Governance & Compliance

Automating Governance, Risk, and Compliance: Revolutionizing Management with GRC Automation

Table of Contents

Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

The importance of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) cannot be overstated in today’s ever-evolving enterprise ecosystem.

Companies face an ever-growing array of regulations, risks, and governance challenges that can affect their operations, reputation, and bottom line.

Automating GRC manual processes has become a critical strategy for organizations aiming to enhance efficiency, ensure compliance, and manage risk effectively. According to a report by Grand View Research, the global GRC market size was valued at USD 32.2 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.5% from 2022 to 2030.

This statistic underscores the increasing reliance on and investment in GRC automation as businesses strive to navigate a complex regulatory environment more efficiently.

What is GRC Automation?

GRC automation refers to integrating technology to streamline and enhance the processes involved in an organization’s governance, risk management, and compliance frameworks.

By leveraging software and tools, companies can automate repetitive tasks, reduce human error, and provide real-time insights into risk and compliance status.

This technological approach saves time and allows for more strategic decision-making, freeing resources to be redirected to more critical areas of the business.

GRC automation is crucial for organizations to navigate complex compliance programs and risk management effectively, enhancing their security posture. When GRC frameworks and regulatory requirements emerged in 2007, manual methods like spreadsheets sufficed for many businesses.

However, by 2023, the compliance requirement and regulatory landscape had become much stricter, with numerous compliance and reporting demands. Spreadsheets are no longer adequate for managing these complexities, making GRC automation essential for seamless compliance and risk management.

How to Automate the GRC Process?

In today’s complex regulatory environment, automating Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) systems is crucial for any proactive organization. This guide presents a seven-step approach to effectively automate your GRC processes, from setting clear objectives to continuously monitoring for improvements. It ensures streamlined compliance, real-time risk assessments, and strong governance.

1. Define Business Case And Objective

The first step in automating GRC systems is establishing a solid business rationale. Defining clear objectives provides a roadmap, guiding all stakeholders through the process. Whether your goals include streamlining compliance reporting, improving risk visibility, or enhancing cost efficiency, these objectives will directly influence your choice of technology and implementation approach.

At this critical stage, it is crucial to involve key stakeholders from legal, IT, compliance, and business operations. Their diverse insights help build a comprehensive business case, laying a strong foundation for the automation project.

2. Assess Current GRC Processes & Identify Areas Of Improvement

Before automating, thoroughly assess your current GRC systems to pinpoint bottlenecks, redundancies, and inefficiencies. This evaluation should identify challenges and reveal opportunities for improvement that automation can leverage.

Use process maps and flowcharts to trace data and task flows across departments. These visuals can highlight system weaknesses and offer clear targets for your automation initiatives.

3.Select the Right Tools To Support your Automation Objectives

Selecting the right technology platform is a critical decision with lasting effects. Ensure the platform meets your current needs and offers scalability for future expansion. Involve your tech team to verify compatibility with your IT infrastructure and integration potential with other systems.

Beyond technical features, you must also evaluate the vendor’s reputation, customer support, and reliability. Consulting customer reviews, seeking references, and reviewing case studies of successful implementations can offer deep insights into the platform’s fit for your organization.
CyberSierra, for example, provides tailored GRC solutions that can accommodate the nuances of different organizational structures and industries.

4. Implement with Change Management

Implementing GRC automation tools involves significant change management. Training and supporting your staff to adopt new technologies is crucial for success. Ensure that all stakeholders understand the benefits of GRC automation and are engaged in the transition process.

Once you select your technology platform, it’s crucial to implement controls that ensure data quality and process integrity. The accuracy of your automated GRC reports and monitoring relies heavily on the reliability of your input data. A poorly designed data flow can lead to errors that may result in regulatory fines or strategic missteps.

You must establish rigorous data validation checks, error-handling procedures, and data reconciliation protocols. These measures act as your first line of defense against inaccuracies and inconsistencies, ensuring that your automated GRC systems are a reliable source of truth for your organization.

5. Configure the Automation Solution

Off-the-shelf software often doesn’t perfectly fit all your organization’s unique needs. After purchasing the software, you’ll likely need to customize it to match your business processes, organizational structure, and compliance requirements. Collaborate closely with your vendor or internal IT team to tailor features such as user roles, permissions, and alert settings to suit your specific needs.

Conducting a pilot test of the configured system within a controlled environment or a single department can reveal necessary adjustments before a full-scale rollout. This step is crucial for identifying and addressing any unexpected challenges or gaps in the configuration, ensuring a smoother implementation for your finance, tax, or compliance operations.

6. Train all Stakeholders before Rolling It Out Across the Organization

Implementation isn’t complete until all users are proficient with the new system. You should develop training programs tailored to your organization’s various roles, ensuring that both managerial and operational staff know how to use the system for their specific GRC tasks.

Use the training phase as a chance for final refinements. Feedback from users during this period can provide valuable insights into the system’s efficiency and user experience, allowing you to make essential tweaks before deploying the system across your organization.

This step ensures a smooth transition and optimal performance in your finance, tax, or compliance departments.

7. Continuous Monitoring and Optimization

After implementation, the journey isn’t over. Ongoing monitoring is crucial to ensure that the system continues achieving its objectives and remains current with regulatory changes and business process shifts.

You should closely track key performance indicators like compliance adherence rates, incident response times, and risk assessment durations.

Set up periodic audits and establish feedback loops with users for continuous improvement. As regulations change, business needs evolve, and technology advances, your automated GRC system must remain agile and adaptable.

Regular updates and iterative enhancements will ensure its continued relevance and effectiveness for your finance, tax, or compliance operations.

Advantages of GRC Automation

A GRC system can enhance your organization in several key ways:

1. Boosts Operational Efficiency

A GRC system automates repetitive and time-consuming tasks by continuously monitoring controls and risk indicators. This leads to streamlined business operations and less duplication of effort, saving time and improving employee productivity across your organization.

2. Delivers Higher-Quality Information

Automation integrates various data streams, providing staff with a comprehensive view of the organization. This improves the quality of information, aiding management in making smarter, more informed and on-time decisions.

3. Strengthens Business and Stakeholder Relationships

GRC tools facilitate easy sharing of information via cloud storage with controlled access. This reduces the need for frequent stakeholder interactions and provides clear insights into business units, risks, and challenges.

4. Establishes a Sustainable Organizational Structure

Implementing a GRC system helps clearly define and embed an organizational hierarchy, supporting role-based access and adaptability to changes in business structure.

5. Cuts Costs

By setting clear business rules and monitoring controls, a GRC system helps streamline GRC activities, which can significantly reduce operational costs.

6. Enables Comprehensive Reporting

Unlike spreadsheets, GRC tools make it effortless for all the stakeholders involved in the compliance process to collaborate and allows for quick and easy generation of detailed reports, transforming what used to be a time-consuming process into a swift and simple task.

Challenges in GRC Automation

Implementing Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) effectively is crucial, yet many organizations encounter significant hurdles. Understanding these challenges can help you prepare better and implement effective GRC strategies.

Here are six common pitfalls:

1. Lack of Proper Leadership

Successful GRC implementation starts with the right team. Business leaders who want to implement GRC automation must know the latest market trends and industry-specific risks, such as equipment sabotage in manufacturing or phishing in financial services. It’s vital to tailor your GRC team to these unique challenges.

2. Organizational Silos

The lack of collaboration across departments can severely impact GRC efforts. Security and compliance should be a company-wide initiative that goes beyond the IT department. Misalignments or a siloed approach among departments can lead to misunderstandings and impede the effective implementation of GRC.

3. Insufficient Technology Investment

Outdated processes can derail GRC efforts. While investing in modern technologies like automation, ensure that your teams are trained on these tools. This is crucial for improving efficiency and compliance.

4. Unclear Implementation Scope

Determining whether to adopt a phased or an all-at-once approach to GRC integration is vital. An undefined approach can be detrimental. Leadership must realistically assess the organization’s capacity and set feasible timelines to avoid overwhelming the system and causing delays.

5. Ineffective Change Management

Inadequate organizational change management and failure to understand how new technologies integrate with existing systems are common reasons for GRC failures. Leaders must evaluate the compatibility of new technology with current systems and ensure clear communication with technology providers to facilitate smooth integration.

6. Lack of Enterprise Resilience

Failing to incorporate resilience into the enterprise structure can hinder the benefits of GRC implementation. Organizations with a proactive approach to monitoring risks and building resilience tend to excel in GRC efforts. Leaders should establish processes that promote a risk-aware culture within the organization.

Addressing these challenges head-on can significantly enhance your GRC strategy’s effectiveness and security. This makes your organization’s choice of GRC partner critical to your success.

Top 7 GRC Tools You Should Consider in 2024

How CyberSierra Can Help You

Cyber Sierra’s approach to Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) automation is designed to assist enterprises overcome the host of challenges they face while automating the compliance process. The platform takes complexity and guesswork out of compliance and helps handle all parts of your GRC program in one place.

Whether you need compliance, risk management, better auditing, or improved controls management, Cyber Sierra’s platform is built to help you through the process swiftly and efficiently.

Cyber Sierra offers robust solutions tailored to enhance efficiency and security across your organization. Here’s how our platform can assist:

Identify and Assess Risks: Cyber Sierra helps pinpoint risks across all asset categories, providing a comprehensive overview of your organization’s potential challenges.
Develop and Implement Controls: We assist in creating and applying measures to mitigate identified risks, ensuring they align with your organizational goals and compliance requirements.
Continuous Control Monitoring: Our platform offers ongoing 24×7 monitoring of control effectiveness, allowing you to maintain and improve your security posture dynamically.
Comprehensive Reporting: Cyber Sierra enables streamlined reporting on your GRC activities, keeping stakeholders informed and engaged with up-to-date governance, risk, and compliance data.
Seamless Onboarding and Integration: Cyber Sierra offers a seamless onboarding experience and comprehensive resources to ensure a smooth transition to our GRC tool.

By centralizing GRC management, Cyber Sierra simplifies compliance and strengthens your entire security framework, making it invaluable for any industry facing regulatory pressures.

Conclusion

In conclusion, as organizations strive to manage increased regulatory pressures and complex risk landscapes, the role of GRC automation becomes increasingly vital.

By embracing technology solutions like Cyber Sierra, companies can ensure compliance, manage risk effectively, and refocus resources on strategic growth initiatives.

Investing in GRC automation supports regulatory compliance and drives business efficiency and resilience, preparing your organization for the challenges of tomorrow.

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.

A weekly newsletter sharing actionable tips for CTOs & CISOs to secure their software.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

Thank you for subscribing!

Please check your email to confirm your email address.

Find out how we can assist you in
completing your compliance journey.

Book a Demo

Continuous Control Monitoring

Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM): What It Is and Why It Is Important?

Table of Contents

Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

Ever wondered why some businesses manage to stay ahead of regulatory changes and potential risks while others drown in the complexities of compliance standards and data security?

The answer is simple: they have a robust compliance program in place.

Any enterprise that handles sensitive data must monitor and control its information end-to-end.

That’s where the role of continuous control monitoring (CCM) comes in.

In a fast-paced business world, CCM is essential for proactively handling sensitive information and maintaining a robust approach to risk management and operational efficiency.

But what does CCM entail, exactly? And how can you go about implementing it in your enterprise?

Let’s examine what CCM means and why it’s so important for your business.

What is Continuous Control Monitoring?

Continuous control monitoring is an ongoing process that involves near real-time assessment and oversight of cybersecurity measures to ensure compliance with regulations. It is a set of technologies designed to offer consistent and high-frequency, automated assessments of control measures.

Here are the continuous control monitoring objective:

Confirm the efficacy of these controls in mitigating risks,
Maintain a proactive cyber defense position, and
Ensure business continuity and regulatory compliance.

However, the goal of CCM is not simply to confirm that the controls are in place but rather to provide an ongoing and near real-time assessment of their efficacy.

In other words, CCM provides insights into how well a control measure is performing and highlights any opportunities for improvement or optimization.

Enhancing Efficiency Through CCM

While CCM provides great tools and solutions, the fulcrum of its success heavily depends on your willingness to embrace change and improve your operations. Here’s how you can enhance your operational efficiency with a CCM:

1. Implements data analytics and advanced technologies

Integrate CCM with advanced data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to augment its capabilities. Leverage these advanced technologies to identify patterns, trends, and anomalies quickly.

This combination assists in predicting risks, making data-driven decisions, and mitigating issues before they cause significant damage. Consequently, integrating data-driven techniques and CCM can take your risk management and operational efficiency to new heights.

2. Performs regular control and process assessments

Perform frequent evaluations of your organization’s controls and processes to optimize and adapt to evolving requirements continuously.

These assessments foster enhanced efficiency by

Identifying gaps,
Redundancies, and
Opportunities for improvement.

CCM facilitates timely adaptations, ensuring your organization is ready to address regulatory changes, market shifts, and emerging threats.

3. Encourages collaboration and cross-functional integration

Promote cross-functional integration and collaboration between departments to streamline communication, decision-making, and actions when operating with CCM.

Unify risk, control, and compliance teams with IT and security departments to synchronize objectives, reduce operational complexities, and enhance overall efficiency.

This approach fosters a holistic understanding of the organization’s control environment and empowers coordinated responses to emerging risks.

4. Monitors and measures the success of CCM

Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to gauge the success of your CCM initiatives. Track improvements in compliance, incident resolution times, and control effectiveness. Use these insights to refine your approach, optimize resource deployment, and validate the impact of CCM on your organization’s efficiency.

5. Establishes a proactive risk management culture

Finally, foster a forward-thinking risk management culture within the organization to fully harness the benefits of CCM. Encourage employees to participate in decision-making and recognize the importance of controls and fraud prevention.

Cultivate proactive security habits, such as regularly tweaking and reviewing controls, to enhance your organization’s adaptability.

When employees understand the link between continuous control monitoring and improved efficiency, they are more likely to commit to the necessary changes.

With Cyber Sierra’s unified cybersecurity platform, you can maintain a central repository of your company policies, and make it accessible to all employees. Cyber Sierra’s platform also offers a comprehensive employee security training program to address today’s most pressing cyber risks.

Book a demo with us to know how you can use Cyber Sierra to kickstart your CCM program.

Benefits of Implementing Continuous Control Monitoring

The benefits of implementing continuous control monitoring include the following:

Improved compliance
Early detection of potential threats
Reduced risk of regulatory penalties
Enhanced transparency and communication
Optimized resource deployment

Let’s look at them in more detail.

1. Improved compliance

CCM provides an ongoing review of your enterprise’s cybersecurity, financial and operational processes to ensure they adhere to internal and external regulatory standards.

This is especially true for enterprises, as they operate at large scales and typically face diverse and extensive regulatory requirements.

This continued surveillance means potential compliance issues can be identified and rectified rapidly, leading to fewer incidents while maintaining your organization’s reputation with regulators and stakeholders.

2. Early identification and mitigation of risks

CCM operates in near real-time, allowing for immediate identification of potential threats or irregular activities. This effectively turns risk management into proactive rather than reactive practice for enterprises.

3. Lowered risk of regulatory penalties

CCM offers a holistic view of the enterprise, clearly showing current and future risks. This allows for early detection and mitigation of regulatory penalties resulting from non-compliance with regulations such as PCI DSS HIPAA, or GDPR.

In the long term, this can result in substantial cost savings and protect your enterprise’s reputation and business relationships.

4. Increased transparency and improved communication

CCM promotes transparency through its capability for near real-time reporting on the state of an enterprise’s essential controls.

It facilitates better communication between different enterprise departments, stakeholders, auditing bodies, and regulators.

Improved transparency also builds trust and cooperation across the enterprise, leading to more efficient decision-making processes.

5. Optimized resource allocation

CCM provides near real-time, actionable intelligence that assists in strategically deploying resources. With continuous monitoring, enterprises gain insights into crucial controls and underperforming areas.

This facilitates the precise allocation of resources—whether in the form of personnel, tools, or funding—towards areas where they will have the maximum impact in boosting efficiency and effectiveness.

Choosing the Right CCM Software

Choosing the right CCM solution for your enterprise requires careful consideration of your exact control needs, budget, the scale of your operations, and the specific compliance regulations you need to adhere to.

This task, while complex, is crucial for CISOs and security professionals to enhance the effectiveness of their security controls. Here’s how you should go about it:

1. Focus on features tailored to your needs

CCM software solutions have many features, but the right solution depends on features that align with your distinct needs.

If most of your controls are financial, select a tool that provides in-depth financial risk analysis capabilities. On the other hand, if your primary concern is fraud detection, choose a solution robust in anomaly detection and complicated event correlation.

Cyber Sierra’s platform, for instance, can help enterprises get and maintain compliance with regulations such as Australia’s CIRMP, India’s SEBI laws on cybersecurity for AMCs, or even help monitor custom control frameworks.

2. Prioritize ease of integration

The right CCM software should easily integrate with your existing systems and processes. If, for instance, a significant portion of your workflow is cloud-based, you would want a cloud-compatible software solution that allows for seamless data flow between systems.

Interoperability between software systems reduces redundancies, facilitates straightforward implementation, and simplifies operations.

3. Value vendor support

Choose a CCM solution backed by a vendor offering robust customer support, training, and documentation.

Remember, the goal of choosing a CCM software solution isn’t just to purchase a product; it’s to cultivate a partnership with a provider who will support you as your organization evolves, and your monitoring needs grow or change with time.

