Many companies are turning to third-party vendors to procure products and services in today's business landscape. However, third parties also introduce risk to your organization’s cybersecurity posture, which is where third-party risk management (TPRM) platforms can help.
Third-party risk management (TPRM) platforms are cloud-based solutions that help organizations manage the risks associated with vendors. Many companies, from healthcare to financial services and beyond, utilize TPRM platforms to manage third-party information security.
Many different TPRM platforms exist, depending on your organization’s specific needs and business goals. The list below explores Whistic’s specific risk management solutions platform and outlines various alternatives that may be better, depending on what you use.
Learn more about UpGuard’s TPRM software, Vendor Risk >
Whistic Offerings and Features
Whistic is a TPRM platform focused on vendor security assessments and third-party risk management. Founded in 2015 and currently located in Pleasant Grove, Utah, Whistic aims to help companies hold each other accountable for protecting their shared data through a supplier risk management platform.
Whistic’s TPRM platform includes the Whistic Trust Catalog, which helps speed up the risk assessment by offering vendor security information to potential partners. Their platform has several tools that allow you to onboard, evaluate, and monitor vendors by comparing them against predefined criteria based on their questionnaires, documentation, and metadata.
With Whistic's workflows, customers can conduct security reviews and respond to security reviews in one place. Vendors can also use Whistic's platform to assess themselves against one of the top vendor questionnaires and upload supporting documentation, such as audits and certifications, to their profile. These profiles can be shared with their current and potential business partners to expedite the risk assessment.
Whistic’s primary offerings include:
- Continuous monitoring via RiskRecon of over 60,000 companies’ security posture
- Controlled Access that allows you to share what you want to share, including approval workflows, audit trails, and NDA safeguards
- Reporting and insights that measure customer engagement and security posture
- Issue Management Suite to track, catalog, remediate, and report on issues throughout the assessment process
- Integrated artificial intelligence (AI) to locate critical information fast, generate insights, and further automate workflows
- Centralized security and compliance information to increase efficiency in third-party risk assessment workflows
- Synchronized risk management data via API integrations (Jira, Slack, Salesforce, RiskRecon, etc.)
- AI-powered smart search knowledge base to quickly search your organization’s security and compliance documents
- Whistic Assurance Center, a one-stop summary of your organization’s security, privacy, and compliance controls
- 40+ questionnaires and frameworks
Top 8 Whistic Alternatives
Below are details about the top Whistic competitors so that you can identify the best alternative for your organization’s specific needs.
1. UpGuard
UpGuard is a third-party risk and attack surface management platform that helps global organizations prevent data breaches, monitor third-party vendors, and improve their security posture. Vendor Risk is their all-in-one third-party risk management platform that automates risk assessment workflows and provides instant notifications about vendors’ security.
Vendor Risk operates in one centralized dashboard, where users can manage every aspect of their vendor lifecycle through automated and instant workflows. From sending and receiving vendor questionnaires to tiering vendors based on criticality, UpGuard provides users an easy-to-understand platform with seamless features. Daily scans and instant rescans provide an in-depth look into all your vendors' security posture, with the ability to quickly generate reports to understand which vulnerabilities are impacting a vendor’s security posture.
Overall, UpGuard Vendor Risk is a comprehensive solution for TPRM with a competitive starting price and the ability to scale for enterprise customers.
Pros
- Automated security questionnaires and on-demand vendor security ratings
- Automated risk assessment that gathers evidence, assesses risks, and requests mediation in one single workflow
- High capability load: over 2,000,000 organizations scanned daily
- Continuous monitoring of vendor risk that impacts a vendor’s security posture
- UpGuard’s Reports Library with tailor-made reports for different stakeholders
- Expert analysis and management of TPRM programs
- Utilizes DevOps principles to develop, test, and release software updates continuously
- Transparent pricing model, which you can view here
- Integration with over 4,000 third-party apps
- Track alignment with ISO 27001, NIST CSF, etc., with built-in compliance reporting
Cons
- Creating questionnaires from scratch can be challenging, but UpGuard also provides standard questionnaires and templates to use and customize
2. Bitsight
Bitsight is a Boston-based Security Rating Service that assesses third-party cyber risk. It helps organizations manage their cybersecurity and risk throughout the vendor lifecycle. By continuously monitoring and assessing factors such as attack surface, cyber risk, and cloud security, Bitsight provides organizations with the information they need to make fast and strategic decisions about their cybersecurity policies and third-party cyber risk management.
