Continuous Control Monitoring

Cybersecurity CCM Tools Recommended for Enterprise Companies

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According to Gartner:

This is a not-so-good situation for two reasons:

On the one hand, GRC vendors may not offer the full scale of capabilities required to effectively achieve CCM.
On the other hand, CCM tools that can’t address a broad array of threats often end up working in isolation.

In other words, a half-baked or point continuous control monitoring tool working in isolation isn’t worth it, per IBM’s Charles Henderson:

A solution to this?

An Interoperable CCM Platform

Most CCM platforms have full scale continuous control monitoring capabilities. But as Henderson stressed, implementing another point solution isn’t worth it. They often end up posing a threat to efficient cybersecurity. EY’s Asia-Pacific Cybersecurity Consulting Leader, Richard J. Watson corroborates:

So to help enterprises achieve continuous control monitoring without cluttering their tech stacks, we built Cyber Sierra. You get a pure-play CCM platform with built-in capabilities for remediating other cybersecurity challenges interoperably.

For instance, with our Controls Dashboard, enterprise teams can continuously monitor security controls by:

Asset categories or asset types
Compliance programs or frameworks:

As shown, you can assign risks associated with control breaks to teammates and monitor remediation status in real-time. And with other built-in functionalities, achieving continuous control monitoring while addressing core cybersecurity challenges interoperably is possible.

The Interoperable CCM Platform

Achieve continuous control monitoring while addressing core cybersecurity challenges interoperably.

An interoperable CCM platform like Cyber Sierra is optimal for CISOs and enterprise security execs looking to achieve more with less. To show you how it compares, let’s walk through some cybersecurity CCM tools recommended by Gartner.

Enterprise Cybersecurity Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM) Tools Gartner Recommends

In their cybersecurity CCM study, Gartner recommended ten tools. We streamlined the list to five exclusive to CCM based on conversations with customers, prospects, and enterprise security experts.

Panaseer

The Panaseer CCM tool ingests data from security, cloud and on-premise IT and business tools. The software then normalizes, augments and correlates this data, giving security teams:

Continuous visibility of assets and controls status
Insights for prioritizing security resources
Automated security posture reports.

According to Panaseer’s CCM feature page, they optimize and monitor controls across eight cybersecurity domains:

Vulnerability analysis
Endpoint analysis
Patch analysis
Identify and access management
Privileged access management
Security awareness management
Application security analysis, and
Cloud security.

Given these covered domains, the Panaseer CCM software is ideal for cyber asset and security controls’ management, reporting, and evidenced remediation. But it falls short in two crucial areas.

Enterprise security teams can’t use Panaseer to assess security risks from third-party vendors that can lead to control breaks.
You can’t establish compliance governance and monitor corresponding security controls mapped to implemented compliance frameworks and policies.

Cyber Sierra has these solutions built-in.

For instance, with our platform your team can map and monitor controls for all implemented compliance programs:

Quod Orbis

Quod Orbis is another tool dedicated to CCM:

The software audits a company’s cloud assets and monitors risks and security controls continuously from data sources and compliance frameworks. Unlike Panaseer, Quod Orbis focuses more on monitoring the security controls of compliance programs.

You get:

Continuous compliance
Real-time compliance controls visibility
Enhanced security and compliance posture
Cyber risk quantification, and
Expert-led management of their platform.

Like Panaseer, you can’t track third-party risk assessments, provide, or monitor continuous employee security awareness training with Quod Orbis. And these are crucial for ensuring the security controls being monitored are adhered to by third-parties and employees.

With Cyber Sierra, in addition to having core CCM capabilities, you can launch and monitor ongoing security awareness training:

Metricstream

Positioned as ‘the connected GRC software,’ Metricstream offers continuous control monitoring capabilities for:

IT & Cyber Risk
Compliance
Audit, and
ESG:

As shown above, Metricstream is more of a GRC solution with continuous control monitoring features for:

Gaining a unified, real-time view of risks, threats, and vulnerabilities for effective risk and IT control assessments.
Staying on top of evolving regulatory requirements relevant to compliance risks, policies, cases, and controls.

Like the others, two areas where Metricstream is lacking are vendor risk assessment monitoring and ongoing employee security awareness training. You need both to ensure security controls being monitored are adhered to by vendors and employees.

Another reason to consider a cybersecurity CCM platform like Cyber Sierra with such capabilities built-in.

JupiterOne

This tool has extensive integration for various apps used across different categories by enterprises. To that effect, JupiterOne is mainly a cyber asset attack surface management (CAASM) solution with continuous compliance monitoring capabilities:

With this tool, security teams can have vulnerabilities from their cloud assets ingested and normalized in a single platform.

You get:

Cloud asset inventory
Granular data segmentation of integrated assets
Continuous compliance, and
Graph-based context.

The graph-based context is JupiterOne’s stand-out feature. Security leaders use it to view the connections between their cloud assets, constantly monitor, and identify any risks involved. Without this feature, JupiterOne would probably not be considered a continuous control monitoring tool.

And that’s because it mainly collects and normalizes assets’ data, maps out cloud assets relationships, and provides visibility. Being an interoperable pure-play CCM platform, Cyber Sierra does these out of the box.

We even have a more advanced graph-based context built-in:

As shown, not only can you integrate and ingest data from your cloud assets to Cyber Sierra. But in a graph-based context you can also:

View how each asset connects to others.
Monitor vulnerabilities between connected assets.
Track security controls broken by specific users of those assets.

RiskOptics

Formerly Reciprocity, RiskOptics bears similarities to Metricstream being that it is more of a GRC platform:

However, RiskOptics’ ROAR (Risk Observation, Assessment and Remediation) feature offers some continuous control monitoring capabilities. It is mainly suited for monitoring and providing insights for closing control gaps in implemented compliance frameworks.

The tool does that in two ways:

Reducing audit fatigue by enabling teams to reuse controls and evidence across frameworks and continuously test control effectiveness, making organizations always audit-ready.
Connecting threats, vulnerabilities and risks, and continuously testing compliance and security controls to surface risks.

RiskOptics does not offer the ability to monitor third-party risk assessments, provide or track continuous employee security awareness training, just like other CCM tools Gartner recommends. These are crucial because they ensure security controls being monitored are adhered to by third-parties and employees.

Even though Cyber Sierra isn’t on Gartner’s recommended CCM tools (yet), the platform shines in those areas. Ours is an enterprise-grade pure-play CCM system that also solves other cybersecurity monitoring and remediation challenges interoperably.

Advantages of a Cybersecurity Continuous Control Monitoring System Like Cyber Sierra

Continuous control monitoring wasn’t added to Cyber Sierra as an afterthought or in response to the growing demand. Unlike other platforms, our CCM feature isn’t built separately. You get full-scale continuous control monitoring capabilities built into core cybersecurity areas like:

Governance and compliance
Managing cloud assets
Risk management and remediation

Governance and Compliance

Here, continuous monitoring of security controls associated with compliance programs, frameworks, and policies happens in two ways. Cyber Sierra first consolidates controls from all implemented security governance and compliance programs into one view. From there, it automatically monitors and adds any control that breaks into a dedicated view for easier discovery and remediation:

Second, you also get a more comprehensive ‘Controls Dashboard’ under governance. Enterprise teams use this to monitor security controls relative to compliance programs and integrated cloud assets.

Here’s a sneak peek:

Managing Cloud Assets

Enterprise security teams can integrate and maintain a holistic inventory of all cloud assets used with Cyber Sierra. But to enable the management of risks and vulnerabilities from those assets, our platform takes it one step further.

You get a Risk Dashboard to continuously monitor risks by asset categories and security control breaks by asset types:

As shown, the risk heat map gives your team a unified view of all critical to low risks mapped to all affected cloud assets.

Risk Management and Remediation

The whole purpose of continuous monitoring is to detect, manage, and remediate risks proactively. To do that, a CCM platform shouldn’t just enable enterprise teams to monitor controls. It should facilitate the remediation of risks associated with monitored controls.

Cyber Sierra’s Risk Register enables that.

With it, enterprise security teams can scan all integrated assets (it takes ~10 mins) to:

Identify assets that are vulnerable to threats.
See a breakdown of security controls linked to those assets.
Easily check the control break in one button click:

Implement an Interoperable CCM Tool

Cyber Sierra consolidates the core capabilities for cybersecurity continuous control monitoring into one interoperable technology platform. This is recommended, according to EY’s 2023 Global Cybersecurity Leadership Insights Study.

A key finding of the study went:

Based on this, achieving cybersecurity continuous control monitoring with a consolidated platform is logical. And with Cyber Sierra, you get one that monitors and detects incidents efficiently while also tackling other cybersecurity challenges.

Imagine your team doing more with less.

Do More With Less

Achieve continuous control monitoring through a consolidated platform with built-in capabilities for tackling other cybersecurity challenges.

Pramodh Rai

Meet Pramodh Rai, a technology aficionado and Cyber Sierra's co-founder, whose zest for innovation is fuelled by a cupboard stacked with zero-sugar Redbull. With a nimble footwork through the tech tulips across Asia Pacific, he's donned hats at Hmlet (the proptech kind) and Funding Societies | Modalku, building high-performing teams and technologies. A Barclays prodigy with dual degrees from Nanyang Technological University, Pramodh is a treasure trove of wisdom, dad jokes, and everything product/tech. He's the Sherpa in sneakers you need.

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Governance & Compliance

Here’s How to Automate Enterprise Compliance Management

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SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and so on.

I know. The number of cybersecurity and privacy laws enterprises must attain and stay compliant with can be daunting. Especially if your company operates across multiple jurisdictions. Regardless, Hui Chen, a renowned ethics and corporate compliance leader, advised against treating them like a box-checking exercise.

Hui’s co-authored piece for HBR noted:

You’re probably wondering:

So how can CISOs and IT Executives achieve effectiveness and stop treating compliance like a box-checking exercise? One such way is implementing and managing your enterprise compliance programs holistically. Experts call it enterprise compliance management.

And it has two key areas:

Key Areas of Enterprise Compliance Management

Starting with its top-level definition:

To extend Tzvika Sharaf’s succinct definition, the creation of such high-level workflow must address two key areas:

External compliance revolves around regulation and rules imposed on a company by the industry or government of the jurisdictions it operates in. For example, per the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), if a company misplaces customer personal information from the European Union (EU), they are mandated to provide notification of this mishap within 72 hours.
Internal compliance, on the other hand, is how an enterprise organization responds to and works within the confines of externally imposed compliance regulations.

So for effective enterprise compliance management, you don’t just need well-defined procedures and policies. These should address both internal and external requirements peculiar to each compliance program your enterprise company implements. Achieving that requires centralization, according to Deloitte:

The second challenge:

How do you achieve this needed centralization?

For the rest of this guide, I’d walk you through three pillars you should centralize with technology for that. You’ll also see how Cyber Sierra’s governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) suite automates and makes everything seamless.

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Three Pillars of Enterprise Compliance Management

Programs,
People, and
Processes.

Those are the three pillars of enterprise compliance.