For instance, Cyber Sierra offers comprehensive customer support from trained cyber security professionals.

4. Assess scalability

Given that business growth is the goal of every enterprise, choose a CCM software solution that can scale in tandem with your organization’s growth.

Whether you plan to increase the number of employees, expand to new geographical locations, or diversify your product offerings, your CCM software should be able to cope with these changes without compromising its effectiveness.

Cyber Sierra’s enterprise grade platform is built to grow with your organization. The platform allows you to upgrade and buy additional security features, such as third-party risk management, employee security training, threat intelligence and cyber insurance and access them all from the comfort of a single dashboard.

5. Determine the solution’s ease of use

It will be much easier to use your CCM solution if designed with simplicity in mind. Consider investing in a software solution that features a user-friendly interface, intuitive navigation and workflow, and self-explanatory training modules.

This will allow you to train your employees on the software without requiring them to rely on outside resources.

6. Budget

Before choosing a CCM solution, it’s important to consider the value it will bring to the organization versus its cost.

Initial costs: These include the purchase of the solution and the cost of deployment, which may involve installation, system integration, and customization.
Recurring costs: Consider the costs that recur over the lifetime of the solution. These could be license renewal, maintenance, upgrading, etc.
Training costs: Factor in the time and monetary cost required to train your staff to use the new solution.

Remember, it’s not always about finding the cheapest solution but rather one that offers the best functionality for your organization’s needs at a reasonable price.

This balance is key to finding a solution that will be sustainable and beneficial in the long term. In any case, your budget should be realistically aligned with the size and requirements of your organization.

Wrapping Up

In conclusion, implementing a CCM system can significantly enhance your operational efficiency and risk management, contributing to the success of your organization.

This is why it’s imperative that you select a solution that is capable of meeting your needs and supporting your business objectives. Consider the above factors when evaluating software solutions, and be sure to evaluate each vendor on an individual basis before making your final decision.

Remember, implementing a CCM is an investment for your business. So, choose wisely!

Srividhya Karthik

A weekly newsletter sharing actionable tips for CTOs & CISOs to secure their software.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

Thank you for subscribing!

Please check your email to confirm your email address.

Find out how we can assist you in
completing your compliance journey.

Book a Demo

Employee Security Training

30 Common Types of Cyber Attacks and How to Prevent Them

Table of Contents

Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

In today's digital age, cybersecurity threats are a constant and evolving concern for individuals, businesses, and organizations alike. Cybercriminals employ a wide range of tactics and techniques to gain unauthorized access, steal data, disrupt operations, or demand ransom payments. Understanding these threats is crucial for implementing effective defense strategies.

This comprehensive guide provides an overview of 30 common cyberattacks, their characteristics, and potential consequences.

What is a cyberattack?

Cyberattack refers to an intentional or malicious attempt taken to gain unauthorized access to an organization network or systems, to steal, destroy or misuse data. Some examples of cyber attacks include ransomware, malware injection, phishing attacks, social engineering scams, password theft, denial of service attacks (DoS) etc.

Why do people launch cyber attacks?

People launch cyber attacks for various reasons. The motive might be personal, such as disgruntled employees seeking retribution by stealing money, data or disrupting the systems. Or, for financial gain, stealing sensitive credit card information, for monetary extortion or identity theft. The motive can also be political or corporate espionage, engaging in cyber warfares where intellectual property or government secrets are exploited. Or performing hacktivism for simply showing off skills.

Who do cyberattackers target?

Cyber attacks target a wide range of entities from individual users, businesses of all sizes, government organizations, healthcare providers, NGOs, celebrities and educational institutions. Cyber threat actors often choose targets based on the motive, perceived vulnerabilities, existing security measures and the extent of access to sensitive information.

How often do cyber attacks occur?

According to a report by University of Maryland, a cyber attack occurs every 39 seconds amounting to approximately 2200 a day. The frequency highlights the relentless nature of cyber threats and emphasizes the requirement for organizations to implement robust cybersecurity measures.

Common Types of Cyber Attacks

Some of the common types of cyber attacks are malware attacks, phishing, SQL injection attacks, ransomware, man-in-the-middle attacks and distributed denial of service (DDoS).

These cybersecurity attacks, however, are not limited to large enterprises alone. Malicious actors often exploit any internet-connected device, making it a potential weapon or target. This makes small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), which often have less robust cybersecurity measures in place, also vulnerable to various security incidents.

Security professionals and their teams, therefore, must be prepared to counter a wide range of cyber attacks. To aid in this effort, we will discuss 30 of the most common yet damaging types of cyber attacks and how they work.

Backdoor Trojan

Backdoor trojans are malicious software that creates a hidden entry point for authorized access to launch a remote attack into a system or network. Once installed, cybercriminals can control the compromised system, steal data, monitor user activities, or launch further attacks. Backdoor trojans can be distributed through phishing mails, malicious websites, or through software vulnerabilities.

These attacks remain undetected to traditional antivirus softwares making them a significant threat. Implementing robust cyber security practices and keeping systems patched and exercising caution against unsolicited programs is crucial to prevent such attacks.

Birthday Attack

A birthday attack is a type of cryptographic attack or a collision attack that exploits the mathematics behind the birthday probability theory of finding collisions in the output of cryptographic hash functions.

In this context the attack aims to find the hash function by generating a large number of inputs, and find two inputs that produce the same hash value. This compromises the security of systems relying on hash uniqueness such as digital signatures or data encryption.To stay safe use hash functions with large output spaces and consider techniques like salting to enhance security.

Brute Force Attacks

A brute force attack is a hacking technique where attackers systematically guess every possible combination of characters to passwords, encryption keys, or other authentication mechanisms through trial and error method until they hit upon unauthorized access into systems.

It is considered as a favored strategy among hackers due to its reliability and effectiveness of cracking weak and poorly implemented security systems. To mitigate brute force attacks enabling strong lengthy passwords, secure encryption with key stretching algorithms, rate limiting failed attempts and account lockouts for incorrect guesses are suggested.

Business Email Compromise (BEC)

BEC attacks refers to a type of phishing attack where cybercriminals utilize email accounts and impersonate as executive-level employees or trusted business partners to trick victims into transferring funds or disclosing sensitive information via email. BEC accounts often target employees responsible for financial transactions or sensitive data.

To mitigate the risk of BEC attacks, organizations should implement stringent security measures such as 2FA and email authentication protocols, conducting employee training and awareness programs, and verification procedures for financial transactions.

Code Injection Attacks

As the name indicates, Code injection refers to an attack where malicious code is inserted into a web application or software allowing attackers to gain control of the system or access sensitive data.Code injection poses serious threats potentially leading to catastrophe outcomes such as spread of computer virus or worms. It can be in the form of SQL injection, or command injection depending on the vulnerability. These vulnerabilities arise when an application passess untrusted data to the interpreter.

To defend against code injection attacks implement secure coding practices, web application firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and regularly update and patch software to identify gaps and vulnerabilities.

Cross-site Scripting (XSS) Attacks

Cross-site Scripting (XSS) is a type of attack that allows attackers to inject malicious side scripts into trusted web based applications. These scripts are executed by the victim's web browser to hijack user sessions, steal cookies, or redirect users to malicious sites. There are different types of XSS such as reflected XSS, stored XSS, AND DOM based XSS each targeting different parts of the web application.

To mitigate XSS attacks web developers should implement proper input validation, output coding, and content security policies (CPSs). Also, web security firewalls and regular security audits can help detect and prevent XSS vulnerabilities.

Cryptojacking

Cryptojacking is a cyber attack where hackers hijack a victim's computing resources to secretly mine cryptocurrency without their knowledge or consent, resulting in compromised performance and increased energy costs. The profits generated from this mining are directly to the hacker cryptocurrency wallet. Before its shutdown in March 2019, Coinhive emerged as a prominent tool for cryptojacking, being utilized in such incidents.

To mitigate this users should regularly update software, use ad blockers and antivirus programs, and employ intrusion detection systems.

Distributed Denial of Service

A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) is a type of attack where an attacker floods the targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming it or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of internet traffic from multiple users making it unavailable to other users or disrupting normal operations.

In Oct 2016, Dyn, a major DNS provider faced a record DDoS attack reaching 1.5 terabits per second. This assault disrupted services for websites like Twitter, Netflix, Paypal highlighting severity of the DDoS attacks and the importance of implementing robust strategies. Utilizing traffic filtering and cloud-based real-time monitoring tools can block suspicious traffic patterns and help minimize DDosS and ensure protection for your network.

DNS Spoofing

Domain Name System (DNS) spoofing is also called DNS cache poisoning where the attacker targets the DNS servers and redirects legitimate web traffic to malicious websites.

This is done by exploiting vulnerabilities in the DNS protocol or by corrupting the DNS cache leading to phishing scams and malware attacks. Implementing (Domain System Security Extensions) DNSSEC and DNS resolvers can minimize the risk of DNS spoofing and ensure authenticity of DNS responses.

DNS Tunneling

DNS tunneling is a technique used by attackers to bypass firewalls and security controls by encoding unauthorized data or commands within DNS queries and responses making them look like legitimate DNS traffic.

Utilizing DNS sinkholing techniques and deep packet infections help analyze anomalies in DNS traffic and redirect to a controlled servier and helps prevent unauthorized access.

Drive-by Attacks and Drive-by Downloads

Drive-by attacks refers to an automatic malware download in web browsers or browser plugins that is unaware to the users, compromising the systems and leaving the victim vulnerable for cyber attacks. In 2016, the Angler Exploit Kit, a type of drive-by attack toolkit, was used to target Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight, and Java leading to the widespread distribution of ransomware and other malware.

Ensuring that web browsers, installed plugins and applications are regularly updated. Employ ad blocking and anti malware tools to prevent these types of download.

Eavesdropping Attacks

Eavesdropping, also called as sniffing, is a type of attack where the attackers intercept, monitor, modify or delete data. This is done by compromising unsecured network traffic or communications without authorization, potentially exposing sensitive data.

To mitigate these types of attacks it is suggested to utilize strong encryption methods, implementing network segmentation, and educating users on secure communication practices.

Identity-Based Attacks

Identity-based attacks are a form of social engineering where cybercriminals target user identities and credentials to gain unauthorized access to systems or data. These attacks can take various forms, such as phishing, credential stuffing, password spraying, or account takeover attempts.

Establishing comprehensive, Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions to control user identities, access privileges, and authentication processes, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.

Insider Threats

Insider threats are cyber security risks that involve malicious activities by authorized users or individuals within an organization, such as disgruntled employees or contractors, who abuse their access privileges to steal data, sabotage systems, or conduct other harmful activities.

In 2013, Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, leaked classified information, revealing government surveillance programs. This breach of national security sparked global debates on privacy and surveillance, highlighting the risks of insider threats. Implementing role-based access control (RBAC) to restrict access to sensitive data, conducting regular employee monitoring can reduce the risk of insider threats.

Internet of Things (IoT) Attacks

IoT attacks target smart devices and applications exploiting vulnerabilities in their design or implementation to gain unauthorized access or control.

In 2016, the Mirai botnet attack targeted vulnerable IoT devices, such as routers, IP cameras, and DVRs, by exploiting default passwords and insecure configurations. Regularly updating device firmware and applying security patches to address known vulnerabilities can enhance the security posture of IoT devices.

Malware

Malware attack, short for malicious software, is a common cyber attack designed to disrupt systems, steal data, or gain unauthorized access. Examples of malware include harmful code, viruses, worms, Trojans, ransomware, and spyware.

Enabling a multi-layered approach, implementing antivirus protection, regular software updates, and user awareness training, can reduce the risk of malware attacks.

Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attacks

MITM attacks also known as an on-path attack involves intercepting and potentially modifying communications between two parties, allowing attackers to eavesdrop on or manipulate the exchanged data.

In 2018, researchers discovered a vulnerability in the Starbucks mobile app that allowed attackers to conduct MITM attacks on customers using the company's public Wi-Fi networks. The vulnerability enabled the attackers to intercept and potentially modify the communication between the app and Starbucks' servers, potentially exposing sensitive user information. By adopting security measures, like encryption, network segmentation, and continuous monitoring, organizations and individuals can significantly reduce the risk of falling victim to MITM attacks.

Password Attacks

Password attacks is a type of attack aimed to exploit password protected accounts by cracking or guessing user passwords through techniques like brute force, dictionary attacks, or exploiting password reuse or weak password policies.

In 2012, LinkedIn experienced a significant data breach where hackers exploited weak password encryption practices, resulting in the exposure of over 100 million user passwords. Enforce strong password requirements, regular password changes, implement MFA like SMS codes or biometric data to access their accounts can help mitigate these attacks.

Phishing

Phishing is a form of social engineering attack that involves tricking victims into revealing sensitive information, such as login credentials or financial data, through fraudulent emails, websites, or messages that appear legitimate.

In 2017, a phishing scam aimed at Google users sent fake Google Docs collaboration invites. Many fell for it, granting access to their google account and risking sensitive data exposure. Educating users about the common signs of phishing emails and implementing email filtering solutions and anti-phishing tools that can detect and block phishing emails reducing the likelihood of successful phishing attacks.

Ransomware

Ransomware is a type of cyber extortion technique attack that encrypts a victim's files or systems making them accessible, demanding a ransom payment in exchange for the decryption key.

One notable ransomware attack is the WannaCry ransomware attack that occurred in May 2017, affecting 250,000 users of Microsoft Windows across 150 countries. Maintain regular backups of critical data on separate, secure storage devices or cloud services to ensure that data can be restored without paying the ransom. Educate users about the risks of clicking on suspicious links, downloading attachments from unknown sources, and practicing safe browsing habits to prevent ransomware infections.

Session Hijacking

Session hijacking also known as cookie hijacking is a malicious attack that involves intercepting and taking control of an established user session, allowing attackers to impersonate the victim and gain unauthorized access to their accounts or data and is permitted to perform operations instead of the user whose session was hijacked.

Implementing secure communication protocols like HTTPS and utilize techniques such as session tokens, expiring sessions, and multi-factor authentication to enhance session security and reduce the risk of hijacking attempts.

Spear-phishing Attacks

Spear-phishing attacks are highly targeted phishing campaigns that target high profile individuals through malicious mails. The attacks use personalized information or social engineering tactics to increase the likelihood of a victim falling for the attack.

Conducting awareness training on phishing attempts, verifying sender authenticity and avoiding clicking on suspicious links or attachments. Also, implementing email filtering tools and email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC can prevent such types of attacks.

Spoofing

Spoofing is a type of cyber attack where attackers impersonate a trusted source, such as a website, email address, or network entity, to deceive victims into revealing sensitive information or executing malicious actions.

These types of attacks can be mitigated by implementing robust authentication mechanisms, encryption, and educating users about the importance of verifying the legitimacy of sources before sharing sensitive information or taking action.

SQL Injection Attacks

SQL injection is a prevalent code injection tactic where attackers exploit vulnerabilities in web applications by inserting malicious SQL code into user input fields, allowing attackers to access or manipulate databases without proper authorization. Ensuring proper input validation and sanitation mechanism before using SQL queries can help prevent SQL injections.

Supply Chain Attacks

Supply chain is a type of attack where the attacker targets the elements in the software supply chain, introducing malicious code or vulnerabilities into legitimate software or hardware components, potentially compromising numerous systems and organizations downstream processes. One notable example is the 2020 SolarWinds attack where malicious code was injected into the software's build cycle, affecting about 18,000 downstream customers, including major firms and government agencies.

Implementing rigorous due diligence and vetting processes for third party suppliers and employing software integrity checks helps prevent these attacks.

Trojan Horses

Trojan horses is a type of malware that impersonates legitimate software or files, tricking users into installing it and granting unauthorized access or control to attackers.

This is done by inserting a malicious code in the software or the file attachment once downloaded the code executes to steal sensitive information. Utilizing antivirus software with real time monitoring capabilities exercising caution about downloading unknown files and phishing email can help mitigate these types of attacks.

URL Interpretation

URL interpretation also called as URL poisoning attacks are when an attacker exploits the way web browsers and servers interpret and handle URLs, allowing attackers to bypass security controls, conduct phishing attacks, or execute malicious code.

Implementing URL validation mechanisms, strong coding practices, input validation, and enforcing access controls help mitigate URL exploitation.

Web Attacks

Web attacks are a wide range of threats targeting web applications, such as cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, and cross-site request forgery (CSRF). These attacks exploit vulnerabilities in the code or design of a web application allowing attackers to manipulate data and alter website content and steal sensitive information.

In 2017, Equifax, a major credit card company suffered a major data breach due to a web based vulnerability exposing personal information of 147 billion people. Implementing strict input validation mechanisms, conducting regular security audits, penetration testing helps prevent these types of attacks.

Whale-phishing Attacks

Whale-phishing attacks are targeted phishing attacks that focus on high-profile individuals or key executives within an organization, typically aiming to gain access to sensitive data or financial resources.

These attacks look more personalized and sophisticated since the attacks use social engineering tactics to make the profile look more credible for phishing which makes it difficult to bypass. Recommended mitigation strategies include employee infosec training, utilizing multi factor authentication, and using SIEM and end point detection tools.

Zero-day Exploits

Zero-day exploit is a cyber security vulnerability where the attackers take advantage of previously unknown vulnerabilities in a software application to compromise systems and steal sensitive information before a patch or solution is available. Since the vulnerability is not known to the vendor it is challenging to mitigate this. However performing regular software patches, implementing continuous monitoring, network segmentation and application whitelisting can help mitigate zero day attacks.

Next Steps - Adopt a Multi-layered Security Approach

(Design with the four pointers given below)

Defending against these diverse cybersecurity threats requires a multi-layered approach, including robust security measures, regular software updates, employee awareness training, and continuous monitoring and incident response capabilities to create a strong defense against cyber security threats.

Cultivating a Culture of Cyber Resilience

A multi-layered security approach ensures that each vulnerable area of the network is protected by multiple security controls that together bring a strong interconnected defined mechanism against potential attacks and enhances system, application , network, and infrastructure security.

By adopting this multi-layered security approach organization fosters a culture of cybersecurity awareness and resilience, to enhance their ability to defend against diverse threats. This holistic strategy empowers them to anticipate, withstand, and recover from cyber incidents, ensuring the continued protection of their critical assets and the trust of their customers and stakeholders.

Practicing Continuous Vigilance

Cybersecurity is an ongoing battle, requiring organizations to maintain a state of constant vigilance. Regular software updates and patches are essential to address known vulnerabilities and keep systems secure. Additionally, comprehensive employee security awareness training helps individuals recognize and respond to emerging threats, such as phishing and social engineering attacks.

Strengthening Incident Response Capabilities

Complementing these preventive measures, organizations should also invest in robust incident response capabilities. This includes implementing security monitoring tools, incident response plans, and dedicated security teams to quickly detect, investigate, and mitigate the impact of any successful cyber attacks.

Leverage automation for enhanced security

Understanding the nature and impact of cyber threats is crucial for organizations and individuals to prioritize cybersecurity efforts effectively. Implementing robust countermeasures to safeguard systems, data, and assets is paramount. However, considering the complexity of these systems, managing all these manually can be daunting. This is where the power of automation tools comes into play.

Utilizing automation tools protects your cyber assets, streamlines your operation, helps you track real-time monitoring of your cyber posture, automate proactive security measures and improves your indecent response capabilities thereby effectively mitigating cyber attacks.

Cybersecurity with Cyber Sierra

Cyber Sierra offers a comprehensive and integrated approach to cybersecurity, addressing security challenges both within the organization and across the extended ecosystem. Our platform streamlines governance, risk, and compliance for organizations, ensuring robust security practices and regulatory compliance.

The platform also features a robust Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM) functionality, which helps to continuously monitor security controls, rapidly detect and alert for deviations putting security controls on auto-pilot. The platform also offers threat intelligence by analyzing real-time data to help organizations stay ahead of emerging cyber threats.

Cyber Sierra's dedicated third-party risk management (TPRM) module assesses, monitors, and mitigates the vendor risk lifecycle. It also enables seamless risk transfer by integrating access to cyber insurance policies, allowing organizations to transfer unmitigated risks and ensure financial protection.

To see the platform live in action, schedule a demo today.

Srividhya Karthik

A weekly newsletter sharing actionable tips for CTOs & CISOs to secure their software.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

Thank you for subscribing!

Please check your email to confirm your email address.

Find out how we can assist you in
completing your compliance journey.

Book a Demo

Third Party Risk Management

What are the top 7 Third Party Risk Management Tools?

Table of Contents

Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

From business affiliates and contractors to partners and suppliers, most organizations utilize third-party relationships to run their day-to-day activities. This exposes them to more third-party risks that can be complex to manage without the right tools.

For instance, on May 31, 2023, MOVEit, a third-party file transfer software owned by Progress, a NASDAQ listed software company, that’s used by thousands of private and government organizations to transfer and receive data was attacked by a group of cybercriminals. The attack enabled cybercriminals to access and download files belonging to a handful of agencies in the State of Maine.

These widespread attacks can impact organizations due to the hefty costs and fines they come with. According to a report by IBM, the global average cost of data breaches increased by 2.3% from USD 4.35 million in 2022 to USD 4.45 million in 2023.

To avoid these insane costs, organizations need to invest in powerful third-party risk management software that can help implement a robust risk management program.

Sadly, most organizations still rely on outdated third-party risk management solutions that leave them vulnerable to data breaches and compliance issues.

Let's face it – using outdated or inadequate software only exposes your organization to more vulnerabilities and hefty fines.

If you are looking to safeguard your business from third-party risks, this blog explores the top 7 third-party risk management platforms that can help your organization better assess, monitor, and mitigate risks associated with external partners and vendors.

But before that, let’s clear out a few things.

What is Third-Party Risk Management Software?

Third-party risk management software is a set of tools that can help organizations identify, analyze, and mitigate the external challenges posed by their service providers, IT vendors, contractors, and other third parties.

These tools enable organizations to assess the risks associated with these entities and take appropriate measures to rectify and remediate them, thus safeguarding against institutional and reputational damage.

One of the primary roles of third-party risk management tools is to assess the potential risks in engaging with third-party vendors.

By evaluating factors such as financial stability, security protocols, regulatory compliance, and past performance, organizations can make informed decisions regarding the selection and initial onboarding of third parties.

The software also facilitates ongoing monitoring of these entities to ensure that they continue to meet the necessary standards and requirements.

In the event of identifying risks or issues, the software plays a vital role in guiding organizations through rectification and remediation efforts.

It assists in implementing corrective actions, ensuring that the third party addresses the identified vulnerabilities promptly.

Investing in a third-party risk management system can be beneficial for organizations in many ways including:

Automated vendor risk management which leads to increased efficiency
Enhanced visibility of each activity in the lifecycle and centralization of your processes and data, which improves collaboration across your organization
Better contract management
Reduced errors often found in manual processes
Ease of reporting
Improved risk management
Enhanced compliance
Better decision-making

7 Best TPRM Tools in 2024

Here are the top 7 best third-party risk management platforms.

1. Cyber Sierra

Best for: Large enterprises looking for innovative, customizable solutions with advanced risk assessment methodologies and scalability. The platform however can be tailored to suit the needs of mid-sized organizations also.

Cyber Sierra’s third-party risk management tool is a comprehensive solution designed to help organizations effectively manage the risks associated with their third-party relationships.

With a range of key features and benefits, this solution empowers users to take control of their third-party cyber risk management.

The tool is a game-changer in the realm of safeguarding against cyber risks from external partners. With its robust capabilities, it outshines competitors like MetricStream, Prevalent, and others.

The software excels in managing third-party risk by providing a comprehensive suite of tools for supplier assessments, risk identification, and continuous monitoring. Its key feature lies in offering real-time insights into vendor risks, allowing organizations to stay ahead of potential threats.

One standout aspect is its integration capabilities, seamlessly connecting with existing systems to streamline workflows. This ensures that risk management teams have a complete picture of vendor risks to launch effective risk mitigation strategies.

Cyber Sierra’s solution empowers users to take control of their third-party cyber risk assessments by providing intuitive user experiences and collaborative platforms. It goes beyond mere compliance management by offering advanced features for ongoing monitoring and risk mitigation.

Here's what sets Cyber Sierra apart:

Streamlined workflows: Cyber Sierra boasts an intuitive user experience that simplifies tasks for your risk management teams.
Real-time monitoring: The software continuously monitors the security posture of your vendors to give you a complete picture of their current risk profile.
Customization: Every company's needs are different. The platform lets you tailor your risk assessments and compliance management programs to fit your industry and regulatory requirements.
Comprehensive cyber risk check: Unlike its competitors, Cyber Sierra offers a deep dive into cybersecurity risk factors associated with third-party vendors. Its advanced algorithms analyze a multitude of risk factors to provide users with a thorough understanding of potential security risks.
Robust third-party risk analysis: The tool goes beyond basic risk assessments by providing industry-leading third-party risk analysis capabilities. It not only identifies risks but also offers insights into the root causes which empowers organizations to make informed decisions about risk mitigation strategies.
Efficient remediation efforts: With Cyber Sierra, organizations can efficiently streamline their remediation efforts. The software not only identifies vulnerabilities but also provides actionable recommendations for addressing them effectively. This ensures that organizations can quickly resolve security issues and minimize potential damage. The platform also helps get cyber insurance in case of risk transfer.

Pricing

Cyber Sierra’s pricing is customizable based on your needs and available upon request.

2. OneTrust

Ideal for: Organizations seeking a third-party risk assessment and management solution to streamline data processing and compliance reporting.

OneTrust's third-party risk management solution facilitates third-party risk assessment and management. It provides out-of-the-box templates for building custom assessments, simplifying the process of evaluating third-party risks.

This solution aids users in managing third-party risk by automating various aspects of the risk management process. It enables organizations to automate third-party risk assessments, streamline third-party onboarding, and implement risk mitigation strategies effectively.

OneTrust helps reduce reputational risk by providing out-of-the-box mitigation recommendations and workflows. It allows users to maintain a comprehensive third-party inventory and track risk exposure across the vendor ecosystem.

Even though OneTrust boasts powerful tools for automating third-party risk management programs, it can lack some of the unique features that Cyber Sierra provides.

For instance, Cyber Sierra simplifies complex data and provides actionable insights through features like dashboards or automated reporting. Besides, while both likely offer TPRM features, Cyber Sierra includes regular security awareness training for employees. This could be a valuable addition depending on your overall security strategy.

Key features

Automated workflows: The platform automates and streamlines workflows for vendor onboarding, risk assessment, remediation, and ongoing monitoring to enhance efficiency and consistency in third-party risk management processes.
Build an inventory of third parties and track the information you care about most: OneTrust third-party risk management helps you build an inventory of third parties and track the information you care about most.
Continuous monitoring: It continuously monitors the security posture and compliance status of third-party vendors throughout the vendor lifecycle to enable organizations to proactively identify and address emerging risks and vulnerabilities.

Pricing

OneTrust pricing is available upon request.

3. Prevalent

Ideal for: Companies seeking a comprehensive TPRM solution with a focus on post-contract due diligence and inherent risk.

Prevalent is a prominent SaaS platform offering a handy third-party risk management platform to help organizations streamline vendor and supplier risk management.

With the Prevalent third-party risk management platform, users can evaluate and manage third-party risks efficiently. Besides, the software allows users to onboard third-party vendors, conduct risk assessments, and perform post-contract due diligence.

One notable feature is its auto-inherent risk scores, which provide users with insights into the inherent risk associated with each vendor. This allows organizations to prioritize their risk management efforts and focus on vendors with higher inherent risk profiles.

Prevalent enables users to take control of their third-party risk assessment and management by streamlining the vendor onboarding process and automating risk assessments. By providing a structured approach to vendor risk management, the platform helps organizations identify and mitigate potential risks effectively.

While Prevalent offers valuable capabilities for managing third-party risks, it's important to consider how it aligns with the specific needs and priorities of the organization.

If your organization requires highly customized workflows, assessments, or reporting capabilities, Cyber Sierra might offer a more flexible and customizable platform compared to Prevalent.

Key features

Inherent risk assessment: Prevalent provides auto-inherent risk scores, allowing users to quickly assess the inherent risk associated with each third-party vendor.
Streamlined vendor onboarding: The platform facilitates seamless third-party onboarding, simplifying the process for both vendors and organizations.
Post-contract due diligence: The software supports post-contract due diligence activities, helping organizations monitor and manage ongoing vendor relationships effectively. This feature is valuable for organizations seeking to continuously evaluate and mitigate risks throughout the vendor lifecycle.
Contract process integration: The platform seamlessly integrates with the contract process, enabling organizations to incorporate risk management considerations into contract negotiations and agreements.

Pricing

Prevalent pricing is available upon request.

4. SecurityScorecard

Designed for: Cybersecurity teams looking for a third-party cyber risk management solution to monitor and manage the cybersecurity of their extensive vendor networks and improve their security posture

SecurityScorecard offers a comprehensive third-party risk management solution that supports the overall cybersecurity risk management workflow.

It provides organizations with the necessary tools and insights to effectively assess, monitor, and mitigate cyber risks associated with their third-party vendors.

This solution begins by conducting an initial assessment of all third-party vendors based on various risk factors. It analyzes the security posture of each vendor, evaluating factors such as their network security, patching cadence, endpoint security, DNS health, and other critical indicators.

The gathered data is then used to generate a risk score for each vendor, which aids in prioritizing risk mitigation efforts.

Once the risk assessment is complete, the software continuously monitors the security posture of third-party vendors.

It alerts organizations to any changes or incidents that may impact the security of the organization's data or systems. This allows organizations to proactively identify and address potential risks before they escalate into major security incidents.

While SecurityScorecard may offer valuable functionalities for managing third-party cyber risks, it may lack the advanced capabilities offered by Cyber Sierra.

For instance, Cyber Sierra’s third-party risk management solution offers a more comprehensive risk assessment by integrating various data sources and factors.

The software performs deep scanning of networks, supplier-specific risk profiles, and real-time threat intelligence, providing a more holistic view of third-party risks.

Key features

Continuous monitoring: The tool provides ongoing assessment and monitoring of third-party vendors' cybersecurity posture.
Evidence locker: It securely stores documentation and evidence related to third-party assessments, audits, and compliance.
Score & action plans: SecurityScorecard generates risk scores for each vendor based on various factors, along with actionable insights and customized mitigation plans to address identified vulnerabilities and improve overall security posture.

Pricing

SecurityScorecard pricing is available upon request.

5. MetricStream

Suitable for: Best for larger organizations with intricate vendor networks.

MetricStream third-party risk management (TPRM) software offers a range of capabilities for managing vendor relationships and mitigating associated risks.

The software facilitates initial onboarding and ongoing management of third-party vendors, covering the complete vendor lifecycle from onboarding to risk management.

Key features include dynamic questionnaires and a library of questionnaire templates, allowing users to assess cybersecurity performance and compliance with security standards effectively.

This enables organizations to gain insights into vendor risk profiles and make informed decisions regarding risk mitigation strategies.

MetricStream provides tools for seamless onboarding to risk management processes. It enables organizations to streamline vendor assessments and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

While MetricStream offers robust capabilities for third-party risk management, it's important to note that it doesn’t offer customization capabilities as Cyber Sierra does. Furthermore, the software may be more complex and expensive for smaller businesses due to its broader feature set–Cyber Sierra’s TPRM can support small, mid and large enterprises.

Key features

Streamlined third-party lifecycle management: MetricStream facilitates managing the entire third-party relationship, from onboarding and due diligence through ongoing monitoring and eventual offboarding.
Dynamic questionnaires: The software offers dynamic questionnaires tailored to assess cybersecurity performance and compliance with security standards.
Library of questionnaire templates: MetricStream provides a library of pre-built questionnaire templates, saving time and effort in creating assessments. These templates cover various risk domains and regulatory requirements, providing a solid foundation for vendor risk monitoring and assessments.

Pricing

MetricStream’s price is available upon request.

6. ServiceNow

Suitable for: Organizations looking to continuously monitor critical vendors so they can evaluate, mitigate, and remediate risks.

ServiceNow offers a robust third-party risk management platform in its suite of products to support users in managing third-party risks. The platform facilitates the organization's ability to track and assess risks associated with external vendors.

This solution helps users with third-party risk management by centralizing information and workflows related to vendor risk assessments. It allows organizations to streamline processes such as vendor onboarding, risk assessments, and risk mitigation efforts.

In addition, ServiceNow enables users to automate various aspects of third-party risk management to improve efficiency and accuracy in risk assessment processes. It also offers functionalities for tracking and monitoring vendor performance over time.

Note that even though ServiceNow and Cyber Sierra offer capabilities for third-party risk management, some key features set them apart. For instance, Cyber Sierra offers highly customizable vendor risk assessment templates that can be tailored to specific industries, regulatory requirements, or organizational preferences.

Key features

Full lifecycle support: ServiceNow handles onboarding, renewals, and offboarding. The platform helps you gather info and assess risks throughout the entire dance with your third parties.
Third-party portal: The software provides a centralized platform for third parties to interact with the organization, submit documentation, and communicate on risk-related matters.
Risk intelligence and ongoing monitoring: ServiceNow utilizes intelligence tools to assess and monitor risks associated with third parties continuously, helping to identify potential issues proactively.
Third-party portfolio management: It enables organizations to manage their entire portfolio of third-party relationships efficiently, including categorization, tracking, and analysis.

Pricing

ServiceNow pricing is available upon request.

7. ProcessUnity

Developed for: Companies looking to automate the third-party lifecycle and reduce risks from third parties, vendors, and suppliers.

ProcessUnity for third-party risk management is designed to safeguard companies from risks posed by third parties, vendors, and suppliers.

TPRM extends risk management beyond internal operations to encompass any external entity that could potentially threaten an organization's security or reputation.

The software offers key functions such as risk assessment, vendor onboarding, and ongoing monitoring. It enables users to centralize vendor information, conduct risk assessments, and track vendor performance over time.

Additionally, ProcessUnity provides out-of-the-box templates and customizable workflows to streamline the risk management process.

This solution aids users in managing third-party risk by providing a comprehensive view of vendor relationships and associated risks. It helps organizations identify and prioritize risks, implement mitigation strategies, and monitor vendor compliance with security standards and regulations.

ProcessUnity is particularly beneficial for organizations seeking to enhance their vendor risk management processes. It allows users to automate various aspects of third-party risk management, improving efficiency and accuracy in risk assessment processes.

Key features

Vendor due diligence & ongoing monitoring: ProcessUnity facilitates thorough due diligence on vendors by providing tools for assessing their risk profiles and ongoing monitoring capabilities.
Vendor onboarding: The platform streamlines the vendor onboarding process, making it efficient and effective.
Risk domain screening: ProcessUnity offers risk domain screening functionality, allowing organizations to assess vendors across various risk domains such as cybersecurity, financial stability, compliance, and reputation.
Inherent risk scores and vendor criticality tiers: The platform offers inherent risk scoring functionality to assess the inherent risk associated with each vendor based on factors such as industry, geography, and the nature of the services provided.

Pricing

ProcessUnity pricing is available upon request.

How to Choose the Best TPRM Tool for Your Organization

Selecting the right third-party risk management software can significantly impact your organization's security and resilience. However, this isn’t always easy for most people.

Here are some of the most important features to look for in your chosen TPRM software.

User Friendliness

The tool should be intuitive and easy to navigate for everyone involved, from technical experts to occasional users. This ensures ease of use and efficient adoption and reduces training time.

Responsive Customer Support

Opt for a provider that offers responsive and knowledgeable customer support, promptly addressing any issues or questions that may arise during tool implementation and usage. Look for vendors with multiple support channels and a proven track record of resolving customer issues effectively.

Third-Party Risk Identification

Look for software equipped with robust capabilities to proactively identify and catalog third-party risks across various categories and levels for comprehensive risk management.

Third-Party Risk Analysis

Select a tool that goes beyond basic risk identification to provide an in-depth analysis of identified risks, including their potential impact and likelihood, enabling the prioritization of mitigation efforts effectively.

Vendor Onboarding & Offboarding

Ensure the tool streamlines the process of onboarding new vendors and offboarding discontinued ones while maintaining data integrity and compliance with organizational policies and regulations.

Vendor Risk Assessment

Choose a tool that facilitates a comprehensive assessment of vendor risks through customizable questionnaires, scoring mechanisms, and risk rating methodologies, enabling informed decision-making regarding vendor relationships.

Compliance and Audit Management

Prioritize tools that offer features to manage compliance requirements and facilitate audit processes seamlessly, including tracking regulatory changes and ensuring adherence to industry standards.

Vendor Due Diligence

Opt for third-party risk management software that supports thorough due diligence processes, including background checks, financial assessments, and legal reviews, to evaluate vendor reliability and trustworthiness effectively.

Cybersecurity Ratings

Consider tools that integrate cybersecurity ratings from reputable sources to assess the security posture of third-party vendors accurately for overall risk assessment and management efforts.

Scalability and Automation

Look for TPRM software capable of scaling your organization's growth and automating repetitive tasks such as data collection, analysis, and monitoring to improve operational efficiency and reduce manual effort.

Remediation Workflows

Choose a tool with built-in workflows to manage remediation efforts, assign tasks, track progress, and ensure timely resolution of identified risks to streamline the risk mitigation process effectively.

Advanced Reporting

Prioritize tools that offer customizable reporting functionalities, including real-time dashboards, executive summaries, and detailed reports to facilitate informed decision-making and communication at all levels of the organization.

Continuous Monitoring of Third-Party Risks

Select a tool capable of providing ongoing monitoring of third-party activities and changes in risk factors, enabling the prompt identification of emerging threats and vulnerabilities for proactive risk management.

Cost

Evaluate the total cost of ownership, including licensing fees, implementation costs, and ongoing maintenance expenses, to ensure the chosen tool aligns with your budget constraints and provides value for money in addressing your organization's risk management needs.

Integration Capabilities

Look for a third-party risk management system with robust integration capabilities, allowing seamless connectivity with existing systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and security information and event management (SIEM) solutions.

This ensures data synchronization and workflow automation across platforms, streamlining risk management processes and enhancing overall operational efficiency.

Additionally, prioritize tools that support integration with third-party APIs and offer flexibility to adapt to evolving technology ecosystems, enabling future-proofing and scalability of your risk management infrastructure.

Use Cyber Sierra for Robust Third-Party Risk Management Program

While most of the third-party risk management tools we’ve highlighted above can be helpful for any organization, Cyber Sierra stands out for its comprehensive features and automation capabilities.

Here are Cyber Sierra’s unique features that make it ideal for your organization’s third-party risk management needs:

Vendor assessment and due diligence: Cyber Sierra offers advanced features for assessing and evaluating third-party vendors before engaging in business relationships. Better yet, it automates the process of collecting information about vendors' security practices, certifications, and compliance with industry standards.
Continuous monitoring: TPRM involves continuously monitoring third-party vendors for any changes in their security posture or potential risks. Cyber Sierra provides functionalities for real-time monitoring of vendors' networks, systems, and activities to detect any anomalies or security breaches promptly.
Risk scoring and prioritization: An effective third-party risk management program requires prioritizing vendors based on the level of risk they pose to the organization. Cyber Sierra offers capabilities for assigning risk scores to vendors based on factors such as the sensitivity of the data they handle, their security controls, and any past security incidents.
Automated alerts and notifications: In TPRM, timely detection of security incidents or vulnerabilities is crucial. Cyber Sierra includes automated alerting and notification features to promptly notify users about any security issues or changes in vendors' risk profiles.
Integration with existing systems: Seamless integration with existing security systems and tools is essential for TPRM effectiveness. Cyber Sierra offers integrations with other cybersecurity solutions such as threat intelligence platforms, security information and event management (SIEM) systems, and vulnerability management tools.
Compliance management: TPRM often involves ensuring that third-party vendors comply with relevant regulatory requirements and industry standards. Cyber Sierra assists in managing compliance assessments, audits, and documentation to ensure that vendors meet the necessary security and privacy standards.
Incident Response and remediation: In the event of a security incident involving a third-party vendor, the software provides capabilities for facilitating incident response activities and coordinating remediation efforts to mitigate the impact of the incident on the organization.
Advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms: CS' AI-powered platform monitors security risks and offers suggestions on mitigating them.
The platform also helps in getting cyber insurance in case the risk needs to be transferred.

FAQs

Let’s answer a few questions asked by users of TPRM tools

What is the best third-party risk management software?

There's no single "best" TPRM tool, as the ideal choice depends on your specific needs and budget. When choosing software for your organization, look for one that offers comprehensive features for risk identification, assessment, and mitigation tailored to various industries and compliance standards.

What is third-party risk management?

Third-party risk management involves identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks associated with outsourcing tasks, services, or operations to external parties, such as vendors, suppliers, or contractors. It aims to safeguard an organization from potential harm or disruptions caused by the actions or shortcomings of third parties, ensuring business continuity and resilience.

Who is responsible for third-party risk management?

Responsibility for third-party risk management typically falls on various stakeholders within an organization, including executives, risk management professionals, compliance officers, and procurement teams. Each contributing expertise and oversight to effectively mitigate risks associated with external partners.

Continuous Control Monitoring

Top 7 Continuous Control Monitoring Tools in 2024

Table of Contents

Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

From internal and financial controls to technological controls and process controls, monitoring critical controls can be challenging without the right tools.

It becomes even more challenging as the IT environment grows more complex, operations and applications move to the cloud, and organizations adopt a remote working culture.

This is also true for large organizations looking to implement more and more controls to stay ahead of complex regulations and keep up with third-party vendors.

This is where continuous control monitoring tools become helpful.

Continuous control monitoring (CCM) technologies automatically test and monitor security controls and risk management processes implemented within an organization to validate their effectiveness at any given time.

They help organizations to proactively manage their risks, maintain a continuous regulatory compliance posture, and minimize business losses.

Through continuous monitoring of internal controls, CCM solutions help organizations improve their standing in the eyes of their customers, auditors, and government regulators.

But with the host of options out there, how do you choose the right continuous controls monitoring solution for your organization?

This guide unveils the top the top seven CCM tools that have emerged as frontrunners in the market, offering innovative features and capabilities that make them essential for organizations striving to maintain a robust continuous control monitoring framework.

Let’s get started.

What are Continuous Control Monitoring Tools?

Continuous controls monitoring tools are software applications that are used to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of financial, technological, and internal controls within an organization.

With these tools, organizations can continuously track and analyze key control metrics, assess risks, and identify any deviations or anomalies that may indicate a breakdown in controls and proactively act accordingly.
Continuous control monitoring solutions are primarily used in financial services to automatically scan financial transactions, identify patterns, and flag any potential errors or fraudulent activities.

Besides, these tools can also monitor internal controls by tracking the implementation and effectiveness of internal policies and procedures. In addition, CCM tools can evaluate technological controls by continuously testing security measures and identifying vulnerabilities or unauthorized access attempts.

One of the major benefits of using CCM tools is the ability to automatically test security controls. These tools can simulate various attack scenarios, such as phishing attempts or network breaches, to identify any weaknesses in the organization's security infrastructure.

By proactively testing these controls, organizations can ensure that their sensitive data and systems are protected from potential threats.

Furthermore, CCM tools can detect anomalous activity within the organization's controls. By continuously monitoring key control metrics and comparing them against predefined thresholds, these tools can identify any deviations from normal behavior. This can be particularly useful in detecting any fraudulent activities or non-compliance with internal policies.

Overall, continuous controls monitoring applications can benefit organizations in many ways including:

Proactive risk management
Increased operational efficiency
Enhanced regulatory compliance and risk management
Facilitate data-driven decision-making
Improved security posture
Faster incident response
Reduced costs associated with data breaches and compliance failures
Increased company value to investors and stakeholders, and increased value through improved privacy controls

7 Best Continuous Control Monitoring Solutions

Here are the top CCM tools that have emerged as frontrunners in the market in 2024. We have evaluated them based on user reviews, innovative features, and their key capabilities.

1. Cyber Sierra

Best for: Enterprise organizations looking to implement a customized CCM program to match industry needs and strengthen their cybersecurity defenses.

Cyber Sierra offers robust continuous controls monitoring software to help organizations enhance cyber security and maintain a continuous compliance status. This tool provides a comprehensive set of features, capabilities, and benefits to effectively monitor and manage security controls.

One of the prominent features of the software is its ability to automate the monitoring of security controls. It constantly scans the entire IT infrastructure to detect any vulnerabilities, risks, or anomalies. This proactive approach helps organizations stay ahead of potential security risks and take immediate action to mitigate them.

The AI-powered cyber security platform also offers near real-time monitoring and alerts, allowing security teams to respond quickly to any suspicious activities or breaches. Besides, it provides detailed reports and analytics, enabling organizations to gain insights into their security posture and make informed decisions.

The tool also facilitates compliance with regulatory standards by ensuring that security controls are in place and continuously monitored. It helps organizations achieve and maintain regulatory compliance, reducing the risk of penalties or legal consequences.

The benefits of implementing this tool for your organization are numerous. It enhances the overall security of your organization, enabling early detection and prevention of cyber threats. It saves time and resources by automating monitoring processes and providing comprehensive reports. It also improves your organization's reputation by demonstrating a commitment to cybersecurity and compliance.

Here is why enterprise organizations love Cyber Sierra:

Real-time monitoring of critical controls: Never miss a beat. Cyber Sierra continuously monitors your critical controls, providing real-time visibility into their effectiveness.
Automated control testing and validation: Say goodbye to manual testing. The software automatically tests and validates a range of controls, streamlining process control monitoring for security and compliance teams.
Identification of control weaknesses and compliance gaps: Leave no control gaps behind. Cyber Sierra helps organizations identify weaknesses and gaps in controls across business domains, enabling proactive mitigation of potential risks.
Mitigation of regulatory and compliance risks: Reduce compliance headaches. It also helps enterprise organizations mitigate regulatory and compliance risks by implementing controls at scale and ensuring adherence to standards.
Proactive risk management: Get ahead of threats. It helps you to proactively identify potential risks in your control processes through continuous monitoring, enabling preventative vulnerability management.
Data-driven insights for decision making: Make informed decisions. Leverage data-driven insights from a single repository of control information to guide security and internal audit teams. This source of truth empowers data-driven decision-making for business continuity.

Pricing

Cyber Sierra offers customizable pricing in three different plans. Price is available upon request.

2. Quod Orbis

Suitable for: Organizations looking to streamline their internal audit processes and maintain a continuous compliance posture.

Quod Orbis Continuous Controls Monitoring platform is designed to address the challenges faced by organizations in maintaining a continuous and effective internal audit process.

It provides a way to continuously monitor critical controls and identify any deviations from compliance standards or risk management practices. This can help organizations achieve a more proactive approach to cybersecurity and compliance.

The target users of Quod Orbis CCM platform include internal audit teams, compliance teams, and security professionals. It automates parts of the audit process such as evidence collection and analysis, which can help to reduce audit costs and improve efficiency. This can also free up internal audit teams to focus on more strategic tasks, such as risk assessment and continuous improvement of risk management practices.

The platform can be especially useful for organizations that are looking to improve their compliance posture or manage disruptive risks. By providing continuous monitoring of controls, the CCM tool can help organizations to identify and address potential issues before they escalate into major problems. This can help to improve overall security posture and reduce the likelihood of security incidents.

Overall, Quod Orbis CCM platform is a tool that can be used by organizations of all sizes to improve their continuous auditing practices, manage compliance costs, and achieve a more proactive approach to cybersecurity and risk management.

Key features

Cyber asset attacks management (CAASM) & asset management: Quod Orbis enables organizations to manage their cyber assets by providing asset management capabilities. This includes tracking and monitoring of assets, identifying vulnerabilities, and implementing measures to mitigate cyber asset attacks.
Risk management: The platform helps organizations to proactively identify, assess, and mitigate risks through its comprehensive risk management features.
Automated auditing of controls: Quod Orbis automates the assessment of controls across the organization, reducing the need for manual intervention and improving audit efficiency.

Pricing

Quod Orbis pricing is available upon request.

3. Panaseer

Ideal for: Active security posture management

The Panaseer platform uses continuous controls monitoring to enhance the prioritization and acceleration of remediation efforts in the realm of cybersecurity. It provides real-time visibility into the security posture of an organization, which helps users to take proactive measures in addressing vulnerabilities and managing security controls.

The platform can also automate the process of vulnerability analysis, enabling security teams to identify and prioritize risks more efficiently. This is particularly useful for organizations with extensive cloud security requirements, as the platform can provide a comprehensive view of an organization's cloud infrastructure and the associated security risks.

Its automated cyber asset inventory allows for the continuous tracking of an organization's assets and their respective security controls. This feature can be helpful for organizations looking to optimize their remediation efforts and reduce remediation costs, as it enables security teams to quickly identify and address vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.

Panaseer platform also offers automated reporting capabilities, which can help security teams to better manage their remediation activities.

It provides real-time insights into the status of remediation efforts, which can help security teams to better prioritize their work and ensure that remediation efforts are aligned with the organization's security objectives.

Key features

Automated security posture management: The platform offers automated security posture management capabilities, allowing organizations to gain real-time visibility into their security posture.
Cyber asset management: Panaseer facilitates effective cyber asset management by providing automated cyber asset inventory capabilities.
Security controls management: The platform centralizes security control management, providing a unified view of all security controls deployed across the IT infrastructure.
Evidenced remediation: Panaseer supports evidenced remediation by providing organizations with actionable insights and evidence-based recommendations for remediation.

Pricing

Panaseer pricing is available upon request.

4. MetricStream

Best for: Organizations looking to improve their cloud usage through autonomous, continuous control monitoring.

MetricStream offers continuous controls monitoring solutions within its compliance operations platform. IIt offers a suite of tools for monitoring controls, ensuring regulatory adherence, and reinforcing security management.

With a focus on cloud usage, it actively checks for cloud entities, emphasizing the importance of cloud systems throughout its functionality.

The software's capabilities extend to continuous auditing, vulnerability management, and device management applications, supporting a unified approach to cybersecurity management.

Within the compliance environment, MetricStream provides specialized support for compliance specialists, enabling them to navigate through complex regulatory landscapes efficiently.

TThe software also also addresses critical vulnerabilities while safeguarding cloud systems and enhancing overall security posture. Its proactive approach to identifying and mitigating risks aligns with modern compliance requirements, making it a valuable asset for organizations seeking comprehensive compliance and security solutions.

Note that MetricStream's continuous control monitoring emphasizes more on cloud usage throughout its features. So you may want to consider Cyber Sierra if you want a more comprehensive approach to cloud usage, security and compliance.

According to G2 and Capterra reviews, the software is also less intuitive when it comes to compliance management. Cyber Sierra is designed with a user-friendly interface, which makes it easy to navigate for both beginners and experts alike.

Key features

Here are the key features of the software:

Automated testing and monitoring: The software performs automated testing and monitoring to enhance cloud usage.
Seamless Integration with AWS: It also integrates with the AWS security hub to help you keep a close eye on your cloud compliance in real time.
Efficient evidence gathering: The tool leverages autonomous evidence collection making it fast to identify compliance issues.

Pricing

MetricStream pricing is available upon request.

5. Pathlock

Best for: Organizations looking for software to monitor critical business processes and financial transactions within financial services and transactional applications.

Pathlock’s continuous control monitoring software is designed to monitor critical business processes and financial transactions within financial services and transactional applications.

It operates within the broader business context, addressing various business risks associated with financial operations.

