Vendor-Provided Resources

The vendor contract is an essential place to set expectations and standards for the entire vendor relationship. Effective vendor contract management has many benefits, including potential cost savings and safer third-party vendor relationships.

However, it’s never just a one-and-done step, but rather an ongoing process as vendor contracts must be regularly tracked and reviewed throughout the engagement.

Download the infographic to learn:

• Who is involved in vendor contract management

• Questions to ask when assigning responsibilities

• Essential practices that can be incorporated into your own strategy

Reviewing a vendor’s financials is an essential step of every successful third-party risk management program. Income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements provide a lot of valuable financial data, but it’s not always easy to know how to interpret the information.

Comparing this data to financial benchmarks is an effective strategy that can bring greater clarity to your vendor’s financial health. These financial benchmarks can give better insight into individual vendor risk profiles, as well as the broader arrangement of your vendor inventory.

Download the eBook to learn:

• Common financial benchmarks to use in vendor reviews

• Special considerations based on the level of vendor risk

• Additional tools to use in vendor financial reviews

Keeping up with compliance requirements can be a daunting task, particularly as regulations and laws are frequently revised. And failure to adhere to these laws and regulations can lead to increased scrutiny, fines, legal actions, or even business closure. The same consequences can apply even if the noncompliance stems from the organization's third parties.  

How can you ensure your third-party vendors are complying with these laws and regulations? There are a variety of techniques that can effectively manage and monitor third-party compliance risk. 

Download the infographic to learn: 

• What compliance risk is 

• Techniques for third-party compliance 

• Examples and best practices for managing and monitoring third-party compliance

Organizations are increasingly outsourcing products and services to gain a competitive advantage, obtain access to specific expertise, or supplement their capabilities to better serve their customers. While third parties are essential to provide certain products and services, they can also expose you to risky situations.  

Third-party risk management is a highly rewarding practice, but it can be difficult to understand the value it can bring. This business case for third-party risk management explores why your organization should make investing in this essential area a high priority. 

Download the eBook and Template to learn: 

• How to build a business case for a third-party risk management program 

• The organizational and departmental value of third-party risk management 

• How to calculate the return on investment for your program 

• Tips to build and present a third-party risk management business case 

• Strategies to successfully implement third-party risk management 

• A template to assist in articulating and presenting a business case

A well-written policy is the foundation of any successful third-party risk management program. While it can be challenging to create a policy that fits your organization's unique needs, it's worth the effort.

Developing and implementing a well-written third-party risk management policy will guide your processes, protect your organization from vendor risks, and ensure compliance with regulations.

Download the eBook to learn:

• What you should and shouldn't do when creating a third-party risk management policy

• The outline of a policy

• Best practices for reviewing and updating a policy

Due diligence is essential to manage third-party risks effectively. Specific documents should prove that the vendor's control environment is sufficient to mitigate the risks associated with their product or service and the relationship.

Without the right documents, your vendor risk assessment can't be completed correctly, if at all. In this infographic, learn best practices and tips to improve document collection efficiency.

Download the infographic to learn:

• The importance of vendor document collection

• 3 best practices for a smooth process

• 4 tips to make the process more efficient

A vendor performance management process helps ensure vendors provide your organization with quality products and services within a defined budget and timeline. This includes expectations around areas like compliance, operations, and customer service.

For the vendor performance management process to be effective, organizations must think carefully, plan ahead, and execute consistently. An effective process helps reduce costs, enhance customer satisfaction, mitigate risks, and more.

Download the infographic to learn:

• Basic steps of vendor performance management

• Practical ways to manage vendor performance

• Questions to ask regarding vendor performance

In 2023, we saw a fierce battle between security professionals and bad actors, each vying to get one step ahead of the other and stay there.

Case in point: In 2023, there were more third-party breaches (81) than in 2022 (63), but with a smaller cascading impact (251 impacted companies, compared to 298 in 2022). Third-party breach mitigation strategies might be starting to stick, but bad actors are relentless in their pursuit to find and breach any possible security weaknesses.

Our research team aggregated and analyzed data from a variety of OSINT and exclusive resources to identify these evolving strategies for third-party breaches, the profiles of threat actors involved, the most affected sectors, and the most significant breaches of the year.

Our goal? To provide security teams with insights on how the threat landscape is changing so they can better navigate the challenges of third-party risk management.

Dig into the 2024 Black Kite Third-Party Breach Report to learn about:

• The most common root cause of breaches.

• The most impacted industries.

• The most destructive third-party breaches of 2023.

• Trends in attack aftermath.

In an effort to address cybersecurity threats in hospitals in New York, the state Department of Health proposed a new rule in December aimed at safeguarding hospital systems and nonpublic information.

Leveraging generative AI to enhance vendor processes and deliver more.

A well-executed TPRM program is not just a cost center but a value generator.

Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) has evolved from a defensive necessity to a strategic cornerstone for organizational resilience and growth in modern business’s complex and interconnected world. TPRM transforms potential vulnerabilities into organizational strengths and tools for resilience, operational efficiency, and stakeholder trust.

This white paper explores the development of a mature TPRM maturity model and regulatory adaptations, and provides best practices into strategic implementation of people, processes, and technology.

In our latest white paper learn more about:

• A well-executed TPRM program at a glance

• Developing, implementing, and maintaining a maturity model

• Planning and adapting to regulatory demands

• Leveraging technological advancements, well-trained teams, and strategic systems

Bridging the gap between security, risk, and compliance doesn't come without its challenges. See the top-of-mind challenges and questions for CISOs going into the new year.

• How can risk teams work together to consolidate third-party management?

• Is it time to rethink the security questionnaire's design?

• How does security scale and meet demand while maintaining due diligence in an ever-evolving cloud ecosystem?

• What's being done to introduce — and responsibly use — AI?

Download the infographic 4 top-of-mind challenges for CISOs in 2024 to get more insights into these questions.