Third-Party Due Diligence

In the context of cybersecurity, Third-Party Due Diligence (TPDD) is the process of assessing and mitigating the cybersecurity risks associated with using third-party vendors, suppliers, or partners. It involves thoroughly evaluating their security posture to ensure they meet your organization's security standards and regulatory requirements.

Here's a breakdown of what TPDD in cybersecurity entails:

1. Identifying and Assessing Cybersecurity Risks:

• Data Security: Evaluating how the third party handles sensitive data, including customer information, intellectual property, and financial records. It includes assessing their data encryption, access controls, and data breach response plans.

• Network Security: Examining the third party's network infrastructure for vulnerabilities, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and vulnerability management practices.

• Application Security: Reviewing the security of the third party's applications, including secure coding practices, vulnerability testing, and protection against common web application attacks.

• Compliance: Verifying the third party's compliance with relevant cybersecurity regulations and standards, such as GDPR, CCPA, ISO 27001, and NIST Cybersecurity Framework.

• Incident Response: Assessing the third party's incident response capabilities, including their ability to detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity incidents.

2. Due Diligence Activities:

• Questionnaires and Assessments: Sending questionnaires to gather information about the third party's security practices and policies.

• Documentation Reviews: Review the third party's security policies, procedures, and incident response plans.

• Technical Assessments: Conducting technical security assessments, such as penetration testing and vulnerability scanning, to identify weaknesses in their systems.

• On-site Visits: Visiting the third party's facilities to observe their security controls and practices firsthand.

• Background Checks: Conduct background checks on the third party and its key personnel to identify potential red flags.

• Contractual Agreements: Including cybersecurity requirements and obligations in contracts with third parties.

3. Ongoing Monitoring:

• Continuous Monitoring: Implementing continuous monitoring of the third party's security posture to identify new threats and vulnerabilities.

• Regular Reviews: Conduct periodic reviews of the third party's security practices to ensure they align with your organization's requirements.

Why is TPDD in Cybersecurity Important?

• Protects Sensitive Data: This helps prevent data breaches and protects your organization's sensitive information.

• Ensures Business Continuity: Reduces the risk of disruptions to your operations due to cybersecurity incidents at a third party.

• Maintains Compliance: Helps your organization comply with relevant cybersecurity regulations and standards.

• Protects Reputation: Safeguards your organization's reputation by mitigating the risk of being associated with a third-party security breach.

• Reduces Financial Losses: Minimizes the financial impact of cybersecurity incidents caused by third parties.

By conducting thorough TPDD in cybersecurity, organizations can effectively manage the risks associated with third-party relationships and protect their critical assets.

ThreatNG can significantly bolster cybersecurity due diligence by offering a comprehensive suite of tools and capabilities that address the critical aspects of third-party risk management. Here's how it helps and how it can work with complementary solutions:

1. Identifying and Assessing Cybersecurity Risks

• Deep and Broad Discovery: ThreatNG goes beyond basic surface-level scans by employing extensive investigation modules to uncover a wide range of potential vulnerabilities.

  • Domain Intelligence: Uncovers risky configurations like exposed APIs, development environments, and known vulnerabilities associated with the third party's domain. It can even identify the use of outdated or vulnerable software versions through technology stack analysis.

  • Cloud and SaaS Exposure: Detects shadow IT, misconfigured cloud storage, and SaaS implementations that may not adhere to security best practices. It is critical to understand the third party's data handling practices.

  • Sensitive Code Exposure: Identifies code repositories with exposed secrets like API keys and passwords, highlighting potential security weaknesses in the third party's development lifecycle.

  • Search Engine Exploitation: Uncovers sensitive information inadvertently exposed through search engines, such as privileged folders, user data, and susceptible servers.

• Automated Assessments: ThreatNG automates vulnerability assessments, reducing the manual effort required to evaluate a third party's security posture. It allows for faster and more frequent assessments.

• Risk Scoring: ThreatNG provides quantitative risk scores based on the identified vulnerabilities, allowing you to prioritize and focus on the highest-risk third parties.

2. Due Diligence Activities

• Continuous Monitoring: ThreatNG continuously monitors the third party's external attack surface for new vulnerabilities and changes in its security posture. It ensures that your risk assessment remains up-to-date.

• Intelligence Repositories: Leveraging dark web intelligence, ThreatNG can identify if the third party has been involved in past data breaches or if their credentials are compromised, providing crucial insights into their security history.

• Reporting: ThreatNG generates detailed reports on the third party's security posture, facilitating informed decision-making and documentation for compliance purposes.

3. Ongoing Monitoring

• Alerts and Notifications: ThreatNG provides real-time alerts and notifications of new vulnerabilities or changes in the third party's risk profile, enabling proactive risk mitigation.

• Integration with Existing Tools: ThreatNG can integrate with existing security tools, such as SIEMs and GRC platforms, to provide a holistic view of third-party risk and streamline security operations.

Working with Complementary Solutions

While ThreatNG offers a comprehensive solution, it can be further enhanced by integrating with complementary solutions:

• Penetration Testing: ThreatNG can identify potential vulnerabilities that can be further investigated and validated through manual penetration testing conducted by specialized security professionals.

• Security Awareness Training: ThreatNG can identify phishing and social engineering susceptibility and inform targeted security awareness training programs for third parties.

• Threat Intelligence Platforms: Integrating with threat intelligence platforms can enrich ThreatNG's data and provide more context on emerging threats and vulnerabilities.

Examples

• Scenario: A financial institution wants to onboard a new payment processor.

  • ThreatNG's Role: ThreatNG can assess the payment processor's web applications for vulnerabilities like SQL injection and cross-site scripting, analyze their cloud security configurations, and monitor their dark web presence for any signs of compromise.

  • Complementary Solution: A penetration testing firm can conduct a targeted assessment of the payment processor's systems to validate the findings from ThreatNG and identify any more profound vulnerabilities.

• Scenario: A healthcare organization is evaluating a cloud-based EHR vendor.

  • ThreatNG's Role: ThreatNG can analyze the vendor's cloud security posture, identify misconfigurations or exposed data, and assess compliance with HIPAA regulations.

  • Complementary Solution: A GRC platform can manage the overall compliance program, including integrating ThreatNG's findings and tracking remediation efforts.

Organizations can effectively manage third-party cybersecurity risks and protect their critical assets by combining ThreatNG's capabilities with complementary solutions and a robust due diligence process.