Per Deloitte’s report cited above, these pillars must be centralized with a system that enables each to function efficiently and effectively:

1. Programs

The first step in enterprise compliance management is choosing programs to implement and in what order. Both criteria are crucial to avoid treating compliance like a box-checking exercise, as Hui advised against.

Two reasons for that are:

Choosing the right programs ensures your company adheres to industry- and location-specific compliance regulations.
Implementing compliance programs in the right order makes the process easier to navigate and manage for your company.

For instance, if your company handles financial and personal data of European-based customers, PCI DSS and GDPR are a necessity. On the other hand, although ISO 27001 and SOC 2 aren’t compulsory, they are widely recognized and can ease your team’s implementation of other programs.

The order of importance differs depending on whether your company handles health information of customers. In that case, HIPAA is a compliance program to also prioritize. In some cases, it may be necessary to first implement internal compliance and security controls to guide data security management across your company.

Navigating all this can be gruesome.

Which is where a tool with extensive GRC capabilities is crucial. With Cyber Sierra, for instance, choosing and implementing enterprise compliance programs is streamlined. You can implement internal cybersecurity compliance controls. And your security team can also start with widely recognized compliance programs like SOC 2, GDPR, and ISO 27001 that ease the implementation of all other programs.

All from one dashboard:

2. People

Effective compliance management starts with people —your security team and employees across the organization. When grounded and empowered to adhere to all cybersecurity compliance requirements, they can be your greatest asset for staying compliant. Otherwise, they can be your biggest burden and window to data security breaches.

To stress the point:

leading to these data security breaches and compliance failures include:

Per this Verizon study, dominant incidents

Employees mis-configuring a database and directly exposing information, and

Employees making errors that enable cybercriminals to access privileged information in a company’s systems.

Here’s why I’m addressing the ‘people’ pillar in enterprise compliance management from the angle of your entire company employees. Having a Director of Compliance and managers to oversee the implementation of compliance programs is crucial. However, if all employees aren’t trained on being compliant, the chances of getting breached and facing non-compliance fines remain high.

It’s why in a Forbes article, Justin Rende wrote:

It is also important for ongoing security awareness training to cut across all implementable compliance programs. This streamlines the training experience for the staff without overwhelming them with new training for each program.

But that’s not all.

Executives need to track all staff training, so they can follow up and ensure they are being completed. This is where an interoperable cybersecurity platform like Cyber Sierra comes in:

As shown, your team can launch staff-wide ongoing security awareness training that cuts across all compliance programs. More importantly, executives like you get a dashboard to monitor how employees are completing them on our platform, too.

3. Processes

Processes are crucial for managing enterprise compliance. First, they create a culture of transparency on how to implement programs. Second, processes ensure accountability within your team and promotes a methodical approach to compliance management.

Essentially, processes guide employees through the decision-making and actions needed to attain and stay compliant. And aid in documenting and creating audit trails required to demonstrate compliance to auditors, stakeholders, and regulators.

For instance, you need efficient processes for:

Continuous risk assessments
Internal and external security audits
Compliance programs’ policy development
Mapping security controls to each compliance program
Ongoing risk monitoring, scoring, mitigation, and so on.

But each of these processes must be meticulous and adjusted as the regulatory compliance landscape evolves. This is why corporate compliance experts recommend the automation of these processes.

With an intelligent, unified platform like Cyber Sierra, crucial compliance program processes are automated out of the box. For instance, our platform maintains auto-updated versions of policies mapped to different compliance programs:

Having compliance policies in a central place like this cuts off all the gruesome manual work involved in effecting processes for creating, uploading, and maintaining them as the regulatory landscape evolves.

Other Areas Automation Aids Compliance Management

Having a centralized enterprise compliance management system goes beyond enabling its pillars. Although this is crucial as shown so far, there are other areas where automation streamlines compliance management for the CISO and IT Executives.

1. Compliance Controls’ Management

Compliance programs have dozens, and for some, hundreds of security controls that must be implemented. And as each compliance program evolves, evidence of each control must be updated to confirm that security measures are in place and avoid fines.

Doing this at scale, considering there are hundreds of controls across compliance programs, requires a central place for tracking them:

As shown, Cyber Sierra has a robust compliance controls’ management dashboard. Having all controls auto-mapped to different programs like this streamlines the steps usually spent tracking and updating evidence in spreadsheets for your team. It also gives you, the executive, a way to monitor and view uploaded compliance controls’ evidence from one view.

2. Risk Insights and Analysis

Negligence isn’t the sole cause of compliance issues.

Often, failure to proactively identify and mitigate external risks from third-party vendors can result in breaching your compliance stance. In the words of a veteran CISO, Jay Pasteris:

To avoid this, it helps to manage your company’s compliance programs with an interoperable cybersecurity platform like Cyber Sierra. This is because our platform has capabilities for automating continuous 3rd party risk assessments and ongoing risk monitoring.

Automate Enterprise Compliance Management

Managing enterprise compliance manually can be time-consuming and extremely challenging, often leading to costly inefficiencies. Also, it takes more than having software that streamlines becoming and staying compliant with specific programs.

The need to map and manage security controls per compliance program is crucial. And so is the need to automate the process of continuously analyzing, identifying, and mitigating all third-party vendor risks. As shown so far, without these, all efforts toward compliance management could still lead to hefty fines.

It is therefore necessary to automate the entire enterprise compliance management lifecycle with an interoperable cybersecurity platform like Cyber Sierra. Our platform enables the core pillars of enterprise compliance management and has capabilities for the other areas.

And we’re on standby to give you a free tour:

Automate Your Entire Enterprise Compliance Management Lifecycle

Book a free demo and see how cyber sierra help CISOs automate enterprise compliance management.

Pramodh Rai

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Third Party Risk Management

How Should Enterprise CISOs Structure TPRM Teams?

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‘How do I mitigate vendor risks?’

That’s a common question in my chats with CISOs and IT executives. Being a tech enthusiast and as stressed in previous guides, my usual suggestion is: Leverage technology and streamlined processes to:

Implement the right TPRM framework
Switch to continuous vendor assessments. And,
Automate ongoing third-party risk monitoring.

These are all crucial factors.

But often, CISOs come back seeking help on how best to build and structure their third-party risk management (TPRM) teams. Each time this happens, I’m reminded of these words by Dave Buster:

Dave couldn’t say it better. The right TPRM framework, technology, and automated processes won’t work on their own. So to mitigate risks in our ever-expanding vendor landscape, you need:

A dedicated vendor risk management team
An effective TPRM reporting structure.

Starting with the latter, I’d cover both in this guide.

Third-Party Risk Management Reporting Structure

Get the right people, and you can rest assured your vendor risk management program is in good hands. Design an effective reporting structure for your TPRM team, and you can be sure the right info reaches you (and the C-Suite) at the right time.

The challenge:

What should such a TPRM reporting structure look like?

It ultimately depends on your organization type and overall size of your cybersecurity team. Generally though, experts recommend a centralized TPRM reporting structure:

As illustrated above, a centralized structure eliminates silos and can be more effective for two reasons:

The CISO and Senior Management get real-time insight into how subteams are implementing the TPRM program.
Subteams overseeing various aspects of your TPRM program can track teammates’ actions and act proactively.

If this reporting structure makes sense to you, as it does for most enterprise security execs, the next hurdle I often hear is: What are the roles and responsibilities of subteams dedicated to each step?

The rest of this guide addresses that. As we proceed, you’ll also see how our interoperable cybersecurity platform helps enterprise security teams automate and report critical TPRM processes.

Before we dive in…

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Enterprise TPRM Team Roles and Responsibilities

When filling critical roles in your TPRM team and assigning responsibilities, diversity is highly recommended. The Institute of Critical Infrastructure Technology, in a study titled, “The Business Value of a Diverse InfoSec Team,” reiterated this.

According to their research:

So while the centralized reporting structure above helps, it is crucial to keep diversity in mind as you fill the TPRM roles below.

TPRM Program Director/Manager

This individual or team owns the TPRM program.

High-performers have a balance of demonstrable risk management skills, extensive training, experience, and the ability to coordinate all subteams. They report to you, the CISO, and usually, their primary responsibilities would be to help you:

Champion and advocate for the maturity of your TPRM program and develop key partnerships across the org to ensure alignment with your company’s overall 3rd party strategy.
Design and oversee the implementation of your TPRM framework and operating procedures needed to integrate necessary security controls per your business functions.
Establish relevant TPRM program metrics, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Key Risk Indicators (KRIs), and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for managing all vendor risks.
Design security guardrails for selecting vendors, and define security scores and controls 3rd parties must retain before they can be considered and let into your third-party ecosystem.

Vendor Assessments & Onboarding Subteam

The core responsibility of specialist(s) on this subteam is enforcing the security guidelines defined by the TPRM Program Director, which new vendors must meet. Specifically, this includes:

Vetting, profiling, and tiering vendors
Creating and implementing custom security audits or exams.
Choosing and right-sizing appropriate security assessment questionnaire templates for select vendors.
Onboarding vendors with acceptable security controls, etc.

Imagine doing all that with this:

Josh Angert, Manager at Vendor Centric, observed how core functions of this subteam, if done manually with Excel, can lead to inconsistent vendor risk tiering, wasted time, and poor assessments.

In his words:

As Josh advised, to curb vendor risk assessment bottlenecks, CISOs can leverage a vendor risk management system to standardize processes.

That’s where Cyber Sierra comes in:

As shown, our system streamlines the gruesome vendor tiering, assessment, and onboarding processes into three easy steps. For instance, your team can profile vendors based on their business type, location, and easily tier those requiring advanced assessments.

Automate Vendor Risk Assessments

Cyber Sierra streamlines crucial vendor assessment processes, so enterprise TPRM teams can compile reports faster.

Vendor Risk Monitoring & Remediation Subteam

This subteam usually comprises risk detection and mitigation experts, each assigned to one or a group of vendors. They work closely with the security assessment subteam, share insights within each other, and report to the TPRM Program Director, or you, the CISO.

Some core responsibilities include:

Own assigned third-party vendors and manage their risks.
Perform daily or weekly risk management tasks on assigned vendors, according to your company’s instituted TPRM program.
Detect, mitigate, and report risks posed by third-parties, and work with them and the DevSecOps team to remediate the same.
Flag third-parties that should be terminated, and in most cases, oversee the offboarding of flagged high-risk vendors.

One way to empower this subteam is through software that enables ongoing vendor risk monitoring. This helps them identify vendors whose security controls become outdated and can’t be verified.

Again, Cyber Sierra automates this:

Our platform uses standardized enterprise security controls to auto-check evidence uploaded by vendors on an ongoing basis. As shown above, you get alerted of those that fail verification, flagging your team to immediately work with the vendor to enforce them.

TPRM Program Auditors

According to Vikrant Rai:

In other words, having internal (and external) auditors is a must-have. They perform systematic evaluations of your company’s implemented TPRM framework, documentation, processes, and security controls. This enables them to document weaknesses that must be addressed and usually report directly to the CISOs, IT executives, and the TPRM Program Director/Manager.

