Customers Speak: A Roadmap for Mitigating Risks from Third-Party Vendors
In today’s interconnected reality, almost all companies across all industries find it beneficial to collaborate with third-party vendors. While these partnerships offer significant value, they also open the door to new system vulnerabilities, making it much more challenging for organizations to ensure the security and integrity of their data.
To help you assess and mitigate these risks, we’ve asked for the guidance of some of our most knowledgeable and experienced customers: security professionals who address these challenges on a daily basis.
A Best-practice Roadmap for Managing Third-party Risks:
We have integrated their insights into a practical, best-practice roadmap for organizations building their third-party vendor risk management and security practice alignment processes.
Here is what they had to say:
Prioritize vendors with a strong security posture. Conduct background checks and evaluate their security practices before partnering.
Provide security training for the vendor’s personnel to ensure alignment of security consciousness and expectations.
Conduct routine security audits, including vulnerability scanning, penetration testing and compliance checks.
Monitor the vendor’s activities continuously and conduct regular reviews of their security measures.
Define your security expectations clearly in all contracts and agreements. Make sure they fully address data protection, encryption, access controls and compliance standards.
Have an exit strategy in place to ensure a smooth transition if/when it becomes necessary. Make sure that data security and continuity considerations take center stage.
Identify potential risks associated with each vendor’s services. Pay particular attention to data access, storage, and transmission vulnerabilities. This point was stressed by Diego Del Portillo, Chief Technologist Information at Puerto de Barranquilla: “I personally believe that the first thing we must do is classify third parties, that is, determine which ones are critical to our operation and which ones have access to the company’s information.”
Verify that third-party risk mitigation plans align and integrate seamlessly with your own. Make sure you are coordinated as to security breach procedures, data handling and privacy standards. In addition, audit their data protection mechanisms regularly to ensure data security.
Define legal consequences for security breaches or non-compliance. It is always smart to give vendors an incentive to prioritize security and to adhere to agreed-upon standards.
And last but perhaps most important: have a solid incident response plan in place!
Hitesh Chavan, Project Manager at IDBI Bank Ltd., summed it up nicely:
“By following these steps, you can assess and mitigate the risks associated with third-party vendors and ensure alignment with your security practices, thus safeguarding your organization’s sensitive data and resources.”
Spotlight on Data Centers
Since partnering with third-party vendors is particularly commonplace in the data center industry, we turned to our data center customers for industry-specific guidance.
Security Alignment: Ensure that your vendors comply with recognized security standards and frameworks, fostering consistency and a common foundation for risk assessment. Work with them to create and carry out training and awareness programs that enhance their employees’ understanding of security practices, including the importance of compliance. Invest in well-defined incident response plans and carry out regular drills to ensure effective resolution when security incidents occur.
Clarity, Visibility and Accountability: Make sure that your contracts explicitly state security requirements, responsibilities, and expectations, covering aspects like data protection and incident reporting. Carry out regular audits to evaluate vendor adherence to security practices, including technical assessments, vulnerability scanning, penetration testing and policy reviews. Put robust monitoring plans in place to track vendor activities and to promptly detect anomalies and breaches.
Risk Assessment: In evaluating vendor risk, make sure that you assess the suitability, reliability and security of their protocols. Look at their access controls, data protection, incident response capabilities and physical security measures.
As Rajesh Garg, EVP & Chief Digital Officer at Yotta Infrastructure Solutions LLP, commented:
“By employing thorough risk assessments, implementing robust security measures, and aligning the security practices of vendors with industry standards, organizations can mitigate potential risks and maintain a secure and resilient data center infrastructure.”
In conclusion, mitigating the risks created when you work with third-party vendors is a complex and ongoing process—and it is achievable. To succeed, focus on careful vendor selection, thorough risk assessment, clear communication of security expectations, continuous monitoring, and robust incident response planning.
By following the best-practice roadmap laid out by Radware’s experienced customers, you can move forward confidently, forming secure and mutually beneficial partnerships with third-party vendors without compromising the security of your sensitive data and resources.