By focusing on continuous compliance, Pathlock ensures that organizations can maintain adherence to regulatory requirements and internal policies seamlessly. The software's capabilities extend to comprehensive financial transaction monitoring, allowing for real-time oversight of transactional activities.

Pathlock's approach is particularly valuable in identifying anomalies and potential issues within financial processes, enabling timely intervention to mitigate risks. Its integration with transactional applications provides a granular view of financial activities, facilitating efficient monitoring and control.

The downside of Pathlock's continuous control monitoring is that it majorly focuses on proactively addressing compliance and risk management challenges within the financial services environments. If you’re looking for robust continuous controls monitoring software that can be customized for diverse industries, Cyber Sierra would be a great option for you.

Key features

Here are powerful features of the software:

Risk quantification & transaction monitoring: Pathlock analyzes transaction data to quantify the financial risk of Segregation of Duties (SoD) conflicts within your organization's applications. It identifies the monetary impact and provides a detailed analysis by conflict, user, or application.
Configuration change monitoring: The software tracks changes to transaction and master data, including the source, user, and before/after values. It can also identify deleted items.
Business process control management: It automates control procedures across various frameworks. It integrates and streamlines control mechanisms into one system, improving efficiency, reducing manual effort, and enhancing risk visibility.
Manual process control management: The platform integrates and streamlines manual controls into a centralized, automated system, improving efficiency, reducing manual effort, and enhancing risk visibility.

Pricing

Pathlock pricing is available upon request.

6. Hyperproof

Best for: Continuous monitoring of a wide range of critical controls including internal, security, access, and behavioral controls.

Hyperproof is a prominent compliance operations platform that offers a software solution for continuous control monitoring. It is designed to help organizations automatically and frequently monitor a wide range of their internal controls, including security controls like access controls and behavioral controls.

The software focuses on critical risks by enabling users to identify and continuously monitor the effectiveness of controls designed to mitigate those risks. This can include key controls across various departments, such as IT, development, and HR.

Hyperproof streamlines the process of control assessment by automating the monitoring of controls. The software reduces the need for manual testing, potentially freeing up resources for compliance teams.

Hyperproof primarily focuses on continuous monitoring of critical controls such as internal, security, access, and behavioral controls. So if you want software that offers real-time monitoring capabilities with advanced alerting systems to ensure timely detection of control deviations, you may consider Cyber Sierra.

Besides, Cyber Sierra provides advanced analytics and integration capabilities, enabling deep insights into control performance.

Key features

Here are a few features of Hyperproof:

Wide range of control coverage: The software can monitor a variety of controls, including access controls, behavioral controls, and departmental controls across IT, development, and HR.
Streamlined assessment process: By automating control testing and offering real-time results, Hyperproof helps streamline the overall process of control assessment for compliance purposes.
Continuous monitoring capabilities: Hyperproof enables continuous monitoring of critical controls, allowing organizations to detect and respond to risks in real time.
Configurable monitoring frequency: The software allows you to set up monitoring schedules based on the criticality of the control. High-risk controls can be monitored continuously, while less critical ones can be checked daily or weekly.

Pricing

Hyperproof pricing is available upon request.

7. XM Cyber

Best for: Organizations looking for a comprehensive solution to address cyber risk and bolster their cyber security posture.

XM Cyber offers a continuous controls monitoring (CCM) tool designed to address the challenges of managing a complex cyber security landscape. Organizations today use numerous security tools, leading to a scattered view of their overall cyber defense posture.

With XM Cyber's CCM tool organizations get a unified cybersecurity management platform. The software continuously retrieves and analyzes data from various security controls, aiming to give a comprehensive picture of an organization's cyber risk posture.

This can be helpful for security professionals tasked with managing cyber risk and ensuring the effectiveness of implemented controls.

By offering a centralized view, the CCM tool can potentially aid in identifying weaknesses in an organization's cyber defenses.

This information can then be used to prioritize and address security gaps, potentially improving an organization's overall cyber risk management strategy.

While both XM Cyber and Cyber Sierra share the common goal of strengthening cyber defense, they may differ in specific functionalities, user interfaces, and integration capabilities.

For instance, Cyber Sierra integrates seamlessly into your existing infrastructure whereas XM Cyber may not offer sufficient integration capabilities.

Key features

Real-time threat detection: The tool employs advanced algorithms to continuously monitor control mechanisms and identify potential cyber threats in real-time.
Automated remediation: Upon detecting a cyber threat, the tool provides automated remediation capabilities, allowing organizations to quickly address vulnerabilities and mitigate risks.
Risk prioritization: Leveraging sophisticated risk analysis techniques, the tool prioritizes identified threats based on their severity and potential impact on the organization.
Thousands of predefined critical security controls (CSCs): The tool comes pre-loaded with over 5,000 critical security controls, helping organizations ensure they are monitoring the right areas.

Pricing

XM Cyber pricing is available on request.

How to Choose the Best CCM Tool

Continuous control monitoring CCM solutions are essential in maintaining and enhancing the cybersecurity of organizations by constantly assessing and monitoring critical data and systems for any deviations or abnormalities.

These tools play a crucial role in detecting and preventing data breaches and ensuring the overall integrity and security of an organization's operations.

Choosing the best continuous controls monitoring (CCM) tool requires careful consideration of several factors to ensure it aligns with your business needs and objectives. Here's a quick guide to help you select the most suitable tool for your business:

Automated data collection and monitoring

Look for tools that can automatically gather data from various sources like applications, network devices, and security systems. This eliminates manual data collection, saving time and resources.

Real-time threat detection and monitoring capabilities

Prioritize tools with real-time monitoring features that identify and alert you to potential security threats as they occur. This allows for a faster response and minimizes damage.

Alerting mechanisms for control breaches

Choose a tool with configurable alerts to notify you of control breaches or deviations from expected behavior. This enables your team to investigate issues promptly.

Integration capabilities

Ensure the CCM tool integrates seamlessly with your existing security ecosystem (firewalls, SIEM systems, etc.) for streamlined data flow and centralized security management.

Regulatory compliance

If your organization adheres to specific regulations (PCI DSS, HIPAA, etc.), select a tool that offers pre-configured controls mapped to those regulations, simplifying compliance efforts.

Automated control testing and validation

Consider tools that automate control testing, reducing manual workload and ensuring consistent control verification. Look for features that validate the effectiveness of implemented controls.

Compliance monitoring and reporting

Choose a tool that offers comprehensive compliance monitoring and reporting capabilities. This helps demonstrate adherence to regulations and facilitates communication with auditors.

Additional considerations:

Here are additional considerations when choosing a CCM tool for your business.

Scalability: Consider your organization's size and potential future growth. Choose a tool that can scale to meet evolving needs.
Ease of use: Evaluate the user interface and functionalities to ensure your team can comfortably navigate and utilize the tool.
Vendor support: Assess the vendor's support offerings, including training, technical assistance, and ongoing updates.

Keep in mind that when it comes to continuous control monitoring tools, there's no "one-size-fits-all" solution. Carefully evaluate your business requirements and security posture when selecting the best CCM tool to optimize your internal control monitoring and strengthen your overall security framework.

Use Cyber Sierra for Effective Continuous Controls Monitoring

Cyber Sierra's Continuous Controls Monitoring tool is a versatile solution that can be effectively adopted in the cybersecurity sector to enhance monitoring and control processes.

For instance, the CCM tool is indispensable for cyber security and network security monitoring. With the increasing complexity of cyber threats and network vulnerabilities, organizations rely on Cyber Sierra to continuously monitor their IT infrastructure, detect potential security breaches, and respond swiftly to mitigate risks.

By leveraging Cyber Sierra’s advanced threat detection algorithms and real-time monitoring capabilities, technology companies can safeguard sensitive data, protect against cyber attacks, and maintain the integrity of their networks.

Here is how CCM with Cyber Sierra works:

Establishing a central controls repository: Cyber Sierra begins by establishing a centralized repository for all control-related information. This repository serves as a comprehensive database housing various control frameworks, policies, and procedures relevant to the organization. By consolidating this information in one location, the tool enables easy access and management of controls across the enterprise.
Gaining clear visibility into security posture: Once the central controls repository is established, the software provides organizations with clear visibility into their security posture. Through continuous monitoring and analysis of control data, it identifies strengths, weaknesses, and potential vulnerabilities within the organization's security framework. This visibility enables stakeholders to assess risks effectively and prioritize mitigation efforts accordingly.
Accessing actionable risk intelligence: Cyber Sierra leverages advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms to transform control data into actionable risk intelligence. By analyzing patterns, trends, and anomalies in control metrics, the tool identifies emerging risks and potential security threats in real time. This intelligence empowers organizations to make informed decisions and take proactive measures to mitigate risks before they escalate.
Managing multiple compliance frameworks: The software supports organizations in managing multiple compliance frameworks simultaneously including HIPAA, SOC2, ISO 27001, MAS TRM, PDPA, HKMA, CIRMP, GDPR and more . Whether adhering to industry-specific regulations or international standards, Cyber Sierra provides the flexibility to customize controls and assessments to meet diverse compliance requirements. It centralizes compliance efforts and automates control testing and validation, which helps organizations streamline compliance processes and ensure adherence to regulatory mandates.

Ready to explore how Cyber Sierra’s continuous controls monitoring can help you take control of your cyber landscape?

Schedule a free demo call today to speak with our product expert.

FAQ

Here are brief answers to the most frequently asked questions on the topic of continuous control monitoring:

What are the types of controls monitored with CCM tools?

The three main controls monitored with CCM tools include:

Financial controls: Continuous control monitoring solutions monitor financial controls to ensure the accuracy, reliability, and integrity of financial reporting processes. This includes monitoring transactions, reconciliations, approvals, and financial statement preparation to prevent fraud and errors.
Security controls: The tools monitor security controls to safeguard sensitive data and protect against unauthorized access, breaches, and cyber threats. This involves monitoring access controls, authentication mechanisms, encryption protocols, and intrusion detection systems to maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information assets.
Process controls: CCM tools monitor process controls to optimize operational efficiency, prevent errors, and ensure compliance with organizational policies and procedures. This includes monitoring workflow processes, segregation of duties, approvals, and exception handling to identify inefficiencies, deviations, and compliance gaps in business processes.

What are the benefits of using continuous control monitoring tools?

By continuously monitoring controls, CCM tools can help organizations with a host of benefits including:

Improved internal controls
Real-time identification of control weaknesses
Enhanced compliance posture

Srividhya Karthik

A weekly newsletter sharing actionable tips for CTOs & CISOs to secure their software.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

Thank you for subscribing!

Please check your email to confirm your email address.

Find out how we can assist you in
completing your compliance journey.

Book a Demo

Third Party Risk Management

The 9 Best Internal Audit Software in 2024

Table of Contents

Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

In today's fast-changing business environment, internal audit management software has become extremely crucial for organizations looking to simplify their audit processes while ensuring compliance and improving overall audit efficiency. While manual auditing is still a thing, software usage is preferred over manual internal audits because manual audits can prove to be cumbersome and less effective, and they are prone to look over potential weaknesses.

While there are several internal audit software solutions out there, choosing the right one can be overwhelming, as there are several variables to consider. To help you make an informed decision when choosing the best internal audit management software, we've compiled a detailed list of the nine best internal audit software in 2024.

What is Internal Audit Management Software?

Internal audit management software is a specialized tool designed to help various organizations strategize, execute, and supervise internal audits. These software solutions are indispensable for audit teams because they help simplify internal auditing processes, such as tracking audit progress and ensuring adherence to the organization’s regulations and internal policies. Internal audit software usually features solutions for an organization’s audit planning, risk assessment, document management, issue tracking, and reporting features.

How to Choose the Best Internal Audit Software

When choosing internal audit software for your organization, you must consider a few factors to ensure you have chosen the best software that covers all your needs. Listed below are the factors that you must consider:

Software Features: First and foremost, you must always look for software that offers a detailed set of features that meet your organization’s needs with regards to audit management requirements, such as planning audits, assessing risks, managing documents, and tracking and reporting issues.
Integration of the Software: Always ensure that the software you choose effortlessly integrates with your organization’s existing systems, such as ERP or accounting software, to simplify data transfer and improve efficiency.
Scalability: You must choose software that can aid your organization's growth by allowing you to add users and features as needed.
User-Friendliness of the Software: If the software's task is to simplify your work, it should be easy to use and intuitive. Consequently, your audit team should be able to adopt it quickly without extensive training, thanks to its user-friendliness.
Compliance with the Software: To ensure the security and integrity of your audit data, you must ensure that the software complies with relevant regulations and standards, such as SOX, GDPR, and ISO.
Support: When choosing software vendors, look for vendors offering excellent training and customer support that will help you resolve any issues or questions that may arise during the implementation and use of the software.
Pricing: Pricing plays a crucial role when choosing your internal audit software. While opting for a low-priced solution can be tempting, they often lack critical functionalities. Therefore, choose a solution that fits your organization’s budget while still containing all essential features. Also, ensure that the proposed pricing includes all necessary features and services because some software solutions offer add-on features at an additional cost.

The Best Internal Audit Software of 2024

Now that we know what internal audit management software is and how to choose one that works best for your organization, let’s dive right in and explore nine of the best internal audit software in 2024:

Cyber Sierra

Cyber Sierra’s is an end-to-end GRC automation platform offers a comprehensive suite of tools tailored to streamline security compliance easy for enterprises. With continuous control monitoring and effective risk management modules the platform facilitates internal audits seamlessly. Providing a real-time intuitive dashboard with centralized controls repository, and audit ready programs, the software offers clear visibility into your security controls and conducts entity level checks to identify areas of non compliance during internal audits.

Pros	Cons
Automated workflows for repetitive GRC tasks with prebuilt customizable templates.	The platform is built for enterprises, and hence may be slightly expensive for start-ups.
Extensive customization and scalability for improved productivity and efficiency.
Seamless integration and easy to use interface.
Automated evidence collection
Along with GRC the platform also offer threat intelligence and TPRM programs

Key Features of Cyber Sierra’s Internal Audit Software:

Robust risk identification, evaluation and mitigation features to effectively manage poentential risk and threat across the enterprise.
The software offers real-time monitoring caoablities with advanced reporting features providing data driven insights to support internal audits.
Compliance automation modules for frameworks such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC and supports financial regulations including MAS-TRM, SEBI, CIRMP and more.
The platform continuously updates it alogorims and adapts as per the evolving regulatory frameworks.
Streamlines creating, monitoring and tracking of data management and policy repository including reviews and updates.
It also offers smart GRC, third-party risk management, continuous control monitoring, threat intelligence, employee security training and cyber insurance - all from a single unified platform.

Cyber Sierra's AI-enabled platform has a Governance module to digitize compliance programs. It utilizes a multi-LLM approach to map vulnerabilities to controls, assets, and compliance programs. This facilitates continuous control monitoring and continuous third party risk management. Such capabilities are critical for enterprises that, on average, contend with over 500 technical controls daily, emphasizing the need for automation capabilities.

Auditboard

Auditboard is a compliance management platform that offers intelligent cloud-based audit management software with a wide range of features to help various enterprises manage their internal audits. It includes modules for collaborative audit planning, risk assessment, issue tracking, reporting, and closing security gaps.

Pros	Cons
They offer a user-friendly interface	The customer support isn’t as responsive
The platform has strong reporting capabilities	They have limited customization options
The software can seamlessly integrate with other systems	Decreased cross-integration with other platforms/software
It is the best for maintaining an audit trail

Key Features of Auditboard’s Internal Audit Software:

Offers a simple cloud-based audit management system
Audit planning and execution
Excellent risk assessment and relief
Good at issue tracking and resolution
Easy to integrate with other systems
Has an enhanced control program

Additionally, Auditboard is known for its strong reporting capabilities. That way, the software centralizes visibility and minimizes redundancies, allowing organizations to create simple customized reports that meet their needs. The software also offers a user-friendly interface, making it easy for audit teams to explore and use.

Workiva

Like Auditboard, Workiva is a cloud-based platform that offers a suite of audit, risk, and compliance management solutions. These include integrated governance, audit planning, risk assessment, document management, and reporting features.

Pros	Cons
The software’s user interface is easy to use	Might face lag when switching between pages
It has a fairly flexible customization option	Average customer support
It has excellent collaboration features	It might lack advanced features that are usually offered by other software
	The price might be high for new organizations

Key Features of Workiva’s Internal Audit Software:

Offers a simple cloud-based platform
Internal audits via Workiva save time
Allows the audit team to focus on the analytical activities
Its reporting is customizable
Effortlessly integrates with other systems

Additionally, Workiva is known for its assured integrated reporting and strong collaboration features, which allow audit teams to collaborate in real-time on various projects that are being audited. The software also offers flexible customization options, allowing organizations to tailor it to meet their needs.

SAP Audit Management

SAP Audit Management is a solution offered by the SAP suite of products. The SAP audit management software offers features aligning your organization’s business with audit planning, execution, and reporting. It integrates seamlessly with other SAP modules and offers strong analytical capabilities.

Pros	Cons
This software can seamlessly integrate with the organization along with all the other solutions SAP offers.	It might be pricey for small, up-and-coming organizations
This software has advanced analytics capabilities	Beginners can find it hard to learn the various processes
It can optimize staff utilization and resource planning
It has a strong reporting feature

Key Features of SAP’s Internal Audit Software:

Amazing and seamless integrated audit management within the SAP suite
Risk assessment and management

What makes SAP Audit Management one of the best internal audit management software is that it can seamlessly integrate with other SAP modules, allowing organizations to streamline their audit processes. The software also offers advanced analytics capabilities, allowing organizations to gain insights from their audit data.

TeamMate+

TeamMate+ is an audit management software that aims to assist audit teams and effectively move through the audit workflow by offering features for planning audits, executing internal audits, and reporting discrepancies. It includes modules for risk assessment, issue tracking, and document management.

Pros	Cons
End-to-end audit management and workflow solution.	The software has limited integration options with other systems
It has an intuitive user interface	Possibility of lacking a few advanced features that are offered by the other software.
Strong and comprehensive reporting capabilities	Document requests can only be sent one person at a time
The software is best when it comes to collaborative features

Key Features of TeamMate+’s Internal Audit Software:

It is one of the best document management software
The internal audit’s planning and execution are always risk-focused.
Has real-time collaboration
The reporting is customizable
Can easily integrate with other systems

TeamMate+ is a platform that gives you cloud-hosted options and is best known for its intuitive user interface, which makes it easy for audit teams to explore, navigate, and use the software. The software’s strong collaboration features allow audit teams to work seamlessly on audit projects.

Diligent

Diligent One Platform is an integrated risk management platform that offers audit, risk, and compliance management features for all digital organizations. The offers of Diligent include various modules for audit planning, risk assessment, issue tracking, and reporting.

Pros	Cons
Diligent has a comprehensive suite of features that many organizations can use	The price can be a little high for organizations that are just starting.
It can integrate easily with the organization’s software	It takes quite some time to learn how to use the software
It has flexible customization options

Key Features of Diligent’s Internal Audit Software:

One of the best-integrated risk management platform
Seamless integration with other systems
Comes with three apps: a projects app, a results app, and a reports app that shows automation workflow

Diligent is known for its comprehensive suite of features that allow organizations to manage all aspects of their audit, risk, and compliance processes using a singular platform. The software’s strong integration capabilities allow organizations to integrate with other systems to simplify their processes.

Archer Audit Management

Archer Audit Management is a component of the Archer suite of products that aims to transform the efficiency of your internal audit function and offers features for audit planning, quality, and issue management. The various modules include risk assessment, issue tracking, and document management.

Pros	Cons
You can seamlessly integrate the software with the organization’s system while also integrating with all the other Archer software	It can be a little expensive
Powerful reporting capabilities	Requires specialized training for optimal use
The software has strong customization options

Key Features of Archer’s Internal Audit Software:

The Archer Audit Management software is a component of the Archer suite of products
The software is great at document management, audit planning, and scheduling.
Seamless integration with other Archer modules

Archer Audit Management is best known for its seamless integration with other Archer modules. This allows organizations to manage all audit processes in one platform and assess audit entities risk-wise.

Hyperproof

Hyperproof is compliance and risk management software that offers audit, risk, and compliance management features. It includes modules for compliance operations, audit planning, risk assessment, issue tracking, and reporting.

Pros	Cons
It has a user-friendly interface	It has limited customization options
Excellent collaborative features	It might lack some of the advanced features the other software produce
It has the capability to send reports comprehensively

Key Features of Hyperproof’s Internal Audit Software:

Allows you to collaborate with your auditors easily
The software gives you seamless control over the controls and audit requests
You can know the status of your audit
Effortlessly integrates with other systems

Hyperproof is best known for its easy-to-use, user-friendly interface. This makes it one of the best internal audit management software for audit teams, as they can navigate and use it effortlessly. The software also offers excellent collaboration features, allowing audit teams to work together seamlessly on audit projects.

CURA

CURA is a governance, risk, and compliance software offering audit, risk, and compliance management features. The features offered by CURA include modules for audit planning, enterprise risk management, business risk management, risk assessment, issue tracking, and reporting.

Pros	Cons
It has flexible customization options	The price of the software can be a little high
Its integration capabilities are exemplary	It takes time to master the software
It has a thorough reporting feature

Key Features of CURA’s Internal Audit Software:

CURA is one of the best governance, risk, and compliance management software
The software’s strength lies in its issue-tracking and resolution capabilities
It is flexible and user-friendly.

CURA is best known for its flexible customization options and user-friendliness. The platform allows organizations to tailor the software to their liking and needs. The software is also very particular about risk management and has modules that range from enterprise risk management and operational risk management to incident management and policy management.

Ready to Successfully Navigate Audits?

With organizations worldwide grappling with increasing regulatory pressures and escalating cybersecurity threats, the demand for an advanced solution that can effectively help you navigate these challenges has skyrocketed. An internal audit solution is the first step to adding to cyber resilience. Therefore, choosing the right solution is paramount to ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of your organization's internal audit processes.

The nine software solutions highlighted in this article offer a comprehensive range of features tailored to meet diverse organizational needs. Whether you require robust audit planning capabilities, seamless integration options, or comprehensive reporting features, there is a solution that can address your specific requirements and streamline your audit operations.

Here's how Cyber Sierra can facilitate your audit process

Cyber Sierra’s GRC program offers a robust suite of features such as advanced risk analytics, customizable compliance frameworks, and with the integration with technologies like AI the platform easily integrates with your existing tech infrastructure and maps to your GRC controls, and provides complete visibility into your security and compliance posture. To summarize, it puts your GRC program on autopilot and empowers your audit team to effortlessly manage and optimize audits, ensuring compliance while mitigating risks.

Schedule a demo today and discover how Cyber Sierra can transform your organization's audit landscape.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between internal and external audit software?

Internal audit software: This software is designed for organizations to conduct internal audits. Internal audits usually focus on the organization’s internal operations, processes, and compliance.

External audit software: This software, on the other hand, is used by external audit firms to conduct audits on their clients. External audits usually focus on financial statements and regulatory compliance.

Can internal audit software integrate with other systems used by the organization?

Yes, internal audit software integrates with other systems used by most organizations. Often, internal audit software solutions offer integration capabilities with systems like ERP, accounting, and document management systems. This integration allows for simple yet seamless data transfer, collaboration, and improved efficiency in the audit process.

Is internal audit software suitable for small organizations?

Yes, internal audit software solutions are suitable for small organizations. In fact, they are also specifically designed for small organizations. More often than not, these solutions offer features with price plans that accommodate the needs and budgets of small organizations. .

Srividhya Karthik

A weekly newsletter sharing actionable tips for CTOs & CISOs to secure their software.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

Thank you for subscribing!

Please check your email to confirm your email address.

Find out how we can assist you in
completing your compliance journey.

Book a Demo

Governance & Compliance

Why CISOs are Ditching the Regular for Smart GRC Software

Table of Contents

Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

Legacy GRC tools get a bad rap.

For instance, when someone asked members of the r/cybersecurity subreddit community for their primary use of GRC software, the overwhelming response was negative. As you can see below, most respondents called the GRC tools they’ve used ‘shitty:’

Wondering why many people think GRC tools are ‘shitty,’ I dug deeper. My findings can be summarized by one of the many comments to the Reddit post above. The second comment, to be specific. As noted, most legacy GRC tools are basically prettier, more expensive versions of Excel spreadsheets with reminders and folders.

Smart GRC software is different.

But what exactly is it, you ask?

A smart, enterprise GRC solution is purposefully designed as one, unified cybersecurity governance, risk management, and compliance regulatory (GRC) suite. Across these tenets, an excellent one works interoperably. This means that you, your security team, and teams across your company can use it to automate mundane GRC processes while getting near real-time, actionable cybersecurity insights.

Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) opt for them because exceptional ones fill the voids of legacy GRC tools. Specifically, instead of a prettier spreadsheet with basic reminders, smart GRC consolidates the entire enterprise cybersecurity infrastructure under one technology roof, enabling your core team, organization, and security processes to work in sync.

And to cut the long story short…

It’s How You Create a Strong GRC Program

A major challenge in enterprise organizations is the presence of silos, where the core security team and teams across other departments work independently. This often leads to misalignment and inefficiencies in implementing holistic cyber risk measures.

Smart GRC software reduces such unwanted silos. This enables company-wide perspective and real-time implementation of programs across governance, risk management, and regulatory compliance. More importantly, it helps your team evolve with the ever-growing threat landscape, creating a strong GRC program.

But what makes GRC software smart?

According to CSO’s report, smart GRC is one with integrated cybersecurity capabilities, resulting in company-wide alignment:

Based on this, the rest of this article will explore benefits of adopting smart GRC software. In the end, you’d also see why the interoperable nature of Cyber Sierra makes it a more reliable, smart GRC platform for tackling enterprise cybersecurity holistically.

Benefits of Smart GRC in Enterprise Cybersecurity

Consider this illustration:

As shown, due to the interconnectedness of enterprise GRC, a core benefit of smart GRC software (like Cyber Sierra) is its interoperability. Meaning that from implementing governance frameworks to ongoing risk management measures and compliance regulations, your enterprise security team and organization can achieve everything below from one place.

1. Centralized, Optimized Workflows

Getting everyone involved —from stakeholders who provide executive oversight to your core cybersecurity team and employees across the organization— is a crucial benefit of smart GRC software.

But centralization is only the starting point.

The real value is that you’re also able to create, manage, and optimize critical cybersecurity workflow processes collaboratively. This gives you, the executive or security leader, a more comprehensive view of your company’s tech infrastructure and cybersecurity processes.

As was the case with Hemant Kumar, COO at Aktivolabs.

2. No Cumbersome Spreadsheet Versioning

Excel can’t handle modern GRC complexities.

But most people don’t realize this until there are multiple sheets with multiple tabs and hundreds of columns and rows to deal with. At which point you either have to deal with cumbersome versioning problems or train your team to become spreadsheet ninjas.

Because smart GRC software is unified, it solves most, if not all, manual errors and frustrations from using Excel or its cloud-based alternative, Google Sheets. For instance, leveraging a smart GRC platform removes:

The risk of users overwriting various critical data
Leadership forgetting to change access permissions when employees leave your company, and
Dealing with data breaches due to the inherent lack of security on spreadsheets generally.

In addition to eliminating these inefficiencies, smart GRC software also offers massive scalability advantages. Say your organization was expanding and you needed to comply with various new compliance regulations. With a smart GRC platform, for instance, no need to create and manage new versions of sheets manually.

An excellent one comes pre-built with popular compliance programs, giving your team a streamlined process of becoming compliant.

3. Seamless Policy Creation & Maintenance

Across governance, risk management, and regulatory compliance are hundreds, and in many cases, dozens of hundreds of policies to be created and maintained with timely updates. Attempting to do any of the three —create, maintain, and update— with traditional word documents introduces lots of inefficiencies.

For instance, important policy documents may be spread across multiple employees’ computers and not accessible by others on your security team when needed. This creates inaccuracy, redundancy, and policy violations if, say, you needed to update such inaccessible policy documents to keep your company compliant.

Smart GRC solution solves this.

For instance (with Cyber Sierra), all policies across governance, risk management, and compliance are created and consolidated into a unified view automatically. This gives you, your security team, and relevant stakeholders across your organization a centralized pane for creating, managing, and updating policy documents.

With everything in one place, you can see who was assigned a specific policy document, the current version, the last time it was updated, the last time it was reviewed by leadership, and much more.

4. Real-time Cybersecurity Controls’ Audit Logs

Post-GRC implementation effectiveness is as, if not more, crucial as centralizing pre-GRC implementation. It’s how your security team ensures implemented GRC controls are all functioning effectively.

Failure to swiftly identify and fix broken cybersecurity controls across governance, risk management, and regulatory compliance programs can lead to data breaches and hefty fines. This creates a dire need for real-time cybersecurity controls’ audit logs with the goal of spotting and fixing control breaks as they happen.

Smart GRC software streamlines the process.

It can log, audit, and monitor all cybersecurity controls in near real-time. It also gives your team a dedicated view where all control breaks can be immediately tracked and remediated. More importantly, with an exceptional one, you can assign remediation tasks to members of your security team from the same pane.

Crucial Steps In Implementing Enterprise GRC

Get the right people —executive stakeholders and core cybersecurity team— involved, and implementing enterprise GRC comes down to creating and training them on critical processes. Next, empower them with an interoperable, GRC platform, and they will more easily streamline the work involved collaboratively.

As illustrated below:

People

People, as they say, are your first line of cybersecurity defense. This saying applies so much to enterprise GRC implementation because you need the combined efforts of:

Executives experienced in choosing the right GRC governance frameworks and providing leadership oversight
Cybersecurity operators versed in implementing and maintaining implemented GRC frameworks, and
Employees trained on doing their bits to avoid data breaches that could lead to GRC implementation failures and hefty fines.

Smart GRC software brings you and everyone needed to implement and maintain your GRC program into one centralized pane. But to ensure this, the platform must be pre-built with major GRC frameworks and compliance programs like SOC2, PCI DSS, and others across the US, Europe, and Asia. This is crucial because it makes choosing GRC frameworks and initiating the process of implementing your GRC program a few clicks for members of your leadership team.

Another benefit of a smart GRC platform is that you can train your core cybersecurity team and employees across the company on GRC implementation best practices from the same place. This is crucial, as it helps to keep everyone aligned on necessary security awareness.

Processes

Creating and managing policies, which can be dozens or hundreds, in many cases, forms the bulk of enterprise GRC implementation. Typically, your team must create, upload, and provide evidence of corresponding cybersecurity controls for each policy.

As you can imagine, the processes involved can be overwhelming if done manually. But with a smart, interoperable GRC platform, the processes and steps involved are all streamlined.

Each GRC policy your team needs to implement gets a unified view for streamlining all processes and steps involved. For instance:

Details of the policy,
Evidence of controls, and
Version history

…will all be in one place.

Consolidating everything related to each GRC policy this way reduces the implementation processes required to a few clicks. Say you wanted to assign the implementation of a policy to one person and its corresponding controls to others in your team.

It takes just a few clicks to do that.

Why Choose Cyber Sierra’s Smart GRC Platform?

Enterprise organizations choose a smart GRC platform like Cyber Sierra for its inbuilt interoperability. Essentially, this means, instead of point cybersecurity tools for different GRC implementation steps, you and your team can do everything from one place.

Starting with cybersecurity governance.

Our platform has various compliance programs across the main global jurisdiction pre-built. With this, your team can just choose a program (or add a custom one) and have the entire process of becoming compliant streamlined from one place:

But becoming compliant is just a start.

Your team will often need to track and update policies, identify and remediate compliance control breaks to stay compliant to ever-changing regulations. Doing these requires two things:

A centralized pane for managing all policies:

Near real-time audit logs for identifying and remediating cybersecurity compliance control breaks:

As shown above, these crucial capabilities are all pre-built into Cyber Sierra’s interoperable, smart GRC suite.

Scalability is another reason we often see. Growing organizations using Cyber Sierra are able to implement international security and compliance regulations as they emerge and become inevitable.

One example is Aktinolabs:

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.

A weekly newsletter sharing actionable tips for CTOs & CISOs to secure their software.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

Thank you for subscribing!

Please check your email to confirm your email address.

Find out how we can assist you in
completing your compliance journey.

Book a Demo

Third Party Risk Management

Enterprise TPRM Buyer’s Guide for CISOs

Table of Contents

Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

You deserve a pat on the back.

In case you’re wondering why, here goes. Taking the time to explore enterprise TPRM software buyer’s guide before buying one reminds me of this famous Abraham Lincoln-attributed quote:

All things being equal, a sharpened ax will chop down a tree more effectively and efficiently. But you need some time to sharpen it, as Lincoln wisely opined. Similarly, the right third-party risk management (TPRM) tool is like having processes pre-sharpened to be more effective and efficient at tackling all 3rd party risks. But due to the ever-changing cyber threat landscape, choosing the right one requires investing some time to know what works best today.

And the first step is to…

Understand Today’s TPRM Lifecycle

To stay competitive, Gartner’s research found that up to 60% of organizations now partner with over 1,000 3rd party vendors. This number, the study noted, will only increase, giving security teams like yours more work to do. But the most worrying part is what the same research also found: A whopping 83% of organizations identify third-party risks long after performing initial due diligence.

This insight is instructive for chief information security officers (CISOs) and tech executives like you. It calls for a need to rethink the old way of assessing and managing vendor risks. Specifically, it means you must go beyond initial due diligence and perform ongoing categorization, swift remediation, and ongoing monitoring of third party vendors partnering with your company to be able to deal with risks promptly.

That’s what today’s TPRM lifecycle entails:

A great way to address each stage and step of the TPRM lifecycle illustrated above is through a unified platform with holistic vendors’ directory management capabilities. With that, at every step of the process, your security team can implement and maintain an effective and efficient TPRM program without losing context of other steps.

Which brings us to…

What to Look Out for in an Enterprise TPRM Solution

Irrespective of your organization’s unique situation, there are must-haves to look out for in an enterprise TPRM platform given today’s precarious threat landscape. The rest of this guide explores those crucial features, so you can make a more informed decision as you embark on buying and adopting an enterprise TPRM solution.

1. Holistic Vendor Directory

Imagine waking up to the news that a severe cyberattack has breached the data of many tech companies located in Singapore. Knowing your company partners with third-party vendors located in Singapore, you’d want to ensure they aren’t among those affected.