How Many People Should Be On My TPRM Team?

There’s no magic number.

Generally, the more vendors you manage, the more risk exposure your team may have to deal with, and the more people required. But all third-parties aren’t created equal. In a sample of, say, 200 vendors, only 5-10% (i.e., 10-20) may be high-risk or critical to your company’s operations. In a centralized reporting structure, where processes have been automated, 1-2 full-time employees (FTEs) on your risk monitoring and remediation subteam can manage such vendors closely, in addition to reviewing others occasionally.

Going by this logic, the number of people you may need on your enterprise TPRM team should be around:

1–3 FTEs for up to 200 vendors.
3–5 FTEs for 200 – 600 vendors.
One (1) additional FTE for every 100–200 vendors beyond that.

You may be wondering:

How about the assessment and vendor onboarding subteam?

Well, by automating processes with a tool like Cyber Sierra, your TPRM Director can vet, assess, and onboard vendors in a few steps because those critical to-dos have been streamlined. For instance, they can choose from standard security assessment questionnaires already built into our platform, customize per your company’s needs, and send to vendors:

Make Your TPRM Team More Effective

In a cybersecurity survey reported by Graphus:

This finding proves that, irrespective of how many full-time employees (FTEs) on your TPRM team or reporting structure, automation is needed to make them more effective.

Third-party risk expert, Ian Terry, agrees:

We built Cyber Sierra to enable enterprise TPRM teams to achieve this needed automation and become more effective. From tiering critical vendors to continuous security assessments, and ongoing risk monitoring, our platform automates the steps required.

Want to see it for yourself?

Automate Crucial Vendor Risk Management Process

Cyber Sierra streamlines crucial vendor assessment processes, so enterprise TPRM teams can compile reports faster.

Pramodh Rai

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Continuous Control Monitoring

Cybersecurity Continuous Control Monitoring: A Checklist for CISOs

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Cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated. And their growing sophistication is expanding the cyberattack landscape every quarter:

To outsmart them and secure enterprise organizations, security teams must adopt measures that proactively identify and mitigate vulnerabilities and attacks beforehand. Narendra Sahoo, CISA, reiterated how enterprise security teams can do this.

He wrote:

Gartner calls this recommended proactive measure cybersecurity continuous control monitoring (CCM). Being a relatively new approach, it’s best for CISOs and enterprise security executives to begin by knowing what to include as they plan its implementation.

We’ll cover that in this guide and explore an actionable checklist to help your security team get it right. But let’s start with the often-asked question…

What Should a Continuous Cybersecurity Monitoring Plan Include?

As defined by Gartner:

Based on this definition, an effective continuous cybersecurity monitoring plan should, through technology and automation:

Map and maintain awareness of all systems and IT assets across your company and third-party vendor ecosystem.
Understand all emerging external threats and internal threat-related activities relative to established security controls.
Collect, analyze, and provide actionable security-related info across all mapped IT assets, security frameworks, and compliance regulations.
Integrate risk management and information security frameworks, and enable your security team to proactively manage risks.

Automating the areas outlined above in your CCM plan ensures coverage for all steps of the typical CCM lifecycle phases:

But each phase of the CCM lifecycle above has many steps and, in some cases, substeps. This, in turn, makes their implementation something security teams need to meticulously follow, step-by-step.

In the cybersecurity continuous control monitoring (CCM) checklist below, we explore the steps in each phase. You’ll also see how Cyber Sierra, our interoperable cybersecurity and compliance automation platform, streamlines their implementation.

Download the checklist to follow along:

The Enterprise Cybersecurity Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM) Checklist

Implement Cybersecurity Continuous Control Monitoring in your enterprise organization with this step-by-step checklist.

Why should we implement the CCM process?

By implementing a CCM process, enterprises can proactively manage risks, maintain regulatory compliance, improve operational efficiency, and foster a culture of continuous improvement, ultimately contributing to long-term success and sustainability.

Regulatory compliance:

CCM facilitates regulatory conformity and adherence to industry benchmarks pertaining to internal control oversight, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), COSO framework, and other governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) directives.

Risk mitigation:

It offers near real-time visibility into control vulnerabilities, empowering organizations to promptly identify and mitigate risks, thereby reducing the potential for fraud, errors, or operational disruptions.

Operational efficiency:

CCM automates the monitoring of controls, diminishing the need for periodic manual testing and audits, which can be time-consuming and resource-intensive endeavors.

Continuous enhancement:

By continuously monitoring controls, organizations can pinpoint areas for improvement and implement necessary adjustments to bolster the efficacy of their control environment.

Cost optimization:

An effective CCM can aid organizations in avoiding the costs associated with control failures, such as fines, legal fees, and reputational damage.

Informed decision-making:

CCM furnishes management with up-to-date information on the state of internal controls, enabling them to make more informed decisions regarding risk management and resource allocation.

Competitive Advantage:

Implementing a robust CCM process demonstrates an enterprise’s commitment to strong internal controls, risk management, and good governance practices, which can enhance its reputation and provide a competitive advantage in the market.

Enterprise Cybersecurity Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM) Checklist

Renowned Security Architect, Matthew Pascucci, advised:

Matthew’s advice is spot on.

In short, it is the expected outcome of the first step of our CCM checklist. So let’s dive in.

1. Analyze Continuous Control Objectives

Enterprises with any form of existing compliance and risk management process already have some form of security controls in place. If that’s your case, as it is with most enterprise organizations, achieving continuous monitoring of those security controls starts with analyzing your controls’ objectives.

You achieve this by initiating an extensive assessment of your organization’s compliance and cybersecurity controls. In other words, assess existing risks, cyber threats and vulnerabilities with a CCM platform.

The platform you choose should be able to:

Connect and map all the IT assets in your cloud and network environments, and those of third-party vendors.
Outline and categorize all technical and non-technical security controls across mapped assets and environments.
Integrate existing risk management, compliance, and information security frameworks to match outlined controls.
Identify vulnerabilities and gaps in existing security controls relative to mapped assets across cloud environments.

You can automate these tasks with Cyber Sierra. First, connect and map IT assets used across your company and third-party vendor ecosystem by integrating them with Cyber Sierra:

After integrating, scan one, some, or all apps and systems used across your organization in a few clicks. Each time your team initiates a scan with Cyber Sierra, it not only performs a scan, but also performs a comprehensive risk assessment of the integrated IT assets.

This is because our interoperable cybersecurity platform analyzes all integrated assets against standardized risk management, compliance, and information security frameworks in the background. This helps to detect and push vulnerabilities, cyber threats, and risks into your dashboard.

Here’s a peek:

Analyze Control Objectives and Implement Continuous Control Monitoring in One Place.

2. Evaluate Controls’ Implementation Options

What implementation options are feasible after analyzing the objectives of your controls through a comprehensive risk assessment? That’s the question your team must answer here.

To do this:

Review your company’s service portfolio to identify and determine what security controls are mission-critical.
Identify areas where additional resources (i.e., expertise, capital, training, etc.) are required for implementing continuous monitoring of mission-critical security controls, based on gaps found during the analysis and risk assessment phase.
Examine existing risk management, compliance, and information security procedures and processes to uncover what needs an upgrade to achieve continuous control monitoring.

3. Determine Continuous Control Implementation

According to Steve Durbin, CEO of the Information Security Forum:

Continuous control monitoring is a fast-paced process, where your security team must stay one step ahead of cybercriminals. So as observed by Steve, having a cohesive security architecture is essential for effective, consistent, and safe implementation.

You can do this by:

Developing a common language by creating standard terms and principles for implementing continuous control monitoring in your organization. This makes it clear for your security team and new members to understand what they should and should not do.
Establishing the objective and priority of each implemented or should-be implemented security control relative to your business goal(s). This helps everyone in your security team working on specific security controls to give it necessary priority.
Determining and documenting acceptable approaches for implementing CCM. This helps your team know where to start, how to proceed, and the possible, acceptable outcome of each implemented or should-be implemented security control.
Outlining the conditions and steps for adapting all mission-critical security controls being monitored.

4. Create Continuous Control Procedures

This step involves creating continuous security control procedures based on stardardard or customized cybersecurity policy frameworks. Examples of standard cybersecurity policy frameworks to create continuous control procedures from are NIST, ISO, SOC, etc.

So for this step:

Examine standard cybersecurity policy frameworks to identify security controls critical to your business.
Create procedures for implementing controls identified from standard policy frameworks.
Identify necessary security controls not available in the standard cybersecurity policy frameworks examined; then, create custom policies and procedures for implementing them.

For the third sub-step, you’ll need a platform like Cyber Sierra that allows the upload of custom cybersecurity policies. Our compliance automation suite allows the creation of customized risk governance programs and uploading of custom control policies for them:

5. Deploy Continuous Control Instances

Implementing control instances operationalizes the cybersecurity controls established within the policy frameworks developed in the previous phase.

This involves:

Collaborating with your security operations team to implement continuous cybersecurity controls instances.
Implementing the security services needed to enforce and make defined control instances work.
Providing evidence for evaluating adherence to established security controls, policies, and procedures.

You may need to hire external expertise or launch employee security awareness training on deploying continuous control instances. Cyber Sierra can help with the latter:

As shown, you can launch and track the completion of cybersecurity training programs relevant to implementing CCM with our employee Security Awareness module.

6. Automate Security Controls’ Monitoring

This step is where the main functions of a cybersecurity continuous control monitoring (CCM) platform come to bare. So choose one that enables your security team to automatically:

Monitor and test security controls based on defined procedures and implemented risk management and compliance policies.
Identify and score emerging threats according to their likely impact on your organization’s security program.
Provides actionable information for your DevSecOps team to remediate threats and vulnerabilities in near-real-time.

For a CCM platform to tick the boxes above, it must ingest data from your mapped IT assets against established security policies. It must also refresh this ingested data in real-time automatically, ensuring continuous monitoring of security controls. Finally, it must alert security teams of risks that could lead to a breach.

The Risk Register on Cyber Sierra meets those requirements.

As shown, it detected threats in a GSuite asset category down to individual users. In this case, it refreshes ingested data in real-time, creating a threat alert and risk score whenever a user connects an unapproved external app with SSO to their GSuite.

7. Optimize Continuous Control Implementation

Continuous control monitoring is a never-ending process.

As the threat landscape, risk management trends, and compliance regulation requirements evolve, so should your continuous control implementation. Also, as your organization grows or collaborates with new third-party vendors, your continuous security control requirements will must adjust, too.

So choose an interval that makes sense for your organization, say weekly or monthly; and optimize CCM implementation by:

Enhancing ongoing data ingestion by uncovering new or disconnected apps and systems in your IT asset inventory.
Detecting control gaps and threats not accounted for as your DevSecOps team remediates identified risks.
Informing overall threat intelligence management across your organization based on risks and vulnerabilities detected throughout the CCM process.

What Tool is Used in Continuous Control Monitoring?

