Third-Party Vendor Risks: Vetting vendors and their security practices

Insufficient Security Controls: Lack of encryption, patch management, or identity/access policies.

Data Exposure: Mishandling or unauthorised access to sensitive or regulated data.

Supply Chain Attacks: Malicious code or backdoors introduced through vendor software updates.

Access Mismanagement: Over-permissioned vendor accounts with weak authentication.

Regulatory Non-Compliance: Vendors failing to meet standards like GDPR, HIPAA, or ISO 27001.

Service Level Agreements (SLAs): Vendor contracts must detail performance, timeliness, and quality standards (SLAs) for their services, including potential penalties for non-compliance.

Right to Audit: This should allow you to inspect the vendor’s processing facilities as well.

Information Security Practices: Verify the vendor’s documented information security policies, including access management and data handling practices like encryption, storage, transfer, and data destruction.

Compliance: Vendors must hold necessary licenses and adhere to regulatory and internal requirements for their activities.

Incident Response Planning: Ensure vendors have defined incident response procedures and Include vendors in your own response and notification workflows.