their security posture. Organizations can easily set up alerts whenever a vendor’s cybersecurity posture ratings drop.
➡ Test their Security: One way to test a vendor’s cybersecurity posture is by determining how well it follows the relevant security testing processes and procedures, such as vulnerability, penetration, and social engineering testing.
➡ Demonstration of Data Protection: The vendor should be able to easily demonstrate how the organization’s data is being protected and in what ways. This would include documents containing information on encryption standards and industry-specific policies and standards. This is the central focus of the IBM Guardium portfolio.
➡ Look for Certifications: Vendors with industry-specific certifications, such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST 800-53, and PCI DSS, can indicate a good cybersecurity posture and processes that will keep an organization’s data safe and secure.

Focusing on these steps can help organizations monitor their vendor’s cybersecurity posture and help reduce the risks of potential cyber-attacks.

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Date: Jan 16, 2025, 12:00Pm- 01:00 PM EST