Vendor Risk Assessment - Managing Vendor Security

There are so many areas of security out there that
most of us will never touch yet there is a dire need1. Provide practical steps to manage vendor access
for professionals. One area is Vendor Security whichmanagement
almost no one does outside of a SAS70.2. Provide cost effective solution for risk mitigation
Vendor Risk Management needs a process. You are3. Provide numerical risk analysis of vendor/partner
asking yourself, what is that? I asked myself thatsecurity issues
same question in coming up with some good4. Risk reduction or risk acceptance
processes to target Supplier/Vendor security. We5. Documented exposure
have to go way beyond a SAS70 if you want real6. Iterative process for risk management
security over the hundreds or thousands of vendors7. Happy CIO So a Supplier Security assessment
that a large company may work with.follow 4 main steps:
A risk management process for Vendors and
Suppliers must contact an analysis process of current1. Analyze current vendor database, categorize each
activities, identification of potential threats of that2. Determine risk of each supplier, determine threats
vendor to the corporate network, controls that canposed by each supplier
or should be put n place, a test process and practical3. Perform assessment tests of each supplier, their
testing of the security over that vendor.processes of interaction, and data access
The Problem:4. Develop risk mitigation plan, update processed,
monitoring processes Vendor Assessments should be
1. No framework for managing vendor riskconducted on a yearly basis at a minimum. Good luck
2. Inconsistent processes for tracking vendorswith your tests.
3. Lack of enforcement capabilities The Opportunity: