Vendor Risk Management

VRM is the practice of evaluating and monitoring the risk posture of third parties an organization engages with throughout the entire vendor lifecycle — from selection to off-boarding. This process aims to ensure vendors adhere to legal, regulatory, and organizational standards while maintaining the quality and security of the products or services they deliver.

A comprehensive VRM program assesses various potential vendor risks, including financial, operational, reputational, and legal, empowering merchants to make informed decisions about vendor selection and renewal. 

One risk stands out in today’s digital business landscape, where sensitive data is the cornerstone of business operations: third-party cyber risk.

Modern organizations’ reliance on vendors to streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and remain competitive often demands external access to systems, networks, and sensitive data - widening their cyber-attack surface.

For instance, a security breach within a third-party system can have a wide-reaching impact on the merchant, including compromised data, regulatory penalties, reputational damage, and operational disruption. 

As cyberattacks become increasingly sophisticated and pervasive, organizations must proactively evaluate and monitor these risks through their VRM program. Assuring robust vendor cybersecurity posture maintains trust, secures sensitive data, and ensures business continuity in an interconnected digital ecosystem.

Amid the ubiquity of online payments, which have become the lifeblood of modern businesses, this process must be augmented by rigorous vendor risk analysis in accordance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) – a set of standards designed to ensure that organizations that accept, process, store, or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment.

Proactive merchants leverage automation to streamline and elevate the vendor PCI DSS compliance analysis process. This increases visibility into vendor behaviors and risk, empowering users with a secure, expert-driven perspective on their data security interactions.

To ensure a vendor aligns with its compliance, security, and operational standards before, during, and after the partnership, merchants must follow a systematic VRM process:

• Vendor identification – clearly define requirements, including cybersecurity and regulatory compliance.

• Risk assessment – evaluate risks associated with each vendor, including access to critical systems, security practices and financial stability.

• Due diligence – conduct a deeper evaluation of each vendors security credentials before onboarding, including security policies and business continuity plans.

• Contractual agreements – formalize expectations and responsibilities, including incident response, service-level agreements (SLAs), and regulatory compliance.

• Continuous monitoring – ongoing assessment of vendor performance and risk levels, including regular security audits and compliance reviews.

• Risk mitigation and remediation – address and mitigate any identified risks, including collaboration with vendors and implementing contingency plans.

• Documentation and reporting – achieve transparency and compliance by maintaining records of risk assessments, audits, and vendor comms.

• Off-boarding – terminate vendor access to systems and data when a vendor relationship ends.

Adopting a systematic approach to assessing vendor risk when developing and managing these relationships offers merchants a range of benefits, including:

• Decision-making - comprehensive risk assessments empower informed decisions when selecting or renewing vendor contracts and flag high-risk vendors for closer monitoring.

• Security and data protection – mitigates data breaches or unauthorized access by ensuring vendors comply with security best practices.

• Regulatory compliance – ensures vendor adherence to industry regulations such as PCI DSS, preventing potential fines, legal consequences and reputational damage due to non-compliance.

• Business continuity – identifies potential risks to supply chains, processes, or services and ensures vendors have robust contingency plans to address threats like cyberattacks.

• Reputation management – protects the merchant’s reputation by mitigating vendor-related incidents like data breaches. It demonstrates due diligence and robust risk management, increasing stakeholder confidence.

The benefits of a VRM program underscore that it is an investment in an organization's security, compliance, operational resilience, reputation, and financial stability, making it an essential component of modern business strategies.