Due to its growing popularity, pure-play continuous control monitoring (CCM) platforms are emerging. At the same time, some niche governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) vendors are incorporating CCM capabilities into their solutions.

While the latter can do some of the job, it’s best to use a CCM tool built to support implementation across all phases of the CCM lifecycle. As the checklist explored above showed, that includes a long list of steps all related to each other in one way or another.

Based on this, Gartner recommends the use of a CCM tool that automates four core things:

Cyber Sierra has these capabilities built into its platform.

In short, ours is an interoperable cybersecurity and compliance automation software. This means the capabilities outlined above work well together, making the automation of CCM procedures and processes seamless.

Automate Continuous Cybersecurity Control Monitoring

As shown throughout various steps of the CCM lifecycle phases, automation is at the core of implementing CCM. And it is more feasible with an interoperable cybersecurity and compliance automation platform.

This is where Cyber Sierra comes in.

Why not book a free demo of Cyber Sierra to get a sneak peek into how our platform automates the ongoing implementation of CCM?

Automate Enterprise Cybersecurity Continuous Control Monitoring Implementation from One Place.

Pramodh Rai

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Third Party Risk Management

Best Practices to Create a Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) Program

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All businesses involve finance, sales, marketing, and other operations. And outsourcing some of these functions is the easiest way for large enterprises to grow. However, it’s imperative to recognize that these business relationships can also expose your enterprise to significant threats in the form of data breaches.

According to a survey by IBM, nearly 83% of the organizations they studied have had more than one data breach. And it caused an average loss of $4.35 million!

The smart way to circumvent these third-party risks is to mitigate and manage them proactively. Enter Third-Party Risk Management.

Read on to uncover everything you need to know about Third-party risk management and its best practices.

What is Third-Party Risk Management?

The third-party risk management is a structured approach to mitigate any third-party risks associated with your business. Enterprises create a TPRM framework, which includes vendor risk assessment, monitoring, and mitigation to protect their data.

Vendors, suppliers, contractors, distributors, service providers, manufacturers, affiliates, and other third-party organizations expose your enterprise to a multitude of risks. Third-party risk include:

Operational risks
Financial risks
Reputational risk
Compliance risk
Cyberattack risk
Data protection risks

Third-party risk refers to the various types of risk that a business faces from its relationships with other parties and organizations that it works with.

6 critical components of the TPRM Framework

There are six components of a typical third-party risk management framework including:

The process involved in each element is different and goes through a lifecycle. Let’s dive into each of them.

1. Risk assessment and categorization

The company assesses the risk associated with each third-party vendor. A TPRM framework identifies and evaluates the risks stemming from any third-party relationship. This may encompass operational, financial, compliance, and other aspects.

This step is crucial for identifying potential threats to the business. The TPRM framework incorporates risk matrices or scoring systems to categorize these risks

2. Due diligence

Due diligence is a process that involves assessing qualifications, conducting background checks, and verifying documents before engaging in a third-party relationship. This process serves to diminish the likelihood of potential threats posed by third-party vendors and fosters trust between your company and these vendors.

Organizations should establish specific criteria for selecting vendors, which may include evaluating their financial stability, ensuring compliance with regulations, and assessing alignment with corporate values.

3. Contractual agreements

Contractual agreements entail the creation of precise contracts that outline responsibilities, obligations, expectations, scope, and other essential terms. These contracts incorporate legal clauses designed to safeguard data against breaches and ensure compliance with regulations.

They also include conditions and indemnifications to address various scenarios. It’s important to note that contracts may need to be modified in response to new regulations or significant changes in circumstances.

4. Continuous monitoring

Continuous monitoring is an automated process in which companies routinely assess networks, organizations, IT systems, and other third parties to ensure they adhere to legal contracts and obligations.

This component detects security, performance, or noncompliance issues and prevents/ warns them! Companies use metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure performance and legal obligations.

5. Risk mitigation

Now that you have identified the risks, it’s time to take action. This phase involves the development and implementation of strategies to mitigate or manage the risks associated with third parties. Risk mitigation strategies may include contingency plans, security controls, insurance coverage, and other measures.

6. Incident response

Incident response plans delineate the steps to be taken in the event of an incident, encompassing the involvement of third parties and the risks associated with them, such as data breaches or compliance violations.

This step is essential to ensure a coordinated response whenever an incident occurs. These plans typically include the identification of the incident, notification of stakeholders, containment of the incident, investigation of its root causes, and the implementation of corrective actions.

Each of these components is crucial for a proactive and successful third-party risk management lifecycle.

10 steps to create a strong Third-Party Risk Management Framework

Any cybersecurity-conscious enterprise must adopt a robust TPRM framework to identify, avoid, and mitigate any third-party risks in its business operations.

Here are the 10 steps to create a third-party risk management framework that manages all your business risks.

1. List all the third-party affairs

No matter the number or size of the third-party vendors you are affiliated with, you must document every vendor information in your system. It includes the vendor information, their service type, the risks they can make, and their roles.

2. Identify and categorize the third parties.

Create a separate list of categories to quantify the risks based on the third-party affairs and based on their potential impact on the business.

Make an intuitive category, either ABC or high, medium, or low, depending on the risk rating. Then, put each of them in the class according to the seriousness of the risks.

For instance, the TPRM program in Cyber Sierra allows enterprises to maintain a central repository of all their vendors on a single platform and helps score them in terms of the risks. But more on that later.

3. Vendor risk assessment

Identify and assess every risk associated with third-party vendors. Document and categorize each of them into the different types of risks. You can table them as operational, financial, legal or reputational.

This helps to assess the potential risks that the third-party relationship in the future might cause. With Cyber Sierra, you can do a continuous risk assessment for your third-party vendors and identify all the potential risks associated with them and proactively take mitigating actions to reduce their impact.

4. Risk mitigation and control

It might cost you a good governance team to handle your TPRM framework- but it’s worth it. Appoint a TPRM team in your organization, or get yourself a professional TPRM platform such as Cyber Sierra’s that can manage it all for you. Cyber Sierra can seamlessly bridge the gap between your TPRM requirements and your vendors, and make the process effortless, efficient, and most importantly, effective.

5. Due diligence

Even though the due diligence method is quite traditional, it pours many benefits into the TPRM framework. Develop a strategy that involves a series of diligent inspections. It includes a thorough background check, document verifications, checking the reputation, financial audits, and security of the third-party organization.

This is a process that requires time and effort, but it can be very effective in protecting your business from fraud and other risks. A thorough due diligence will help you avoid the hard costs associated with doing business with an unreliable vendor.

6. Contractual agreements

Inform your third-party vendors of the significance of the boundaries maintained in case of regulatory compliance.

Create a concise and explicit contract that states the scope, parties’ roles, data protection clauses, regulatory compliance, and termination conditions. This way, any third-party company that causes risk is subjected to legal obligations.

7. Continuous monitoring

Establish a system for continuous monitoring of third-party activities and risk exposure to prevent any risks ahead.

Set the frequency for assessments, which may vary based on the nature of the relationship. Companies also use metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure performance and adherence to contract terms.

Cyber Sierra’s intelligent platform allows you to monitor the security posture of your vendors continuously instead of simply relying on a one-off filling up of security questionnaires with no means to follow up and ensure all the security practices are always put to practice.

8. Reporting and communication

Create mechanisms for reporting and communicating third-party risks to relevant stakeholders. Ensure executives and regulatory authorities are informed to prevent any leading miscommunications between the stakeholders and the company.

9. Continuous improvement

Review and update your TPRM program regularly based on lessons learned, changes in third-party relationships, and evolving risks. To manage the risks better, adapt to new regulatory requirements, industry best practices, and technologies that give new insights into the TPRM framework.

With Cyber Sierra, you can incorporate regulatory as well as custom requirements into your TPRM framework.

10. Exit strategies

Vendor offboarding is also a critical step and needs meticulous planning and best practices such as data retrieval and contingency plans.

Benefits of Third-Party Risk Management

Implementing a Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) program offers numerous benefits to organizations across various industries. Here are some of the key advantages:

Let’s look at them one by one.

1. Reduced risks

TPRM helps organizations identify, assess, and mitigate risks associated with their third-party relationships. This approach minimizes the likelihood of unexpected issues, such as data breaches, compliance violations, or supply chain disruptions.

2. Enhanced security

It also helps protect sensitive data and intellectual property. The TPRM program assesses the third-party cybersecurity practices and requires security controls. This eliminates the primary source of stress in the age of cyber-attacks.

3. Lowered costs

TPRM programs are excellent in detecting the risks. Therefore, they prevent costly incidents or disruptions resulting from third-party failures. As aforementioned, data breaches can cause millions of financial losses, leading to reputational damage.

4. Continued operations

Effective TPRM programs include contingency planning for potential disruptions caused by third parties. This ensures that operations can continue smoothly even when third-party issues arise.

5. Protected data

Protecting customer data and sensitive information is a top priority for many organizations. TPRM ensures that third parties handle data appropriately, reducing the risk of data breaches.

Best Practices for Maintaining an Effective Third-Party Risk Management Framework

Managing risk is a vital aspect of any business endeavor. Consequently, the need for an effective third-party risk management framework is both pressing and complex.

Here are some best practices to ensure that your third-party risk management framework is not only robust but can adapt to an ever-evolving risk landscape.

Perform comprehensive due diligence

Due diligence is more than checking a box; it’s about understanding a potential third-party’s operations, controls, reputation, and financial health. Your risk management, therefore, must start before a partnership or engagement begins.

It’s crucial that you delve into their past dealings to spot any red flags regarding their business conduct, legal or regulatory issues.

Adopt tiered risk assessment

Not every third-party will pose the same level of risk to your organization. Some may have a minimal impact, while others can have significant business implications.

Categorize your third-party partnerships based on the level of risk exposure they bring. This helps focus your resources where they are most needed.

Establish clear communication channels

Transparent, unimpeded communication channels form the backbone of effective risk management. From notifying third parties about your policies and expectations to obtaining updates about their activities that may impact your business, communication is key.

Regular dialogues also reaffirm the third-party’s responsibility towards risk management and ensure they remain compliant with your standards.

Train your team

The onus of managing third-party risk doesn’t fall on a single department; it is an organizational endeavor.

Therefore, inculcate a culture of risk awareness throughout your organization. Regular training sessions help employees at all levels grasp the significance of third-party risk and their role in mitigating it.

With Cyber Sierra, you can ensure your team is well-informed and trained on how to mitigate third-party risk. Our training sessions can also be customized based on your requirements, so you can be sure they meet all the legal and regulatory standards that apply to your organization.

Leverage technology

There are numerous technologies, software, and tools available today that can streamline your risk management processes.

These solutions can automate various steps of the risk assessment process, keep track of documentation, provide real-time analytics, and ensure a consistent approach to risk management across the organization.

Check out our detailed guide on: Best Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) Tools.

Conclusion

Risk management is a dynamic process that needs to be updated regularly. You need to keep track of the changing business environment, new regulations and legislation, and new threats and vulnerabilities. This is why it’s so important to have a dedicated team in place that can conduct regular risk assessments and make sure your organization has the right policies and procedures in place.