Doing that would be a stretch without a TPRM platform with holistic vendor directory capabilities. If the tool you choose lacks this feature, your vendor risk management team will rely on a mishmash of spreadsheets —with disconnected and disorganized pieces of information about the vendors your company is working with.

And it’d be difficult for you, the security leader or tech executive, to quickly filter and find specific lists of vendors any time the need arises. A holistic vendor directory solves that in three ways:

All vendors’ info management: From documents, to risk profiles, and policies in a centralized cloud-based platform.

Automatic segmentation: Leverages attributes like vendor location, vendor tiers, and others to automatically segment third-parties in your overall vendor ecosystem.

Easy searchability: Ability to quickly filter and find vendors that match whatever criteria relevant to you at any given time.

Based on what’s itemized above, here’s how to view a holistic vendor directory. It is a central place where all details of past and existing third-party vendors working with your organization can be easily filtered and retrieved by authorized persons.

2. Selection & Onboarding

Each time a new 3rd party is allowed into your vendor ecosystem, varying degrees of new cyber risks are introduced. The extent to which your team can know which vendors are likely to introduce more risks depends so much on how well you select and onboard them.

This is why vendor selection and onboarding is the first stage of the TPRM lifecycle. It sets your cybersecurity team up to manage each third-party allowed into your vendor ecosystem successfully:

As shown, the two steps in this stage, categorization and risk assessment and due diligence, helps your team tier vendors to be prioritized for ongoing risk monitoring. So vendor selection and onboarding capabilities a TPRM platform should have are:

Pre-onboarding risk analysis: Streamline the risk-profiling process for new vendors through security assessment surveys.

Customizing assessments: Enable leveraging standard vendor assessment templates like NIST and ISO, and the ability to customize them per your organization and vendor needs.

Pre-contract due diligence: Automate the cybersecurity due diligence processes before vendor contracts are approved.

Multiple vendor tiering: Automatically segmenting vendors into multiple tiers such as those with inherent or critical risks.

An easy way to simplify achieving the steps above is to start with standard cybersecurity assessment frameworks like NIST and ISO. Once you can customize any of these to your company’s specific needs, the other things can easily fall into place.

3. Risk Management & Remediation

To win your company’s business, third-party vendors will do everything within their power to pass initial security assessments. But once most are in, they become lackluster about security. This is why you shouldn’t rely on the first, positive impressions of vendors.

It’s also why your cybersecurity team needs processes in place for managing and remediating vendor risks should they emerge. This TPRM lifecycle stage ensures that, and its importance is shown in the fact that it has the most steps compared to other two stages:

So after guiding vendors through onboarding and performing due diligence, seek a TPRM platform that also helps your team to:

Track security assessment progress: Streamline the process of tracking the due dates and review statuses of sent security assessment questionnaires across all vendors.

Re-populate questionnaires: Use answers previously submitted by vendors to re-populate questionnaires for what has changed.

Auto-score assessment responses: Automatically score responses and evidence provided by vendors to security assessment questions to understand possible risks.

Get swift incident response insights: Access actionable, in-context insight for responding to and remediating risks.

Adjust vendor contracts: Append changing risk profiles of vendors to relevant sections of their contracts and streamline the processes of using the same to request contract adjustments.

Even with all these in place, in most cases, managing and remediating risks requires vendors to make adjustments to their internal systems that are outside your team’s control. This requires collaborating with vendors whenever the need arises. And to be effective, communicating with them should be streamlined and in-context of specific risks. As you’d see below, the TPRM comments’ feature on Cyber Sierra enables that.

4. Continuous Vendors’ Monitoring

As the cyber threat landscape evolves, so would 3rd parties in your company’s vendor ecosystem need to adjust to changing regulatory requirements. But the onus is on your security team to ensure vendors are staying compliant with those changing compliance regulations. Failure to do this can result in collateral data breach damages and the hefty regulatory fines that come with them.

Avoiding such requires continuous vendor monitoring. First to ensure adherence to evolving compliance requirements. And second to reap the added advantage of identifying and proactively remediating risks from all vendor relationships before it’s too late.

This stage of the TPRM lifecycle addresses both:

TPRM capabilities needed here are:

Real-time vendor monitoring: Track vendors’ posture against compliance failures and cybersecurity risks in real-time.

Continuous risk trends’ visibility: Gain comprehensive, continuous visibility into vendors’ statuses against evolving risk trends and regulatory compliance requirements.

Auto-risk flagging and scoring: Flag all risks and automatically assign scores to each, enabling your team to prioritize.

Actionable remediation insights: Provide useful insights your team can use to prevent data breaches and compliance failures.

These continuous vendor risk monitoring capabilities are pre-built into Cyber Sierra’s TPRM suite. And it’s one of the reasons a global bank headquartered in Singapore relies on us for its TPRM needs.

Choosing the Right TPRM Tool

Even with everything above checked, are there other things to consider before choosing an enterprise TPRM platform?

There are, so let’s discuss them.

1. Adaptability

This one goes both ways.

As much as vendors need your organization’s business, your organization also needs vendors to stay competitive. The implication of this is that a TPRM platform must be adaptable to both parties.

On the one hand, it should streamline your team’s processes of managing risks posed by vendors. On the other hand, it should also streamline the steps vendors need to answer security assessment questions and provide necessary compliance evidence.

No party should feel like it’s extra work.

2. Interoperability

Third-party risk management is crucial. But it is one piece of risk management in the overall enterprise governance, risk management, and regulatory compliance (GRC) pie:

Consider this when choosing a TPRM solution. Because if you choose a point TPRM tool, you’d also need to spend hard-earned resources on other tools for cybersecurity governance and compliance. In addition to wasted spend, point cybersecurity solutions have other downsides.

Says Matt Kapko of CybersecurityDive:

To avoid these issues, seek a platform where your team can tackle vendor risks in the context of your company’s security governance, overall risk management, and regulatory compliance, all in one place.

This is why interoperability is crucial and should be prioritized.

3. Value

While price is a major consideration with any enterprise software purchase, what you really want to focus on is the value you’d get. And staying with the need for interoperability over a point tool, it makes sense to prioritize a TPRM solution with full-fledged capabilities for tackling interrelated, enterprise cybersecurity needs.

Some things to look out for are:

Beyond TPRM, does it provide a centralized solution suite for addressing other cybersecurity concerns from one place?

Is there unlimited access, so your core security team and employees can collaborate in tackling cybersecurity?

Can you integrate all tools and services across your organization for continuous scanning for threats and cyber risks?

Can you customize the platform, per your organization’s specific cybersecurity needs?

Is the platform enterprise-ready and built to scale as teams across your organization, cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, and vendor risk management needs grow?

The correct answers to these questions varies from one company to another and will ultimately depend on a company’s unique needs. So to get the most value out of a TPRM solution, it’s best to reach out and see if it can be tailored to your needs before talking about pricing.

Try Cyber Sierra, the Interoperable TPRM Platform

All TPRM solutions aren’t created equal.

Most are built to be pure-play or point TPRM tools. As stressed in this guide, the downside is that your team can end up with more vulnerabilities if a tool doesn’t work well with other tools in your tech stack. This is why to get the most value, consider a comprehensive, interoperable cybersecurity platform with full-fledged enterprise TPRM capabilities.

If that sounds inviting, here are just two reasons to try Cyber Sierra.

First, our TPRM suite has a holistic vendor inventory directory that automatically updates once a new 3rd party enters your vendors’ ecosystem. This capability enables authorized persons in your team and across the company to filter specific vendors at any time, using various filtering options like location, vendor type, status, and so on:

Second, and this is crucial, is how our platform removes lots of back and forth when managing and remediating vendor risks. Automating the various processes involved in selecting and onboarding vendors is usually pre-built into most TPRM tools. But even with this, most tools still require you to send back and forth emails, requiring vendors to do their bit in staying compliant or remediating threats and cybersecurity risks.

Not with Cyber Sierra.

In many, if not all, cases, managing and remediating risks requires vendors to adjust internal systems outside your team’s control. This requires real-time collaboration whenever the need arises. And to be effective, communication should be streamlined and in-context of specific risk-remediation tasks.

Our TPRM comments’ feature enables that:

There are other reasons to consider an interoperable, cybersecurity suite with enterprise TPRM capabilities like Cyber Sierra.

But the two reasons shown above is why a global bank in Singapore relies on us for its extensive TPRM needs:

Read their success story here.

If that sounds inviting, give Cyber Sierra a try:

Pramodh Rai

A weekly newsletter sharing actionable tips for CTOs & CISOs to secure their software.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

Thank you for subscribing!

Please check your email to confirm your email address.

Find out how we can assist you in
completing your compliance journey.

Book a Demo

Third Party Risk Management

Top 7 Enterprise Risk Management Software in 2024

Table of Contents

Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

Introduction

Organizations constantly face unique risk challenges while adapting to industry demands. 76% of organizations prioritize their enterprise risk management programs, showcasing the increasing recognition of ERM’s role in ensuring the organization’s success.

However, resource constraints, siloed operations, and ineffective tools often hinder security and risk management teams, jeopardizing timely threat detection and response. Choosing the right ERM solution can dramatically improve efficiency and response times, empowering organizations to address potential threats proactively.

This blog post will explore the top 7 Enterprise Risk Management software solutions. Each solution is designed to streamline processes, enhance decision-making, and align risk management with overall business objectives, ultimately driving organizational success.

What are Enterprise Risk Management tools?

Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) tools are specialized softwares that enables organizations to comprehensively identify, evaluate, and manage operational risks across its operations. It provides a centralized, holistic view of an organization’s exposure to a wide range of risks – strategic, financial, operational, compliance-related, and more – and how these different organizational risk factors intersect and impact one another. This integrated approach allows companies to align their overarching risk management strategies with their core business goals and objectives.

ERM tools streamlines collecting and analyzing risk data, conducting risk assessments, generating reports to aid in decision-making, and monitoring adherence to pertinent regulatory mandates. The value proposition is clear – 52% of risk management leaders agree that organizations embracing an integrated methodology for identifying, evaluating, and responding to potential incidents will experience reduced overall risk exposure and superior outcomes.

Best Enterprise Risk Management Tools in 2024

Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) tools offer data analytics, customizable process workflows, and insights into user activity across the organization to monitor vulnerabilities and potential risks in near real-time.

Core capabilities common to enterprise risk management systems include reporting functionalities, advanced analytics, risk prioritization, audit management, threat visibility and monitoring, risk profile assessment, and compliance management.

The following enterprise risk management (ERM) software solutions stand out as the top choices in the market based on comprehensive user reviews, in-depth feature evaluations, and a rigorous assessment of their key capabilities. These powerful tools empower risk management professionals to tackle compliance requirements head-on, identify strategic risks with precision, and conduct thorough analyses of their potential business impacts:

Here is a list of the top ERM tools that have been stringently evaluated based on user reviews, feature evaluations, and an assessment of their key capabilities. These solutions empower risk professionals to not only meet the compliance requirements but also proactively identify strategic risks and analyze their potential business impacts:

Cyber Sierra

Cyber Sierra is an enterprise-grade cybersecurity platform engineered to empower security professionals by streamlining security controls, risk assessments, and vendor relationship management. By leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities, Cyber Sierra delivers comprehensive insights into risks, vulnerabilities, and compliance postures, enabling proactive, data-driven decision-making.

Cyber Sierra tackles the complexities of cyber risk, simplifying security for businesses. Their intelligent platform delivers actionable insights into risks, vulnerabilities, and compliance. With their platform, you’ll rapidly identify critical threats, allowing you to protect your organization proactively.

Key Features

Unified Governance	Facilitate compliance with globally recognized standards such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, MAS Outsourcing, HKMA, and PDPA.
Threat Intelligence	An all-encompassing security solution offering to improve the organization's cybersecurity. It is conducive to receiving key insights about security conditions, scanning for vulnerabilities in internal networks, and managing them.
Cybersecurity Risk Management	Identify and contextualize security risks about your organization's assets.
Employee Awareness Programs	Provides the latest knowledge, skills, and resources necessary to identify and prevent potential attacks. This includes interactive quizzes, simulated campaigns, and continuous updates.
Third-Party Risk Management	Streamline the process of vendor security assessments and enable continuous risk monitoring in a unified platform.
Two-factor authentication (2FA)	Incorporates 2FA verification beyond just the password to access applications.

Strengths

Unified & Interoperable Platform	Combines governance, risk, cybersecurity compliance, cyber insurance, threat intelligence, and employee training capabilities in a single platform.
Continuous Control Monitoring	Provides near real-time monitoring of controls, enables risk assessments, and supports proactive threat management.
Seamless Third-Party Risk Management	Streamlines management of third-party vendors' risks with continuous monitoring.
Improved Compliance and Controls Management	Receive a deep monitoring and evaluation of the potential challenges that may impact your company. Additionally, get the proper measures to reduce the effect of the recognized problems.

Best For:

Cyber Sierra is best suited for established enterprises and mid-to-late-stage startups grappling with regulatory compliance requirements, data security challenges, and compliance issues.

The platform is also immensely effective for enterprises seeking to consolidate their cybersecurity, governance, and insurance processes from multiple vendors into one intelligent platform. Book a free demo here.

Duo Security

Duo Security, incorporated into Cisco, is a cloud-based security platform that safeguards users, data, and applications from emerging threats. It verifies users’ identities and assesses the security posture of their devices before allowing application access, aligning with stringent business unit security and compliance mandates.

Key Features

Two-factor authentication (2FA)	By providing a secondary form of verification beyond just the password, Duo improves the security of accessing networks and applications.
Device Trust	Device Trust scrutinizes every device attempting to access applications, ensuring it adheres to predefined security benchmarks before access is permitted.
Adaptive Authentication	By utilizing adaptive policies and machine learning, Duo tailors access security based on nuanced user behavior and device-specific insights.
Secure Single Sign-On (SSO)	Duo's SSO provides users with a streamlined, secure pathway to multiple applications, enhancing the user experience without compromising security.

Strengths

User-Friendly	Known for its intuitive interface and ease of deployment, Duo simplifies the user experience.
Robust Security	The platform’s reliance on two-factor authentication effectively minimizes the likelihood of unauthorized access.
Extensive Integration Capabilities	Duo integrates with various VPNs, cloud services, and network infrastructures.
Responsive Customer Support	Users frequently commend Duo for its proactive and helpful customer support team.

Best For

Companies with various applications and devices will particularly benefit from Duo’s security framework.

Wiz

Wiz is a Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) platform that scans your cloud stack to uncover hidden vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and emerging threats.

Key Features

Comprehensive Visibility	Gain a complete, centralized understanding of security risks across your multi-cloud landscape.
Actionable Remediation	Receive clear guidance to address vulnerabilities and strengthen your security posture proactively.
Team Collaboration	Empower seamless cooperation between DevOps, security, and cloud infrastructure teams.
Real-time Insights and Monitoring	Detect new threats and misconfigurations as they arise for rapid response.

Strengths

Holistic Security	Benefit from a unified assessment across all major cloud platforms.
Powerful Automation	Streamline security processes with intelligent automation and intuitive dashboards.
Rapid Deployment	Experience fast setup and minimal configuration for quick time-to-value.

Best For

Wiz is the choice for organizations operating in multi-cloud environments seeking a comprehensive cloud security solution.

Vanta

Vanta is a security and compliance management platform designed to streamline SOC 2 compliance. By continuously monitoring your technology stack, Vanta automates many tedious tasks in achieving and maintaining SOC 2 certification, saving you time and resources.

Key Features

Continuous Monitoring	Ensures ongoing compliance with SOC 2 standards through real-time vigilance.
Automation	Simplifies and speeds up compliance processes, accelerating your path to SOC 2 certification.
Seamless Integrations	Connects effortlessly with cloud platforms like AWS, GCP, and Azure for a centralized view of your environment.

Strengths

Rapid Compliance	Reduces the time and effort needed to achieve and maintain SOC 2 compliance.
Easy Integration	Works seamlessly with your existing tech stack for straightforward implementation.

Best For:

Vanta can be considered for mid-sized to large businesses, especially those in tech, healthcare, or finance, where strict security compliance is paramount.

AuditBoard

AuditBoard is a platform that streamlines the entire audit process, from planning and execution to reporting. It allows teams to manage compliance confidently, reduce risk, and minimize costly incidents across your organization.

Key Features:

Centralized Control	A single dashboard provides a real-time, comprehensive view of auditable entities, risks, and key metrics.
Efficient Risk Assessment	Conduct risk assessments and pinpoint potential gaps in compliance coverage.
Seamless Issue Management	Track issues, assign ownership for remediation, and generate reports quickly and efficiently.
Standardized Workflows	Create audit templates and automate processes to ensure consistency and timely completion.

Strengths

Better engagement and response	Equips risk owners with insights to power up risk management across the company.
Scale Risk Management	Receive information about the risk environment from your organization's front line. Recognize operational weaknesses before challenges arise.

Best For

Mid and large-scale companies looking for a solution to mitigate risks.

LogicGate

LogicGate is a solution that allows businesses to manage risk by streamlining and automating compliance processes proactively. Its centralized platform consolidates risk management, controls, and evidence collection, eliminating redundancy and boosting efficiency.