Pros
- Objective security ratings allow for easy comparison
- Continuous security posture monitoring
- Easy scalability for organizations with a large number of third-party vendors
- Collaboration tools to work directly with vendors
Cons
- No public product release cycles
- Only 170,000 supported organizations
3. Black Kite
Black Kite is a Boston-based company that provides a platform that rates cyber risks by using open-source threat intelligence and non-invasive cyber reconnaissance methods. It provides large amounts of information about your Vendor Risk Management by gathering a wide range of information without directly accessing the target customer. Using data science and machine learning, it offers more frequent and accurate real-time vendor assessments.
Pros
- 360° view of cyber risk from a technical, financial, and compliance perspective
- Fully transparent, standards-based cyber ratings platform
- Visibility into over 34 million companies, with 20+ risk categories and 290 controls
Cons
- Public pricing information is not available
- Difficult user workflow, first-time users may have a steep learning curve
4. Diligent
Diligent is a New York-based software company creating digital solutions to connect insights across governance, risk, compliance, and more. They specialize in helping organizations meet their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments. Diligent’s TPRM platform protects your company and reputation with a credible, defensible, third-party program, informing your organization of potential Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption risks.
Pros
- AI-driven monitoring systems for new vendors
- Tailored assessments and workflows to specific types of third-party engagement
- Integrated third-party training module and program tracking via SCORM/eLearning format
- Included business intelligence that provides actionable insights, visibility increases, and process improvements for compliance teams
Cons
- Customization limitations
- Smaller offering of integrations
5. Prevalent
Prevalent is a Phoenix-based company designed to reveal and reduce vendor risk with its 360-degree third-party risk management platform. The Prevalent TPRM platform is a SaaS solution that combines automated risk assessment, continuous risk monitoring, assessment workflow, and remediation management throughout the third-party lifecycle from procurement to offboarding.
Pros
- RFx Essentials centralizes the distribution, comparison, and management of RFPs and RFIs
- Single source of supplier risk profiles, intake processes, and onboarding/offboarding workflows
- Comprehensive vendor risk profiles with inherent risk scores
- Measures program effectiveness and analyzes SLAs to determine compliance, contract terms, and strengthen negotiations
Cons
- No public pricing information
- Only provides a risk rating between 0 and 100 (no letter grades)
6. SecurityScorecard
SecurityScorecard is a New York-based security ratings platform that utilizes traffic and other publicly accessible data to build security ratings that evaluate vendors and manage cyber risk. They also monitor "hacker chatter" and other public data feeds for indicators of compromise.
Pros
- Security ratings provide a single score to compare third-party vendors and service providers
- Utilizes active and passive data collection methods that are publicly available
- Offers API connection functionality for users seeking greater security rating extensibility
- User Academy for customer users, along with a regularly updated company blog, webinar series, and resource center
Cons
- According to third-party feedback, may provide many false positives
- Remediation times may be extended, resulting in longer times for scores to improve
7. RiskRecon
RiskRecon is based in Salt Lake City, UT, and has a presence in Boston, MA. The company has representatives from all over the globe. RiskRecon offers users a comprehensive understanding of the data security risk performance. This is achieved by continuously monitoring 11 security domains and 41 security criteria. The platform is helpful for third-party risk management, enterprise risk management, and mergers & acquisitions.
Pros
- Data-driven insights and RiskRecom performance ratings to prioritize vendor risk assessments
- Objectively verifies vendor cybersecurity risk performance
- Unique asset valuation model and customizable risk policies
- 99.1% Data Accuracy
Cons
- May not publicly share regular release rates, roadmaps, or documentation for solution updates.
- Cloud-based platform offers minimal need for installation, but workflow requires time to master
8. ProcessUnity
ProcessUnity is based in Concord, MA, and provides Vendor Risk Management Software designed to protect companies and their reputation by reducing risk posed by vendors. Earlier this year, they announced a merger with CyberGRX, another TPRM platform, and now offer both the TPRM workflow platform alongside a global cyber risk exchange. Their tools for Vendor Risk Management assist clients in evaluating and monitoring both new and current vendors, from initial onboarding to ongoing due diligence and monitoring. ProcessUnity also provides visibility into new and existing risks, streamlines due diligence processes, and ensures compliance with regulatory requirements.
Pros
- Replaces surveys and spreadsheets with intelligent questionnaires
- Utilizes automation to determine the scope of assessments based on inherent risk scores and criticality tiers
- Built-in content library and support for importing custom methodologies
- Offers integrations with security risk review platforms, financial risk reviews, ESG, and more
Cons
- Difficult to onboard new users due to the customizability of the platform
- Filtering capabilities are limited