With Cyber Sierra’s third-party risk management program you evaluate, mitigate, and monitor third-party vendor risks.

The TPRM program is customizable to the needs of different industries and ensures compliance with region-specific regulations, such as Singapore’s PDPA, Australia’s CIRMP, Europe’s GDPR, and USA’s CCPA, HIPAA, and PCI DSS, to name a few.

Book a demo to know more.

Srividhya Karthik

Srividhya Karthik is a seasoned content marketer and the Head of Marketing at Cyber Sierra. With a firm belief in the power of storytelling, she brings years of experience to create engaging narratives that captivate audiences. She also brings valuable insights from her work in the field of cybersecurity and compliance, possessing a deep understanding of the challenges and pain points faced by customers in these domains.

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Third Party Risk Management

Steps to Effective Third-Party Risk Management - Safeguarding Your Business Partnerships

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‘You’re only as strong as your weakest link’. In today’s interconnected business landscape, this adage carries more weight than ever before.

Why, you might ask?

Because third-party partnerships, for all their benefits, could very well become that weak link when not properly safeguarded.

Does your organization have a robust third-party risk management program in place?

If the answer gives you pause, you are not alone. Many businesses grapple with the challenge of managing third-party risks effectively.

In this guide, you will learn how to set up a third-party risk management program to help avoid costly mistakes and legal entanglements.

Let’s dive in.

Effective third-party risk management - a step-by-step guide

To effectively manage third-party risks, you should take a step-by-step approach. The following section guides how to set up a robust program that includes the following seven key components:

1. Create a standardized, automated onboarding process

A successful third-party risk management starts with a structured onboarding process for every vendor.

Why?

To ensure all necessary compliance checks are conducted with the same level of rigor, regardless of the vendor.

The process must entail:

Background Checks: Do a complete background and reputation check on the vendor, including operational history and potential compliance issues.
Financial Stability Assessment: This helps understand the vendor’s operational robustness and prevent unexpected business operation disruptions.
Security: Review the vendor’s security practices, data management policies, and disaster recovery plans to prevent future data breaches.
Regulatory Compliance: Check their adherence to industry regulations, licenses, and data protection laws.

Automating these tasks ensures fewer errors and consistency.

2. Identify all of your third-party risks

Upon onboarding, thoroughly evaluate any existing and potential third-party risks associated with new vendors. This process includes identifying financial, legal, operational, cybersecurity, and reputational risks.

Financial risks require understanding a third party’s financial stability, which is crucial to ensure uninterrupted service delivery.
Legal risks encompass potential litigation or regulatory sanctions due to the third party’s actions. You must ensure your partner’s adherence to regulations and laws to safeguard your legal position.
Operational risks involve potential losses due to the third party’s failed internal processes, people, or systems.
Cybersecurity risks, prevalent and growing, relate to potential data breaches and cyber threats.
Lastly, reputational risks can cause significant damage due to a third party’s unethical or controversial actions.

To address each risk effectively, you should collaborate with stakeholders from different departments to gain insight into every aspect of the third-party relationship.

3. Create a profile for each vendor

Establishing a complete vendor profile helps maintain an organized database of all current and prospective vendors.

Each vendor profile should include essential information such as company details, risk assessments, contracts, performance reviews, and other relevant documentation. A comprehensive vendor profile enables you to make informed decisions about your partnerships while evaluating risk and adjusting as needed.

4. Use risk & control assessments

Risk and control assessments are vital for efficient third-party risk management. They evaluate vendors’ compliance with your organization’s policies, procedures, and relevant regulations.

Risk assessments identify vulnerabilities, estimate threats’ probability and impact, and measure associated risks with each vendor. Control assessments focus on the effectiveness of vendors’ measures to mitigate acknowledged risks, including procedures to prevent or manage threats.

Tailor assessments to each third-party relationship, considering the specific services, industry context, and unique risks. Assessments should be iterative, reflecting changes in the business risk profile, vendor operations, or relevant laws and regulations.

These assessments’ results inform risk management decisions, such as avoidance, transfer, mitigation, or acceptance. They offer insights into vendor performance and improvement opportunities, guiding decisions like contract renewals or terminations and aiding in enhancing vendors’ risk management practices.

5. Have a remediation management plan

A remediation management plan is crucial in third-party risk management as it addresses risks and issues identified during risk and controls assessments.

This plan should clearly outline the required actions for each risk, assigning responsibilities to specific individuals or teams. Deadlines should be set to ensure timely implementation. Additionally, monitoring the progress of the remediation plan is essential.

Regular reporting and follow-ups should be built into the plan to hold vendors accountable for mitigating the risks per the agreed timelines. Doing so assures proactive management of issues before they manifest into tangible problems affecting your operations or reputation.

For instance, Cyber Sierra offers a continuous monitoring system that can help identify vulnerabilities in near real-time and guides steps to overcome them.

6. Regularly review contracts

Third-party contracts need regular reviews to ensure they remain current and effective in the light of evolving business requirements, regulatory environment, or identified risks.

This practice helps incorporate new standards or regulations into existing agreements, thereby ensuring compliance.

In this way, contract reviews turn into a preventive measure, minimizing the probability of unanticipated risks and safeguarding your organization’s interests.

7. Mandate ongoing vendor monitoring

Ongoing vendor monitoring helps detect and manage emerging risks in third-party relationships in real time. This process validates that vendors uphold their agreed-upon performance levels and continually meet your organization’s risk management objectives.

Effective vendor monitoring may comprise periodic assessments, performance evaluations, and regular audits. Not only does this practice help identify potential issues early, but it also triggers timely actions to prevent any negative impact.

Consequently, ongoing monitoring strengthens business partnerships, maintains operational stability, and fosters trust and reliability between your organization and its vendors.

The Cyber Sierra platform integrates seamlessly into your systems, allowing for ongoing monitoring of potential threats. It provides a robust solution for real-time vendor risk monitoring, empowering your organization to meet its third-party risk management objectives proactively.

Wrapping Up

Implementing a robust third-party risk management program is indispensable in today’s business environment. Not only does it establish secure business partnerships, but it also guards the very future of your organization. An effective program can build trust, increase resilience, and offer a competitive edge despite potential risks and uncertainties.

However, addressing third-party risk management’s complexity requires an integrated, comprehensive solution.

This is where Cyber Sierra can make a difference. With the ability to connect the dots across your entire organization, Cyber Sierra provides a comprehensive risk management solution to help you identify and manage third-party risks.

Book a demo to learn more.

Srividhya Karthik

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Third Party Risk Management

Best Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) Tools - Safeguarding Your Business Relationships

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Searching for a Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) tool that can help manage your security posture as well as business relationships?

The market offers a myriad of TPRM tools, each promising to maintain order.

But where does one start, and how do you know which solution is the right fit for your business?

In this guide, we’ll break it down for you. We’ll explain the nuances of TPRM and how it can effectively oversee your business relationships.

We’ll also give you some pointers on choosing the right TPRM tool for your business so you can start managing risks today!

Let’s get started.

What is Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM)?

Third-party risk management (TPRM) is a process that helps organizations identify, assess, and manage risks associated with their business relationships with third-parties. This includes the vendors, contractors, suppliers, distributors, and other parties that you work with to grow your business.

TPRM is an important part of enterprise risk management, and helps identify and manage risks associated with business operations. Third-party risk management tools can help enterprises analyze, assess, and manage these risks.

Your organization can also use TPRM tools to minimize legal liability and financial loss risks. It’s a crucial part of any security program that aims to prevent data breaches, cyber-attacks, and other threats related to information security.

Why Do You Need Third-Party Risk Management Tools?

TPRM tools extend beyond risk assessment and monitoring. They provide a comprehensive, data-driven framework for risk management, while also automating processes. This automation not only reduces the likelihood of human errors but also greatly expedites operational workflows.

Here are some essential reasons why you should use third-party risk management tools:

1. Assessing and Monitoring Risks

Third-party risk management tools play a pivotal role in evaluating and overseeing risks that can stem from diverse origins, including legal obligations, operational interruptions, and cyber vulnerabilities.

In the Gartner survey of 100 executive risk committee members in September 2022, 84% said third-party risks resulted in disruptions in operations.

A ‘miss’ occurs when a third-party risk incident results in at least one of the outcomes as shown below.

assessing and monitoring controls — https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-02-21-gartner-survey-shows-third-party-risk-management-misses-are-hurting-ororganizations

This shows how organizations that adopt third-party risk management tools can better assess, monitor, and manage their risks.

2. Automation and Efficiency

The automation provided by TPRM tools can

Save valuable resources,
Reduce human error, and
Accelerate operations.

Automation offers a more uniform approach to managing third-party risks by eliminating individual biases and ensuring all third parties are scrutinized to the same degree.

3. Complexity in Supply Chain Processes

The increased reliance on third-party vendors and global sourcing has added multiple layers of complexity to the supply chain.

As a result, it has become difficult for businesses to manage the associated risks without the assistance of TPRM tools.

A 2023 report from KPMG revealed that 82% of businesses faced a supply chain disruption due to third-party risk, emphasizing the importance of TPRM tools.

4. Regulatory Compliance

Heightened regulatory requirements mandate companies to manage third-party risks effectively. TPRM tools can help businesses achieve regulatory compliance by providing clear visibility into the third-party risk landscape.

Key Considerations for Choosing TPRM Tools

Selecting the optimum Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) tool isn’t a task one should take lightly.

Multiple vital aspects must be considered to ensure the tool aligns well with your business dynamics while offering substantial value in risk management.

These include:

1. Real-Time Risk Updating

Consider a sudden data breach at a third-party vendor; how promptly would you know?

Risks can emerge in the blink of an eye. Quick visibility into such risks is crucial.

Thus, a TPRM tool should be able to update risk assessments in real time, providing immediate visibility into vulnerabilities.

Such a feature enables businesses to respond promptly and effectively to emerging threats and manage their third-party risks proactively.

2. Role-Based Access Control

What would happen if sensitive data falls into the wrong hands within your own organization due to loosely controlled access rights? Preventing such scenarios is where role-based access control becomes invaluable.

Role-based access control is a vital feature in a TPRM tool and allows you to assign specific access privileges based on user roles and control permissions. Doing this ensures that critical information is only accessible to those needing it, enhancing data security and reducing the chance of internal data breaches.

3. Compliance Management

The terrain of regulatory compliance is increasingly complex and dynamic. Companies are expected to keep pace with constantly evolving local and global standards, which can result in costly penalties or irreparable reputational damage. This is where having a TPRM tool with a robust compliance management feature becomes pivotal.

A robust TPRM tool should equip the enterprise to respond to compliance requirements and manage compliance as an ongoing initiative, aligning with local and global regulations.

Whether it’s GDPR for data protection, SOC2 for service organizations, or ISO27001 for information security management, your TPRM tool should be capable of managing compliance with these diverse standards.

The tool should employ measures to track your company’s compliance status regularly, issuing reminders for mandatory assessments, audits, or reporting.

