Third-Party Risk Management
Your attack surface doesn't end at your perimeter.
Every vendor, supplier, and partner with access to your systems or data extends your attack surface. Most third-party risk programs look rigorous on paper and fall apart the first time procurement wants to move fast and a vendor will not cooperate. We build programs that hold up in that moment.
Why This Can't Wait
Most third-party risk programs look better on paper than they perform.
A questionnaire sent and returned is not risk management. It's documentation. The vendor who signed your security attestation is the same vendor who had a breach eighteen months later because no one verified, no one monitored, and no one noticed when their posture changed.
A functional TPRM program is built around how vendors actually behave, not how they represent themselves. That requires tiering, lifecycle coverage, and escalation paths that work when procurement is pushing to move fast.
Compliance Audit Pressure
SOC 2, CMMC, GDPR, and HIPAA all require documented third-party oversight. A vendor questionnaire sent once at onboarding does not satisfy any of them.
Vendor Sprawl After Growth
Rapid SaaS adoption, acquisitions, or expansion have left you with hundreds of vendor relationships and no systematic view of which ones carry material risk.
Post-Incident Response
A breach or significant security event originated through a vendor. You need to rebuild the program on a defensible foundation before the next audit.
No Escalation Path
When a vendor refuses to share their SOC 2 report or procurement wants to onboard a high-risk tool quickly, your team has no documented path to follow.
What Makes This Different
Built for How Vendor Risk Actually Works
01
Risk-Tiered, Not One-Size-Fits-All
A SaaS tool that processes your marketing emails does not carry the same risk as a managed service provider with domain admin access. We build tiered programs that concentrate rigor where exposure is highest and scale efficiently across the full vendor population.
02
Lifecycle Coverage, Not Onboarding-Only
Vendor risk isn't static. Access scopes expand, business relationships deepen, and security postures change. We design programs that govern the full vendor relationship: intake, tiering, due diligence, ongoing monitoring, and formal offboarding.
03
Built to Satisfy Regulators and Auditors
GDPR Article 28, SOC 2 vendor management criteria, CMMC supply chain requirements, and HIPAA BAA obligations all require documented third-party oversight. One well-built program satisfies all of them simultaneously.
Not sure where your vendor program actually stands?
The free consultation starts with an honest assessment of what you have and what it would take to make it functional.
Program Deliverables
What the Engagement Delivers
Every TPRM engagement delivers a complete program framework policy, tooling guidance, and operational workflows your team can run independently.
Vendor Risk Tiering Methodology
Documented tiering framework calibrated to your regulatory environment, data types, and vendor population with criteria procurement can actually apply without security team involvement on every decision.
Tiered Questionnaire Library
Risk-proportionate questionnaire sets for each vendor tier with control mappings to applicable frameworks. Rigorous where it matters, efficient where it doesn't.
Third-Party Risk Policy & Charter
Formal policy documentation covering scope, governance, roles and responsibilities, escalation procedures, and review cycles written for auditors and operationally realistic for your team.
Contract Language & DPA Templates
Standard security addendum language and Data Processing Agreement templates tailored to your regulatory obligations and vendor population characteristics.
Vendor Lifecycle Workflow Design
End-to-end process documentation for intake, assessment execution, findings remediation, ongoing monitoring, and offboarding mapped to your existing procurement and contract management systems.
Tooling Assessment & Recommendations
Evaluation of GRC platforms, continuous monitoring services, and questionnaire management tools based on your vendor population size, program maturity, and team capacity.
Ideal For
Who This Engagement Serves.
Companies Under Compliance Pressure
Organizations facing SOC 2 Type II audits, CMMC Level 2 certification, GDPR supervisory authority scrutiny, or HIPAA compliance requirements where documented vendor management is a mandatory control domain.
Organizations After a Third-Party Incident
Companies that experienced a breach originating through a vendor and need to rebuild their TPRM program on a defensible foundation before the next audit or board conversation.
Enterprises With Unmanaged Vendor Sprawl
Mid-market and enterprise organizations that have grown rapidly and now have hundreds of vendor relationships, inconsistent contracts, and no systematic view of which vendors carry material risk.
What Happens After You Reach Out
From Consultation to Working Program
Typical timeline: 6–10 weeks for program design and documentation. The free consultation is step one.
Initial Consultation
We talk through your current vendor program, your compliance obligations, and what a functional TPRM framework would look like for your vendor population. No commitment required.
Current-State Assessment and Vendor Inventory
Review of existing vendor policies and contracts. Facilitated inventory workshops to surface the full vendor population, including shadow vendors and undocumented integrations.
Risk Tiering, Framework Design and Questionnaire Development
Design of vendor risk scoring and tiering methodology. Development of tiered questionnaire library with framework control mappings. Contract language and DPA template development.
Program Documentation and Workflow Design
Finalization of all program documentation. Workflow design for intake, assessment, remediation, and monitoring. Tooling assessment and GRC platform recommendations.
Program Launch, Pilot Assessments and Handoff
Pilot execution against a representative set of critical and high-risk vendors. Staff training for security, procurement, and legal. Executive presentation and transition planning.
Why It Matters Who Does This
Vendor risk programs fail operationally, not conceptually.
Built for the difficult vendor conversation, not just the easy ones.
The Moment It Breaks
The policy is written. The questionnaire exists. The process is documented. Then the first difficult vendor conversation happens: procurement wants to move fast, the vendor will not share their SOC 2 report, and the security team has no documented escalation path.
What We Build
TPRM programs with that moment built in. Tiering logic procurement can actually use. Questionnaires calibrated to be proportionate, not performative. Escalation paths that work when a vendor pushes back.
The Standard
A program that functions under pressure is the only kind worth building. Everything else is documentation that creates the appearance of risk management without providing it.
Start with a Free Consultation.
We'll talk through your vendor population, your compliance obligations, and what a functional TPRM program would actually require.