Third-party risk management

Are your supply chain partners compromising your cyber security and data protection?

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What is third-party risk management?

Securys recognises how integral third parties have become to modern society, as trusted partners who help you to achieve your goals and deliver on your values. Our increasingly interconnected world also gives rise to new potential vulnerabilities that come with the sharing data between organisations.

Organisations need to manage these inherent vulnerabilities in order to mitigate operational disruptions, security breaches and compliance failures.

Third-party risk management identifies, assesses and mitigates risks associated with outsourcing to all manner of commercial and non-commercial partners: suppliers and service providers, business partners and other stakeholders.

Effective third-party risk management protects organisations from external risks and builds stronger, more resilient relationships with those partners, underlining that trust with robust and demonstrable confidence.

"Data protection legislation and regulatory compliance are key areas of risk."

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Why is it important?

The continuing surge in third-party data breaches underscores vulnerabilities which are particular to our interconnected world. Organisations need to enforce strict security and compliance standards across internal and external networks.

Every organisation processes personal data across their supply chain, whether relating to employees and contractors, customers and consumers, or other stakeholders. To enable the smooth running of any organisation in the 21st century, it is inevitable that data may be shared with suppliers, service delivery partners and other stakeholders.

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Understanding your responsibilities

Under privacy legislation, where an organisation is considered a data controller, this carries significant responsibilities which extend throughout the data ecosystem. Understanding these responsibilities is essential to comply with the law and protect people.

For organisations classed as data processors, different compliance responsibilities and data management challenges apply. Moreover, for companies whose core business is processing personal data for others, there are fiduciary and reputational considerations to consider.

Failure to take care of these key aspects of contemporary business can lead to significant penalties – regulatory, legal and commercial – so understanding and fulfilling your obligations is critical.

What are the key risks to your organisation?

The key partner data protection risks include:

Supply chain breach risk – as we have seen time and again, any organisation can be compromised through vulnerabilities in its supply chain, damaging and even halting operations.
Cross border data transfers – in a globalised world, data flows across borders with increasing frequency; being able to recognise where these transfers increase the risk to your organisation is essential
Reputational damage – when a third party is breached, everyone with whom they interact is exposed, whether or not their own data has been compromised
Action and activism – third party vulnerabilities are increasingly the subject of regulatory enforcement as well as individual and class action litigation
Fourth party risk – data protection legislation flows down the chain of data processors, meaning that organisations need to be assured of the safety.

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What impact is AI having on third-party risk?

The advent of generative AI exposes the organisation and its third parties to additional risks such as those from the use of shadow IT. This reinforces the need for expert support in identifying the risks associated with supply chain infrastructure and extrastructure.

"The threats to organisations are changing rapidly"

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How we can help

Key partner review

Taking a risk-based approach to prioritise your key areas of potential vulnerability, Key partner review adopts a systematic approach to mitigate major risks with minimal resources.

We conduct a focused review of an agreed list of your top partners, having identified those that present the greatest theoretical risk through our Surface Risk Review^TM process. Key partner review provides assurance of compliance with regulatory requirements across all your operational jurisdictions as well as with your organisation’s internal standards and policies, highlighting things that are being done well in addition to areas for improvement.

Partner Due Diligence Framework

A more comprehensive outsourced risk management service, where we work with your organisation to incorporate a detailed security and privacy review and necessary contractual provisions into your new vendor/partner due diligence and onboarding process and resource these reviews on an ongoing basis.

With this approach, we build an effective ongoing programme of third-party due diligence through a regular and timely process to maintain continued assurance of key partner risk exposure. In an increasingly distributed world of data management, the framework is also designed to identify and control risks at more than one remove, for which an organisation may yet be deemed responsible under the law.

Establishing best practice at the earliest stage in partner relationships, to make sure that all partners have the appropriate safeguards in place, in terms of technical and organisational measures for themselves and their own third-party networks, while also setting a review pattern which caters for changes during the lifetime of the relationship.

Our process is designed to integrate with existing organisational governance frameworks, including data governance, ethical business conduct and procurement protocols.

Why Securys

Our partner risk management services manage existing third-party data protection and AI risks to build a robust and sustainable framework for ongoing partner engagement and risk reduction in ways which integrate readily with your existing compliance and risk frameworks

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The benefits Securys brings

Improved understanding and governance of third-party risks
Demonstrable risk management and mitigation practices
Legal and regulatory compliance
Reportable third-party risk management metrics
Identification of opportunities for improvement and implementation of third-party risk management best practice
Practical, straightforward advice, tailored to the needs of your organisation.
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