4. Integration Capabilities

Integration capabilities ensure the tool synergizes well with your existing systems. A TPRM tool that integrates smoothly with other platforms (such as your CRM, ERP, or ITSM) enhances data-sharing, process synchronization, and overall operational efficiency.

5. Budget and Technical Capacities

Lastly, businesses must strike a balance between the offered features and the cost of the TPRM tool. Evaluate if the tool provides good value for the price and aligns with your budgetary constraints.

At the same time, assess your team’s technical prowess and readiness to implement and use the tool to its fullest. You should also look for a tool that offers employee training and support, as this reduces the overall learning curve.

6. Scalable solution

Look for a TPRM tool that is scalable and can accommodate your organization’s growth, increasing vendor relationships, and expanding risk landscape. This flexibility ensures that the TPRM tool remains effective and relevant as your business continues to flourish.

Top Third-Party Risk Management Tools for 2023

Numerous quality tools are available for Third-Party Risk Management. Based on the functionality, user reviews, and reputation within the industry, the top contenders for 2023 are:

Cyber Sierra
BitSight
One Trust
Upguard
Venminder

Let’s look at the details of the tool one by one:

1. Cyber Sierra

Cyber Sierra TPRM program empowers enterprises to evaluate, mitigate, and monitor third-party vendor risks.

Top Third-Party Risk Management Tools for 2023 — https://cybersierra.co/

Here are the key features of Cyber Sierra:

Identify third-party risks: Gain insight into the key risks associated with third-party vendors and develop an understanding of how to identify them

Remediate & manage vendor risks: Implement a structured framework to evaluate, assess, and automate your third-party risk management processes

Prioritize your vendor inventory: Categorize vendors by risk level to allocate resources efficiently and prioritize high-risk vendors for focused attention

Continuously monitor all your vendors: Get near real-time 24*7 visibility of all your vendors’ security compliance with alerts and correction actions on a need basis

These key features are built around being proactive in threat detection and swiftly managing risks to provide organizations with an efficient and robust solution.

Cyber Sierra’s TPRM program is customizable to the needs of different industries and ensures compliance with region-specific regulations, such as Singapore’s PDPA, Australia’s CIRMP, Europe’s GDPR, and USA’s CCPA, HIPAA, and PCI DSS, to name a few.

It also comes with a training module to equip employees with awareness on various security topics.

What’s good: Cyber Sierra stands out for its vendor risk assessment and due diligence, intuitive interface, and powerful risk management and reporting.

2. BitSight

BitSight specializes in security ratings and risk management. Its features include automated risk prioritization, detailed analytics, and robust third-party risk management capabilities.

Here are the key features of BitSight:

Security Ratings: Get objective and quantifiable measurements for your cybersecurity posture and vendors.
Atlas Platform: Get a user-friendly 360-degree risk view, enabling risk segmentation and peer comparison.
Peer Benchmarking: Benchmark your organization and vendors against industry peers.

This gives you a broad perspective of your organization’s risk landscape, enabling you to effectively understand and prioritize your risk mitigation efforts.

What’s good: BitSight’s strength lies in its detailed risk assessments, comprehensive security ratings, and ability to simplify complex data points into actionable insights.

3. OneTrust Third-Party Risk Management

OneTrust TPRM is a part of OneTrust’s larger privacy, information security, and governance platform, facilitating a holistic approach to risk management. Some notable features are its automation capabilities, central repository for third-party data, and risk identification tools.

Here are the top features of OneTrust TPRM:

Unified Privacy, Governance, and Risk Platform: Access a comprehensive platform that covers privacy, information security, and governance.
AI-Powered Risk Analysis: Employ artificial intelligence for identifying and prioritizing relevant risks.
Scope Wizard: Automatically determine which assessments to perform on each vendor based on collected information.

What’s good: OneTrust integrates smoothly with various management systems, ensuring consistency in data collection, analysis, and reporting. It also helps streamline vendor assessments with its automation features.

4. UpGuard

UpGuard combines a comprehensive solution with third-party risk management, security posture management, and data leak detection. It provides scores to indicate the cybersecurity risk level of vendors and helps maintain continual visibility and control over data.

Here are the top features of UpGuard:

Continuous Assessment: Get real-time updates on your vendors’ cyber risks, enabling your organization to react promptly to emerging or changing risks.
BreachSight: Proactively detect data leaks or exposed credentials to prevent severe data breaches, protecting your company’s reputation and finances.
Actionable Remediation Guidance: Get specific guidance to quickly and effectively rectify identified security issues, enhancing your overall cybersecurity posture.

What’s good: UpGuard has a robust risk scoring system, ability to discover and remediate data leaks, and offers consistent monitoring of every vendor.

5. Venminder

Venminder offers a robust TPRM solution with services including contract management, due diligence and risk assessments, questionnaires, and ongoing monitoring capabilities. You can store all third-party risk data and information in one place, simplifying audits and reporting.

Here are the top features of Venminder:

Managed Services: Reduce your internal team’s workload, allowing them to focus on core business tasks.
Third-Party Expert Evaluations: Get expert evaluations that provide reliable and accurate assessments to help you make informed and confident decisions about your vendors.
Regulatory Compliance Focus: Ensure your vendor relationships meet regulatory standards to avoid fines and other negative consequences of non-compliance.

What’s good: Venminder’s focus on ongoing monitoring and its excellent regulatory compliance capabilities, which can be essential for businesses in regulated industries.

How TPRM Tools Improve Vendor Performance Monitoring?

TPRM tools play a pivotal role in enhancing the monitoring of vendor performance through a multitude of key mechanisms.

1. Centralized View

TPRM tools consolidate and present your vendor data within a single centralized platform. This capability fosters a more streamlined and effective approach to vendor management. The integration of all data into one location guarantees your continuous awareness of any alterations or potential risks linked to your vendors.

Consider this scenario: if a vendor displays early indications of a potential data breach, a TPRM tool would promptly notify you, enabling swift and decisive responses.

Likewise, instances of vendors consistently falling short of performance benchmarks become readily identifiable and manageable through this centralized viewpoint.

2. Standardizing Performance Metrics

TPRM tools provide standardized metrics to track vendor performance. Standardization can reduce confusion and miscommunication, as everyone involved clearly understands the benchmarks for performance.

You could establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as quality of service, delivery time, data security standards, or anything relevant to your business that a vendor needs to deliver on.

The ability to easily track these KPIs over time helps compare vendors and choose who should continue being part of your business based on their consistent performance.

3. Actionable Insights

TPRM tools often provide advanced analytics and reporting functionality. This enables you to carry out deeper analysis and gain valuable insights into your vendors’ overall performance and the risks they pose.

They can highlight patterns and trends that may be less visible in day-to-day operations. Consequently, these insights allow you to move from reactive to proactive – you don’t need to wait for problems to occur but stop them before they happen.

These insights can also guide decision-making processes for contract renewals, renegotiations, and vendor selection.

4. Vendor Sourcing and Onboarding

Some TPRM tools offer unique features to help with vendor sourcing, selection, and onboarding. They may come with capabilities to perform an initial assessment of potential vendors, ranking them based on the organization’s specific needs and requirements.

This ensures a smooth and systematic onboarding process and sets the tone for what is expected from vendors.

It helps kick-start the vendor’s journey on the right foot — knowing exactly what performance metrics they’ll be judged upon, minimizing future surprises, and ensuring optimal performance.

Over time, this can transform your relationships with your vendors, resulting in better collaboration and performance.

Enhancing Vendor Due Diligence with TPRM Tools

Vendor due diligence is a critical aspect of the procurement process. TPRM tools help to automate, streamline, and improve this process by providing rigorous risk assessment protocols, tracking vendor interaction, and providing real-time insights to make informed decisions.

The right TPRM tool will enhance your performance, minimize risks, and help maintain successful and secure business relationships.

Though all the tools can help you with vendor due diligence, the one that is best for your organization will depend on your business needs and the type of procurement processes you have. Look for solutions that meet your current and future needs.

Cyber Sierra, for instance, grants you much more than an ordinary TPRM solution. Its comprehensive suite leapfrogs the limitations of conventional point solutions by offering a platform with a unified cybersecurity approach. With Cyber Sierra, you also get:

Regular security awareness training for employees,
Compliance with the dynamic regulatory landscape,
Prompt resolution of cloud misconfigurations,
Simplified management and renewal of cyber insurance policies.

Book a demo and see how the Cyber Sierra’s platform can help you stay ahead of the curve and manage your risk more efficiently.

Srividhya Karthik

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Continuous Control Monitoring

Practical Approach to Continuous Control Monitoring

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How confident are you in your organization’s capacity to promptly and adeptly identify and counter cybersecurity risks?

Despite your best efforts to fortify your cybersecurity approach, it’s probable that your endeavors fall short.

In the present landscape, risk factors are in a constant state of flux, demanding swift and efficient counteractions.

An avenue to tackle this predicament lies in Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM), a method that aids enterprises in upholding regulatory compliance and curtailing cyber threat vulnerabilities.

In this article, you will understand how to select the right CCM solution and how to implement the same.

Let’s get started.

Understanding continuous control monitoring

Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM) stands as an innovative risk management approach, empowering enterprises to consistently evaluate, handle, and alleviate business risks. In today’s swiftly evolving digital realm, it’s imperative for risk managers and IT administrators to possess a comprehensive grasp of CCM and skillfully integrate it within their organizations.

At its core, CCM systematically examines controls and processes to ensure that they are

Effectively preventing or detecting risk,
Reducing the likelihood of non-compliance, and
Other potentially costly incidents.

CCM leverages advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to streamline and automate risk-monitoring processes. This, in turn, significantly decreases the time and resources spent on manual risk assessments and audits.

Choosing the right CCM solution

Choosing the appropriate CCM solution involves careful consideration. Here are some actionable tips to guide your selection process:

1. Identify your organization’s requirements

Start by identifying your organization’s specific needs and challenges in risk management and compliance. These could include specific industry or regulatory requirements, a shortage of risk management resources, or a need to improve operational efficiency.

Some of the challenges can include:

Inadequate risk visibility: Limited insight into real-time risk and compliance status across different business units.
Limited resources: Insufficient workforce or expertise to efficiently manage risks and ensure compliance.
Inefficient processes: Current manual risk management and compliance monitoring processes may be time-consuming and prone to error.
Data integration issues: Difficulty integrating data from disparate sources and systems for comprehensive risk assessment.
Scalability concerns: The current risk management system may not be capable of handling increased data volume and complexity as the business grows.
Lack of real-time reporting: Insufficient mechanism for generating real-time reports for swift decision-making.
Security concerns: Ensuring the security of sensitive data while performing risk and compliance-related tasks.