Key Features:

Eliminate Silos	Connect internal controls across multiple frameworks to uncover gaps and overlapping compliance requirements, reducing wasted effort.
Automate Evidence Management	Automate control evaluations, notify relevant stakeholders, and securely link cloud-based evidence for streamlined documentation and reporting.
Increased Collaboration	Facilitate stakeholder engagement and demonstrate audit readiness by sharing progress and corrective action plans.
Audit Preparation	Continuously evaluate and optimize your governance, risk, and control programs to ensure a smooth audit cycle.

Strengths

Automate tedious tasks	Eliminate manual tracking and streamline compliance workflows.
Stay up-to-date on regulations	Receive alerts and updates on the latest compliance changes.
Reduce error	Minimize the risk of mistakes that lead to non-compliance.

Best for

It is suitable for various industries, including software, telecommunications, banking, insurance, and investment services.

Sprinto

This cloud-based platform is a governance, compliance, and risk management toolkit, helping organizations to mitigate risks seamlessly throughout their operational ecosystem.

Key Features:

Proactive Notification System	Notification triggers and flags for non-compliant actions direct to risk owners, providing deep insights into risk specifics, recommended actions, urgency, focal areas, and tailored data.
Integrated Risk Assessment	A function that delivers exhaustive risk data across the ecosystem, aiding teams in documenting acknowledged, transferred, and mitigated risks.
Risk Overview	A comprehensive risk overview for establishing compliance protocols, risk mitigation workflows, and ensuring thorough compliance.
Dynamic Risk Library Usage	Utilization of an extensive risk library for crafting a risk register, enabling the addition or removal of risks, application of numerous checks, and selection of tailored risk treatment strategies.

Strengths

Audit readiness support	Gather all the compliance directly from the platform and share it easily with the team. You can also include the auditor in the dashboard and share it for review.
Zero trust security	Offers to simplify and implement security compliant with the current security frameworks.

Best for

It is a cloud-based solution, making it a good fit for organizations requiring a similar enterprise risk management system deployed into their tech stack.

How to Choose the Right ERM for Your Business?

When choosing the right ERM for your business, you must consider the following critical attributes:

Evaluate your requirements
Explore niche solutions
Access the security
Request for references
User interface – Is it easy and intuitive to use?
Scope for customization
Integration capabilities

Selecting the right ERM solution for your business is critical for creating a successful risk management strategy. Additionally, with diverse enterprise risk management (ERM) software tools available in the market, choosing the right one can be challenging.

Now let’s take a detailed look at the critical attributes that you need to look for while deciding upon the right software –

Evaluate your requirements – Before looking for the right solution, you must be clear about your organization’s fundamental needs. Start with an extensive study or survey of all the requirements considering the organization’s different teams and their challenges and experiences. This would be beneficial in finding the right software that adheres to your organization’s particular needs.

Explore niche solutions – There is a wide range of risk management solutions available in the market. However, some tools cater to specific industries such as banking, energy, the construction sector, and so on. That’s why you must look for solutions that complement your niche, as they can offer focused features that might be helpful in managing the risks that your organization faces on a frequent basis.

Assess the security – Risk management often involves dealing with sensitive information, so choosing a secure solution that proactively protects your organization’s data privacy is non-negotiable. Always ensure the tool you select has robust security measures.

Request for references and opt for a trial – Before deciding upon the right tool, it’s a good idea to get references and have your organization experience it. This means be sure to go for a vendor that provides a trial period or demo to learn more about the tool. You can also ask the vendors for references from previous clients who have utilized the tool to learn about their experiences.

Apart from all the above-mentioned factors, you also need to ensure the solution has the following traits, which can help in making an informed decision –

User-friendliness and intuitive user interface – Simple navigation in the ERM solution is crucial as it aids in a successful user experience for the entire organization.

Scope for customization – The solution should adapt quickly to your company’s specific risk management needs and requirements.

Integration – The solution should seamlessly integrate with other existing systems and processes in the company.

How can Cyber Sierra help you?

Cyber Sierra is a unified and interoperable risk management platform that integrates smart GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance), third-party risk management, continuous control monitoring, and cyber insurance capabilities. It combines features such as automated security alerts, threat intelligence feeds, vulnerability scanning, expert guidance, and employee security training, equipping organizations with the necessary resources to fortify their security posture.

The platform flags control breaks, control gaps, deviations, and non-compliant actions to risk owners, offering suggestions for risk mitigation and transfer through cyber insurance. Automated evidence collection, documentation, and detailed audit logs streamline risk management processes for mid to large-sized enterprises using Cyber Sierra.

Explore how Cyber Sierra can alleviate your security challenges by scheduling a demo call today.

FAQ

Here are some of the most common FAQs on the topic of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Software:

What is Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Software?

Enterprise Risk Management Software is a specialized software solution designed to help organizations identify, assess, monitor, and mitigate various business risks across the entire enterprise. It provides a centralized platform for managing strategic, operational, financial, regulatory compliance, and other external risks in an integrated and holistic manner.

What are the critical features of ERM Software?

Standard features of ERM software include risk level identification and assessment tools, risk reporting and analytics, risk monitoring and tracking, compliance management, incident management, risk mitigation planning, and risk data aggregation from various sources. Advanced ERM solutions may also incorporate features like risk modeling, scenario analysis, and automated risk control testing.

What are the benefits of using ERM Software?

Key benefits of using ERM software include improved risk visibility across the organization, enhanced risk-based decision-making, better compliance with regulatory requirements, improved risk monitoring and early warning systems, centralized risk data management, and streamlined risk reporting. ERM software can also help organizations optimize risk management processes and resource allocation.

Who typically uses ERM Software?

Organizations across various major industries, including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, and more, use ERM software. It is commonly adopted by large enterprises with complex risk landscapes but can also benefit smaller organizations. Key users within an organization include risk managers, compliance officers, internal auditors, and senior executives responsible for risk oversight.

How is ERM Software deployed?

ERM software can be deployed in various ways, including on-premises (installed on the organization’s servers), cloud-based (hosted by the software vendor), or as a hybrid solution. Cloud-based deployments are becoming increasingly popular due to their scalability, accessibility, and reduced IT overhead. The deployment method chosen often depends on the organization’s IT infrastructure, data security requirements, and budgetary considerations.

Srividhya Karthik

A weekly newsletter sharing actionable tips for CTOs & CISOs to secure their software.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

Thank you for subscribing!

Please check your email to confirm your email address.

Find out how we can assist you in
completing your compliance journey.

Book a Demo

Governance & Compliance

A Guide to Hong Kong Monetary Authority Outsourcing Regulations

Table of Contents

Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

It’s no longer news.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) updated its outsourcing regulations in December 2023. For enterprise security executives like you seeking to become compliant, a crucial first step is asking: Why did the regulatory body update it again?

Reviewing the recent documentation extensively, I sensed why this update and compliance to it became a necessity. The first reason is the increasing adoption of technologies by financial institutions (FIs). The second is the ever-growing reliance on third-party vendors.

Albert Yuen also echoed these:

Yuen isn’t just the Head of Technology at Hong Kong-based Linklaters. He’s a Counsel with over 20 years of experience, specializing in privacy and cybersecurity. As he pointed out, this update is the HKMA’s reminder to re-evaluate your governance systems and security controls for identifying and mitigating all third-party vendor risks.

To help you do that, let’s begin by dissecting…

The New Hong Kong Monetary Authority Outsourcing Letter

The letter’s title, ‘Managing Cyber Risks Associated with Third-party Service Providers,’ stressed the need to facilitate becoming compliant. A section of the letter’s introduction reiterates:

Imagine that as you read this, threat actors are busy targeting weak links in your organization’s supply chain. The HKMA observed this trend when it conducted thematic examinations. They found that cybercriminals are becoming more rampant and sophisticated in their attacks. To help security teams at financial institutions fight back, they updated their outsourcing regulations, outlining critical areas companies now need to prioritize when outsourcing to 3rd parties.

What the HKMA Outsourcing Regulations Entail

Sound cybersecurity practices.

Those three words sum up what the HKMA’s recent Outsourcing Regulations entail. Specifically, they expect security teams at all Authorized Institutions (AIs) to bolster resilience against cyber threat actors by putting effective cyber defense in place. An excerpt from the HKMA’s Outsourcing ‘Sound Practises’ section confirms this.

It reads:

To comply with the requirement of putting effective cyber defense covering in place, the HKMA outlined six areas that must be addressed. They are as follows:

Ensure risk governance framework has sufficient emphasis on cyber risks associated with third-parties
Assess, identify, and mitigate cyber risks throughout the third-party management lifecycle holistically
Assess all supply chain risks associated with 3rd parties supporting critical company operations
Expand cyber threat intelligence monitoring to cover key 3rd parties and actively share information with peer institutions
Strengthen the readiness to counter supply chain attacks with scenario-based response strategies and ongoing drills
Enhance cyber defense capabilities by adopting the latest international standards, practices, and technologies.

Out of these six areas outlined, the HKMA made a crucial recommendation when summarizing the sixth requirement.

It noted:

By encouraging organizations to adopt the technology that can automate and streamline processes, the HKMA clearly stated its importance in becoming compliant. For instance, with Cyber Sierra’s vendor risk management suite, you can automate critical third-party risk management processes and become compliant with the HKMA Outsourcing Regulations.

Before I show you how:

Becoming Compliant with the Updated HKMA Outsourcing Regulations

Three critical third-party risk management stages can be deduced from the HKMA’s six updated outsourcing requirements. Although the regulatory body didn’t spell this out, our team did this grouping to outline parts of becoming compliant that can be automated.

Third-party risk governance
Threat intelligence and remediation
Continuous preparedness against attacks:

As illustrated below:

1. Third-Party Risk Governance

The 1st and 2nd requirements of the updated HKMA Outsourcing Regulations go hand-in-hand. First, all Authorized Institutions (AIs) are mandated to involve relevant stakeholders when implementing a third-party risk governance framework:

Second, and this is more important. The implemented governance framework should enable your security team to identify all third-party risks.

According to the HKMA:

Two things we took from here:

You need a single pane where all stakeholders can collaborate on the third-party risk governance framework to be implemented.
You need a selection of third-party risk frameworks trusted for identifying all risks involved in working with third-parties.

You can achieve both with an enterprise governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) platform (like Cyber Sierra).

Specifically, the platform should be pre-built with templates of globally-accepted, third-party risk management governance frameworks such as ISO and NIST. You should also be able to invite your leadership team to jointly review, customize, and add custom questions to each. Finally, the platform should enable your organization to automate the many steps involved in implementing a holistic third-party risk management governance framework.

2. Threat Intelligence and Remediation

The HKMA now requires organizations to prioritize third parties and threats likely to pose the most risk. This is emphasized in the 3rd and 4th requirements of the updated HKMA Outsourcing Regulations.

According to the regulatory body:

A good way to do this is to segment the third-parties working with your organizations based on relevant criteria. For instance, when assessing third-party vendors, you can segment by:

Critical vendors sent custom security questionnaires
Assessee types (i.e., software, services, and so on)
Operating locations

Using these, your security team can easily filter and know what 3rd parties they need to conduct additional threat intelligence on. Also, by prioritizing risks from these critical vendors, they’ll know what threats and risks to prioritize when remediating.

A smart GRC platform helps your team automate parts of this process in two ways. First, you can enforce segmenting third-parties when sending initial security assessments. Second, your security team can easily filter and track 3rd parties that need more scrutiny based on the segmentation criteria outlined above.

3. Continuous Preparedness Against Attacks

The threat landscape is always evolving. As such, it has become difficult, if not impossible, to know all new ways threat actors will attack your organization through third-parties.

Even the HKMA knows this:

One way to strengthen preparedness against attacks is through continuous employee security awareness training. When the push comes to shove, your people —security team, other company employees, and partners— are your last line of defense.

By continuously training employees with scenario-based response strategies and lessons from previous supply chain incidents, you equip them with the know-how for countering attacks.

To achieve that:

Launch new third-party breach cybersecurity defense training as the need for them arises
Continuously monitor training progress to ensure employees are completing them and equipped to counter attacks.

HKMA Outsourcing FAQs

Below are answers to some frequently asked questions.

Who does HKMA Outsourcing Regulations apply to?

The HKMA Outsourcing Regulations, as the name goes, apply to banks and financial institutions, referred to as Authorized Institutions (AIs), operating in Hong Kong. The regulator emphasizes those digitalizing financial operations and relying on third-party vendors to facilitate service delivery. The rules also apply to those based out of Hong Kong but whose operations are used by consumers and other institutions in Hong Kong.

What is the HKMA regulatory approach?

The HKMA’s regulatory approach provide digitalized banks and financial institutions operating in Hong Kong with a balanced and proportional risk-based approach to counter third-party risks. The regulatory body’s approach has three principles: risk differentiation, proportionality, and “zero failure” regime. These principles apply equally to all financial institutions in Hong Kong.

When was the release date and compliance deadline of the latest HKMA Outsourcing Regulations?

The latest version of the HKMA Outsourcing Regulations was released in December 2023. Although the regulator didn’t give a deadline for becoming compliant, with the increasing onslaught of threat actors, financial institutions are advised to comply to protect themselves and avoid being breached.

How many requirements are in the updated HKMA Outsourcing Regulations?

There are six requirements organizations must comply with in the updated HKMA Outsourcing Regulations.

How does the HKMA recommend organizations to facilitate becoming compliant with its updated outsourcing regulations?

According to the regulatory body, “AIs are encouraged to adopt technologies to refine, automate and streamline their third-party risk management and cybersecurity controls.”

As stated, prioritize technology that enables your team to facilitate the entire process from a single pane. This will reduce the various mundane tasks involved in the initial implementation phase, as well as for staying compliant.

And that’s where Cyber Sierra’s interoperable, enterprise cybersecurity platform comes in. For instance, Cyber Sierra’s vendor risk management Assessments’ suite is pre-built with globally-accepted third-party risk management templates. So in just a few clicks, you (and your team) can customize any to your specific HKMA Outsourcing Regulations implementation needs:

This, among others, automates many steps involved in becoming and staying compliant with the HKMA Outsourcing Regulations.

And it’s why an Asian-based global bank relies on Cyber Sierra for automating its third-party risk management processes:

Read the bank’s success story here:

Pramodh Rai

A weekly newsletter sharing actionable tips for CTOs & CISOs to secure their software.

Your Name*

Your Email Address*

I accept Cyber Sierra's terms and conditions*

Thank you for subscribing!

Please check your email to confirm your email address.

Find out how we can assist you in
completing your compliance journey.

Book a Demo

Thank you for reaching out to us!

We will get back to you soon.

Automating Governance, Risk, and Compliance: Revolutionizing Management with GRC Automation

Thank you for subscribing us!

What is GRC Automation?

How to Automate the GRC Process?

1. Define Business Case And Objective

2. Assess Current GRC Processes & Identify Areas Of Improvement

3.Select the Right Tools To Support your Automation Objectives

4. Implement with Change Management

5. Configure the Automation Solution

6. Train all Stakeholders before Rolling It Out Across the Organization

7. Continuous Monitoring and Optimization

Advantages of GRC Automation

1. Boosts Operational Efficiency

2. Delivers Higher-Quality Information

3. Strengthens Business and Stakeholder Relationships

4. Establishes a Sustainable Organizational Structure

5. Cuts Costs

6. Enables Comprehensive Reporting

Challenges in GRC Automation

1. Lack of Proper Leadership

2. Organizational Silos

3. Insufficient Technology Investment

4. Unclear Implementation Scope

5. Ineffective Change Management

6. Lack of Enterprise Resilience

How CyberSierra Can Help You

Conclusion

Related Articles

Why CISOs are Ditching the Regular for Smart GRC Software

A Guide to Hong Kong Monetary Authority Outsourcing Regulations

Top 7 GRC Tools You Should Consider in 2024

Thank you for subscribing!

Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM): What It Is and Why It Is Important?

Thank you for subscribing us!

What is Continuous Control Monitoring?

Enhancing Efficiency Through CCM

1. Implements data analytics and advanced technologies

2. Performs regular control and process assessments

3. Encourages collaboration and cross-functional integration

4. Monitors and measures the success of CCM

5. Establishes a proactive risk management culture

Benefits of Implementing Continuous Control Monitoring

1. Improved compliance

2. Early identification and mitigation of risks

3. Lowered risk of regulatory penalties

4. Increased transparency and improved communication

5. Optimized resource allocation

Choosing the Right CCM Software

1. Focus on features tailored to your needs

2. Prioritize ease of integration

3. Value vendor support

4. Assess scalability

5. Determine the solution’s ease of use

6. Budget

Wrapping Up

Related Articles

Top 7 Continuous Control Monitoring Tools in 2024

Enterprise Cybersecurity Continuous Control Monitoring Examples

Different Cybersecurity Controls and How to Implement Them

Thank you for subscribing!

30 Common Types of Cyber Attacks and How to Prevent Them

Thank you for subscribing us!

What is a cyberattack?

Why do people launch cyber attacks?

Who do cyberattackers target?

How often do cyber attacks occur?

Common Types of Cyber Attacks

Backdoor Trojan

Birthday Attack

Brute Force Attacks

Business Email Compromise (BEC)

Code Injection Attacks

Cross-site Scripting (XSS) Attacks

Cryptojacking

Distributed Denial of Service

DNS Spoofing

DNS Tunneling

Drive-by Attacks and Drive-by Downloads

Eavesdropping Attacks

Identity-Based Attacks