2. Look for advanced features

Advanced features can help organizations to get the most out of their risk management systems. Some of these features include:

Single source of truth (SSOT): The ability to view all data related to a business process from one source, including transaction details and related documentation, in a single user interface.
Robust data modeling capabilities: Users can create and modify data models without technical knowledge or assistance from IT staff.
Advanced data visualization capabilities: Users can create dashboards and reports with a wide range of visualizations, including charts and graphs.
Automated workflow management: This feature automatically routes tasks to relevant stakeholders, enforces accountability, and streamlines the risk management process. It can also provide reminders for incomplete tasks or tasks nearing their due date, improving efficiency and ensuring timely action.
Predictive analytics: Using AI and ML to access predictive analytics and foresight into potential risks or issues can help organizations anticipate risks, devise counteractive strategies, and make better informed decisions about risk mitigation.

3. Integration with existing systems

When we talk about the integration capabilities of a CCM solution, it refers to the system’s ability to work in harmony with your existing IT infrastructure. This includes linking with various business applications, databases, IT systems, and other sources of creating or storing data within your organization.

Here are a few core aspects this comprises:

Data Collection: A powerful CCM solution should be capable of extracting data from different systems like ERP, HRM, CRM, and other bespoke applications.
Data Consistency: Since the CCM system interacts with multiple data sources, it should ensure data consistency and resolve any potential conflicts. That way, each system using the data can have the correct and most up-to-date information.
Tools Compatibility: The CCM solution should be compatible with your existing reporting, visualization, and data analysis tools so that you can immediately put it to use.

The primary goal of integration is to bring about efficient and consistent data management across all systems, making risk management a streamlined and automated process.

4. Consider vendor support and training

Don’t let your organization’s proficiency be constrained by your team’s capabilities to adopt a risk management solution.

The provider should furnish training and assistance throughout both the setup phase and beyond. This approach guarantees that all members within your organization grasp the tool’s mechanics, the data prerequisites for each process stage, and optimal utilization techniques.

It’s crucial to verify that the vendor offers robust customer support and comprehensive training initiatives, aiding your team during system implementation and continuous utilization.

5. Evaluate user-friendliness

Prior to procuring a CCM solution, prioritize the following checkpoints to guarantee a user-friendly experience and ease of use:

Intuitive Interface: Clean, organized, and easily navigable layout
Ease of use: Straightforward execution of typical activities
Guided steps: Helpful tooltips or guides for complex tasks
Customization: Tailored dashboards, reports, and configurable aspects
Accessible support: Comprehensive user manuals, tutorials, and responsive customer service
Compatibility: Availability on various devices and platforms

Step-by-Step implementation process of CCM

Implementing a new CCM system may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be.

We’ll walk you through the process, from planning to execution, ensuring each phase is thoroughly completed to set your CCM solution up for success.

1. Consider a simple start

Every successful digital transformation starts small and builds upon early successes. Hence, when orchestrating the introduction of CCM, initiate with routine processes that stand to gain the most from sustained surveillance.

Begin by identifying vulnerable domains or those presently grappling with elevated risk levels. Internal audit findings serve as invaluable inputs, spotlighting problematic processes and controls with substantial financial implications.

Additionally, consider testing CCM on procedures previously subjected to manual audits, facilitating a comparison of efficacy and efficiency.e already been audited manually to compare the efficiency and effectiveness of both methods.

Using Cyber Sierra’s solutions can further simplify the start, as it assists with accurately mapping your business relationships and identifying potential areas of concern.

2. Select the appropriate solution

Continuous control monitoring involves complex procedures and requires a robust and reliable tool or software. While an array of off-the-shelf solutions may promise comprehensive coverage, it’s vital to recognize your organization’s distinctive needs, processes, and control environment.

The selection process demands a laser focus on locating a solution that harmonizes with your organization’s requisites and integrates seamlessly within your IT framework. Flexibility for customization to match your unique demands is equally paramount.

Cyber Sierra, for instance, provides an interoperable solution tailored to your organization’s needs governing data, risk assessments, policies, vendors, and employees in one central hub.

3. Develop monitoring routines

Developing and fine-tuning CCM routines is critical for the ongoing success of your monitoring activities.

Initially, you’ll program the system to generate high probability exceptions (HPEs), potentially indicative of control failures.

This might involve a process of iterative refinement; as the CCM system processes more data and exceptions are investigated and resolved, you’ll get a clearer picture of what indicates a likely control failure, and you can refine your routines accordingly.

This important step significantly reduces false positives and allows your team to focus more on true control issues.

4. Implement exception management

All exceptions generated by CCM need analyzing and resolution. Exceptions should be captured in a secure environment, and operational staff should be tasked with resolving them. This process must be carefully designed to avoid overwhelming staff with false positives.

5. Transition to business-as-usual

Once established, CCM should be part of the business’s standard operational procedures and processes. Regular system administration tasks, such as resolving data load issues, managing user access, or refining test logic, are essential for smooth operation.

Training your team for CCM adoption

Implementing CCM in your organization implies a technological shift and a cultural one, and involves understanding the skill set requirements, planning effective training strategies, and fostering a CCM-focused culture within your organization.

1. Skill set requirements

A successful CCM adoption demands a diverse skill set within your team, spanning comprehension of compliance intricacies, identification of cybersecurity threats, and mastery of analytics and data interpretation.

Your team must also learn to adapt to new workflows, understand the system’s outputs, reassess the risk levels of various assets, and comprehend their impacts on business operations.

2. Training strategies

Adopting a structured and gradual approach to training can be beneficial. Introduce your team to the new CCM system and train them in various aspects of CCM, such as continuous monitoring, risk assessment procedures, and control strategies.

Also, consider conducting hands-on training sessions where your team can explore and learn about the system’s features, enhancing their understanding and proficiency.

3. Fostering a CCM-focused culture

Beyond individual skills and training, nurturing a corporate culture that esteems CCM is pivotal. This culture champions transparency, risk awareness, and perpetual self-audit, necessitating a mindset shift from reactive to proactive risk management.

This transformation enhances the entire CCM implementation, fostering enthusiastic team participation in consistent control and risk evaluations. An ingrained CCM-focused culture strengthens your organization’s risk resilience and ensures an enduring commitment to effective risk management.

Identifying assertions for CCM

Assertions form a pivotal part of CCM. These are statements that management makes about certain aspects of the business, thereby validating compliance with the organization’s rules and policies.

Here’s how to identify relevant assertions for your enterprise and incorporate them into your CCM system:

1. Understand your business environment

Start by understanding your organization’s environment, including its functions, operations, policies, and procedures. Identify the risk spots and performance indicators. Evaluate the various systems, controls, and procedures to mitigate these risks.

2. Identify relevant assertions

Different sectors and operations typically require distinct assertions. For example, a manufacturing unit might need assertions about inventory control, whereas a service-based firm could require claims about data privacy or service delivery timelines. Identifying relevant assertions depends on your organization’s specific requirements, industry standards, and regulatory mandates.

3. Engage stakeholders

Engage relevant stakeholders while identifying assertions. This includes managers from different departments and frontline staff who work directly with the systems being monitored by CCM.

4. Map assertions to controls

Once the assertions are identified, the next step is to map them to relevant controls within your organization. This mapping helps identify what control activities can validate which assertions.

5. Incorporate into CCM

After mapping, integrate these assertions into your CCM system. These become the metrics and checkpoints that continuous monitoring will track to ensure that all controls function as per required standards.

6. Continuous review and update

Business environments change and evolve. So, the assertions and their respective controls must be reviewed and updated frequently to ensure relevance and effectiveness.

Remember, assertions contribute to the reliability of your system’s compliance status. Thus, carefully identified and curated assertions can dynamically support your efforts in implementing and fine-tuning CCM in your organization.

Conclusion

CCM can be a potent tool for ensuring compliance. However, it requires careful planning and execution to be effective.

When implementing a CCM solution, it is best to do so gradually—refining processes based on practical learning and experiences. This will ensure the effective integration of CCM into business processes, leading to improved control effectiveness and risk management.

Nevertheless, CCM implementation forms only one piece of a larger puzzle. Comprehensive organizational security demands a multifaceted approach, encompassing:

Ongoing employee cyber awareness training.
Consistent adherence to regulatory compliance.
Addressing cloud security issues.
Maintaining sufficient cyber insurance coverage.

This is where Cyber Sierra comes in. Cyber Sierra’s platform enables enterprises to keep company policies in one central location and make them accessible to all employees. The platform also offers a comprehensive training regimen that addresses the risks posed by today’s most pressing cybersecurity issues.

Book a demo to learn how to use Cyber Sierra to set up your CCM program.

Srividhya Karthik

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Governance & Compliance

Busy Tech Executives’ ISO 27001 Compliance Checklist

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Ron’s startup started expanding globally, going upmarket to enterprise three months ago. In that time, they encountered 63 security questionnaires, but all slowed or blocked the sales process.

Sounds familiar?

Well, you can’t blame prospects fixated on security compliance to win their business. No one wants to suffer data breach costs from working with a company not taking information security (infosec) seriously:

This leaves tech executives (like Ron) with two options:

Spend weeks filling out prospects’ security questionnaires every time (and still risk losing deals due to inadequate infosec), or
Get a globally-recognized compliance certificate to ease security questionnaires (and facilitate the sales process).

The latter is where ISO 27001 compliance comes in. But before our checklist to help you ease the process, knowing the mandatory requirements is crucial.

Mandatory ISO 27001 Requirements

The International Standards Organization (ISO) is behind the ISO 27001 compliance. They updated the certification requirements in 2022, highlighting mandatory documentation such as:

Internal Audit Report
Risk Assessment Report
Statement of Applicability
Information Security Policy
Information Security Management (ISMS) Scope

Across these compulsory requirements, many security controls must be in place to pass an auditor’s review. But implementing those controls mostly starts with real-time insight into a company’s cybersecurity posture.

This means you’ll need to:

Navigate the many controls in ISO 27001
Have a checklist for implementing each, and
Incorporate a way to automate most processes involved.

This checklist guide will explore all three. So download our ISO 27001 compliance checklist for reference as you follow along:

The ISO 27001 Compliance Checklist.

A checklist to help you implement the right controls and automate ISO 27001 Compliance.

Navigating the Many Controls in ISO 27001

Although down from 114, the ISO 27001 compliance updated in 2022 still has a whopping 93 security controls across four (4) categories:

People controls (8)
Physical controls (14)
Technological controls (34)
Organizational controls (37):

Not all controls are mandatory. Called Annex A, companies are free to implement those relevant to their business.

However, you need sufficient controls to demonstrate how you establish, implement, maintain, and continually improve your company’s information security management system (ISMS).

So knowing what controls to choose is crucial.

And tracking implementation across teams needs more than a checklist, but a centralized platform that can automate most ISO 27001 compliance documentation processes.

That’s where Cyber Sierra comes in.

Our interoperable cybersecurity platform has the mandatory ISO 27001 policies built into it. Also, across teams, you can assign, track, and automate implementation from one place:

Implement the right controls and automate ISO 27001 Compliance from one place.

Checklist to Implement ISO 27001 Compliance Standards

Many CTOs, CISOs, and tech executives leverage Cyber Sierra to achieve ISO 27001 compliance in record time. They achieve this by streamlining the excessive paperwork required, automating the implementation of controls, and managing everything from one place.

So based on our experience, we’ve created this 7-step ISO 27001 compliance certification checklist guide for your reference.

1. Scope an ISO 27001 Project Plan

ISO 27001 certification is a team effort.

As such, you’d need contributions from relevant team members across your organization. We’ve also found from experience that things move way faster when teammates prioritize the process.

So to create the needed sense of priority, scope a project plan specific to preparing for (and becoming) ISO 27001 compliant.

It should outline:

Why your startup is pursuing ISO 27001 compliance.
How it will bolster your company’s security posture.
Who on your team will be doing what within deadlines.

In addition to these, define the scope of your Information Security Management (ISMS). Like a house depends on its foundation, achieving ISO 27001 compliance depends on this.

And that’s because an ISMS scope succinctly documents the information your startup wants to protect and exclude. The ISMS scope of a software company may include a:

List of departments/organizational units
List of processes and services they cover
List of physical assets/locations
List of exclusions not in scope.

To give you an idea, here’s a section of GitLab’s:

2. Create ISMS Policies

Your ISMS scope determines what ISO 27001 policies need to be created. But there are mandatory ISMS policies such as:

Incident Management Policy
Acceptable Use Policy
Access Control Policy
Assets Management Policy
Backup Management Policy
Business Continuity Policy
Change Management Policy
Cloud Services Security Policy
And 15 others.

Documenting these policies and implementing their corresponding controls takes heavy paperwork. To help automate the process, Cyber Sierra comes prebuilt with these mandatory policies.

And you can even assign them to relevant teammates, track status, and implementation progress in one pane:

It doesn’t end there.

You can also create policies unique to your ISMS scope, upload corresponding documentation, and assign them to teammates:

3. Conduct Risk Assessments

This step has two objectives:

To detect data security risks across your company’s systems, networks, and cloud assets.
To evaluate identified risks based on their potential impact on the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data accessed by your company.

Passing the ISO 27001 audit review and becoming certified depends on how well your company manages cybersecurity threats. So the goal of this assessment is to develop a risk register for managing… risks.

And technology can simplify things here. For instance, with Cyber Sierra, connect your tech stack prone to cybersecurity risks, and it’ll:

Automatically scan your cloud assets
Detect risks and vulnerabilities in real-time
Assess and score the impact of those risks, and
Enable you to assign remediation tasks to teammates.

All that from one Risk Register pane:

4. Define Statement of Applicability

A Statement of Applicability (SoA) is required for ISO 27001. As the name suggests, it is a document stating the Annex A security controls that are applicable —or aren’t applicable— to an organization.

So in defining one, you should:

List the security controls your company wants to manage and mitigate against based on your risk assessment.
Explain why you chose those security controls for your information security management system (ISMS).
State the status of your chosen controls (i.e., have they been fully implemented? If no, why not?).
Briefly explain excluded controls and why they aren’t applicable to your organization.

As the points above show, the SoA document summarizes your ISMS policies and risk assessment. So a good place to start is revisiting steps 1-3 of this checklist. And this is crucial because your SoA is what ISO 27001 auditors rely on during audit reviews.

5. Implement Policies & Controls

This step is where you begin to implement the security controls for your chosen ISMS policies. And you do this by providing appropriate documentation of each control. It’s typically the most difficult part of the project, requiring loads of implementation evidence to be uploaded ahead of an audit review.

Take the mandatory Cloud Services Security (CSS) policy.

You’ll need to implement:

A document describing this policy per your ISMS, and
Twelve (12) documents as evidence to show you’ve implemented its corresponding 12 controls.

Cyber Sierra streamlines this cumbersome process. For instance, you can quickly edit a pre-built CSS policy document to suit your ISMS scope and upload evidence of controls, all from one place:

6. Establish Employee Security Awareness & Training

Ongoing security awareness and training for employees is indispensable for becoming (and remaining) ISO 27001 compliant.

And that’s for three reasons:

To train relevant employees on how to implement your ISO 27001 policies and security controls to maintain your ISMS.
To make them aware of security risks your company is currently facing and the processes for mitigating them.
To continually educate them about emerging security threats and the best practices for defending against them.

These ongoing training programs should cut across cloud security, common cybersecurity threats, anti-phishing, and others. And you can launch and manage them all with Cyber Sierra:

7. Perform Internal & External Audits

Without an external audit spearheaded by an accredited ISO 27001 compliance auditor, an organization can’t be certified.

But before that, a series of internal audits are necessary. These prepare your company for the external one, and hiring consultants to review all implemented ISO 27001 documentation is also advised.

Typically, your team should:

Double review internal policies and procedures’ documentation
Sample all uploaded evidence as part of the internal review to demonstrate correct implementation of policies and controls
Analyze findings from all document reviews to ensure they meet your ISMS scope and ISO 27001 certification requirements
Implement improvements, as needed, based on audit findings ahead of the external certification audit review.

After the internal audit comes the external one.

So request an accredited auditor to review your company’s implementation of ISMS policies and security controls against the official ISO 27001 standard. Then proceed to the Certification Audit for a final review of your company’s business processes, policies, and security controls to get certified in ISO 27001 compliance.

8. Implement Continuous Security Controls’ Monitoring

ISO 27001 compliance isn’t a one-time affair.

Certification must be renewed every three years. And to meet requirements when recertification is due, companies must undergo and pass yearly Periodic Surveillance Audits.

The annual surveillance audits follow the same process as the final audit before the initial ISO 27001 certification. It seeks to identify and correct nonconformities in the maintenance of implemented ISMS policies and security controls. And here’s how you ensure that:

Continuously scan your cloud assets, repository, Kubernetes, and network environments to identify security risks as they emerge.
Assign critical risks to relevant team members with tips on how to remediate them to pass periodic surveillance audits and retain your ISO 27001 compliance.

Your team can do both of these with Cyber Sierra:

The Advantage of ISO 27001, Without the Hassle

Imagine you had all the steps in this gruesome ISO 27001 compliance certification checklist in one interoperable cybersecurity platform.

Imagine in one pane, your team could:

Understand each step of the process
Manage the completion of each step
Implement ISMS policies and security controls
Automate evidence collection to show proof of compliance, correction of non-conformities, if any found during audits.
Perform risk assessment and assign remediation tasks
Establish ongoing employees’ security awareness & training
Go through the various audit reviews required without going back and forth with teammates and auditors over spreadsheets
Implement continuous monitoring of security controls, manage emerging threats, and mitigate critical ones to stay compliant.

Imagine the benefits of ISO 27001 (i.e., no need to fill security questionnaires or miss competitive deals) without the hassle of the steps above. As shown throughout this checklist guide, Cyber Sierra makes it possible by automating most processes involved in becoming (and remaining) ISO 27001 compliant.

Why not talk to one of our ISO 27001 experts?

Implement the right controls and automate ISO 27001 Compliance from one place.

Pramodh Rai

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Governance & Compliance

Data Breaches and Healthcare: Is India Lacking in Healthcare Data Security?

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As healthcare facilities transition to digital medical records, data breaches and cyberattacks are becoming more common here as well. With the progress of digitalization, the healthcare industry is relying more on electronic storage and transmission of sensitive patient data.

Patients’ medical data, personal information, and financial information are increasingly stored in digital formats. However, as digital storage grows, so does the possibility of data breaches. The healthcare industry is now facing a persistent type of threat – cybersecurity attacks. These attacks can cause significant damage to patients and the healthcare system.

Recently, India has witnessed a rise in healthcare data breaches, making it vulnerable to cyberattacks. For example, there were 1.9 million cyberattacks this year until November 28, 2022. The question that arises here is – Is India falling behind in healthcare data security? In this article, we will explore the issue of healthcare data security in India.

The current scenario in India is concerning since there are no strict rules or laws in place to protect healthcare data. The government has yet to develop explicit norms for healthcare data security, placing the responsibility on healthcare providers. However, many of them lack the resources, expertise, and understanding needed to adopt effective security measures. This creates a ticking time bomb.

Why should healthcare organizations invest in healthcare data protection?

Currently, the penalty for noncompliance is not stringent, so why should healthcare organizations invest in data protection? The answer is simple: it’s the right thing to do. Healthcare organizations have a responsibility to protect their patients’ sensitive data.

Patients trust healthcare organizations with their sensitive information, and it’s essential to honor that trust. Investing in data protection measures helps healthcare organizations build trust with their patients. This trust is essential for maintaining a good reputation.

Incentives for healthcare organizations to invest in data protection include avoiding reputational damage and potential costs. These costs could be associated with a data breach. Healthcare organizations that suffer a data breach can face significant financial and legal consequences, as well as damage to their reputation. By investing in data protection measures, healthcare organizations can mitigate these risks and protect their patients’ sensitive data.

Are there any regulatory frameworks in place in India to address healthcare data security concerns?

While there are some guidelines in place to address healthcare data security concerns in India, such as

The Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules 2011: Only Indian businesses and individuals are subject to the regulations of the Information Technology Rules 2011.These regulations are regarding Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information. Healthcare organizations that deal with patient data must follow these standards, which include safeguards for data protection and cybersecurity.

The National Health Stack (NHS): The National Health Stack (NHS) aims to make comprehensive healthcare data collecting as easy as possible. This will assist policymakers in experimenting with policies. It can also help detect health insurance fraud, measure outcomes, and progress toward smart policy-making through data analysis.The NHS has a data privacy and security framework. This framework outlines the rules and practices that healthcare organizations must follow in order to protect patient data.
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act): HIPAA is a US regulation. Many Indian healthcare institutions that interact with patients from the US or healthcare professionals are required to follow its regulations. HIPAA has various regulations concerning data privacy and security, including standards for data encryption, access limits, and breach notifications.
The Cybersecurity Policy of India, 2013: The Indian Cybersecurity Policy outlines best practices and guidelines for enterprises in many industries, including healthcare, to secure their information systems from cyber threats. Healthcare organizations must follow the policy’s rules for risk management, incident response, and security audits.
The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019: Although the Personal Data Protection Law of 2019 has not yet been enacted into law, it is intended to impose rigorous data protection and cybersecurity standards on enterprises that collect, store, and handle personal data, including health information. Healthcare institutions must follow its rules to safeguard the privacy and security of their patients’ data.

How can Cyber Sierra help?

At Cyber Sierra, we understand the importance of healthcare data security in India. We’re equipped to help Indian healthcare companies implement data protection measures and comply with Indian regulations. Our services include technical safeguards as well as administrative safeguards like employee training and incident response plans. With Cyber Sierra’s help, Indian healthcare companies can protect their patients’ sensitive data and build trust with their patients.

In summary, the lack of data security in India’s healthcare industry is a pressing concern that demands immediate attention. The government needs to take decisive steps to implement stringent rules and regulations to safeguard patient data. Healthcare providers, too, must shoulder their responsibility and allocate resources to ensure data protection.

With the healthcare sector expanding rapidly, prioritizing data security has become more critical than ever before. It is time for all stakeholders to come together and address this issue conclusively before painful consequences develop for patients and the healthcare system.

Srividhya Karthik

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