The effectiveness of your entire Vendor Risk Management program is contingent on your vendor risk monitoring capabilities. Insufficient vendor security monitoring that fails to detect cyber risks during onboarding or any new cybersecurity risks throughout the vendor lifecycle will inevitably emerge later on as a major breach risk. To help you choose a vendor risk monitoring solution that will maximize your VRM investment, this post ranks the top eight vendor monitoring platforms on the market in 2024.
Features of an ideal vendor risk monitoring solution
All of the solution options ranked in this post are evaluated against the following features of an ideal vendor monitoring tool.
- End-to-end VRM lifecycle monitoring: An ideal solution should be capable of monitoring emerging vendor security risks throughout the entire Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) lifecycle. This will likely require the vendor monitoring solution to include integrated workflows for each stage of the VRM lifecycle.
- Regulatory compliance risk monitoring: Regulatory risk management is integral to a Vendor Risk Management program. An ideal vendor monitoring platform must be capable of detecting compliance risks for all of the regulatory standards each third-party vendor must align with.
- Fourth-party vendor risk monitoring: Due to the interconnected nature of vendor relationships, vendor risk monitoring tools must be capable of accounting for vulnerabilities and operational risks originating from the fourth-party vendor landscape.
- Stakeholder reporting capabilities: An ideal solution must offer a streamlined reporting workflow for keeping stakeholders informed of the organization’s evolving third-party risk exposure.
1. UpGuard
Ideal for organization’s requiring comprehensive vendor risk monitoring for third-party security and regulatory compliance risks across the complete scope of the VRM lifecycle.
UpGuard’s performance against key vendor risk monitoring features
Below is an overview of how UpGuard performs against the key features of an ideal vendor monitoring solution.
(i). End-to-end VRM lifecycle monitoring
The UpGuard platform comes with integrated workflows addressing each stage of the VRM lifecycle.
- Onboarding: With Trust Exchange, UpGuard utilizes security questionnaire automation to streamline the collection of each new vendor’s security posture information during due diligence, helping security teams understand the scope of the level of monitoring each potential vendor will require.
- Risk assessments: UpGuard’s integrated vendor risk assessment workflow allows security teams to easily prioritize high-risk vendors within a VRM program. With a library of questionnaires mapping to popular standards, risk assessments can detect each service provider’s regulatory compliance risks, security control deficiency risks, and supply chain security risks - the types of risks that must be accounted for in the vendor monitoring component in vendor risk management processes.
- Continuous monitoring: With its security risk rating feature providing a quantitative risk score of third-party vendor risks updated in real-time, in addition to point-in-tine risk assessments, UpGuard helps users track the impact of emerging third-party vendor risks in real-time. UpGuard’s security ratings are quantified based on multiple risk categories, including reputation risks, data breach risks, and data leakage - a collection of cyber attack metrics forming the most comprehensive evaluation of vendor performance for vendor security monitoring.
- Offboarding: Breachsight, UpGuard’s Attack Surface Management tool, supports the detection of residual connections to third-party cloud services and third-party relationships that have ended..
Watch this video to learn more about the integrated vendor risk assessment workflows in UpGuard’s Vendor Risk Management solution.
(ii). Regulatory compliance risk monitoring
UpGuard offers a library of customizable security questionnaire templates that map to popular regulatory standards, helping users detect and monitor vendor compliance risk. Some of the standards UpGuard’s questionnaire map to include
- Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Tool (HECVAT)
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
- NIST Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF)
- Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)
- California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
- COBIT 5 Security Standard
- GDPR Security Standard
- NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 4 Security Standard
- ISO 27001
- SIG and SIG Lite
"We found UpGuard’s design very clean and intuitive – more so than the UI of its competitors, making it an easy decision to go with them."
- 7 Chord
Watch this video to learn how UpGuard is leveraging automation technology to replace manual spreadsheet processes and expedite potential risk detection across cyber and regulatory risk categories.
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(iii). Fourth-party vendor risk monitoring
UpGuard’s fourth-party module continuously informs users of the vendor partnerships that comprise their fourth-party attack surface. This capability was particularly useful for UpGuard users monitoring the impact of the Crowdstrike incident on their vendor ecosystem.
(iv). Stakeholder reporting capabilities
UpGuard reporting workflows keep stakeholders informed of the organization’s evolving vendor risk exposure with templates catering to a range of popular board and stakeholder reporting styles.
These reports can be customized to focus on the aspects of vendor monitoring efforts that are of the most interest to stakeholders, such as regulatory compliance status, security posture change, and the impact of remediation efforts in response to risks detected through monitoring processes.
2. SecurityScorecard
Ideal for businesses needing detailed vendor risk monitoring with a focus on security ratings and comprehensive visualization capabilities.
See how UpGuard compares with SecurityScorecard >
SecurityScorecard’s performance against key vendor risk monitoring features
Below is an overview of how SecurityScorecard performs against the key features of an ideal vendor monitoring service.
(i). End-to-end VRM lifecycle monitoring
SecurityScorecard’s vendor risk assessment workflow – the primary engine of Vendor Risk Management program – isn’t completely streamlined. The platform’s vendor risk monitoring and questionnaire automation modules are offered through separate licenses, which could lead to significant workflow disruptions when licensing limits are reached. Such a disjointed pathway between vendor risk monitoring data and risk assessment processes could produce an inaccurate picture of an organization’s actual risk exposure.
(ii). Regulatory compliance risk monitoring
SecurityScorecard’s offers a library of industry-standard frameworks that map to popular cyber standards and regulations, including ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and NIST CSF. Users can receive real-time updates about the status of each sent questionnaire in one dashboard.
SSC’s questionnaire responses are automatically evaluated with the platform’s security rating tools to highlight specific regulatory compliance risks and their level of severity. Vendors are then given an overall score to offer a convenient summary of a vendor’s overall compliance efforts.
(iii). Fourth-party vendor risk monitoring
SSC extends its monitoring capabilities to the fourth-party vendor landscape, keeping users informed of their fourth-party vendors. By leveraging its security ratings and dataset from various sources (threat intelligence, internet-facing asset risk data, and other cybersecurity metrics), users can infer potential risks within their fourth-party ecosystem, offering a valuable layer of insight for risk monitoring processes.
(iv). Stakeholder reporting capabilities
SecurityScorecard offers highly customizable stakeholder reports with detailed visualizations to simplify the communication of complex cyber risk concepts to stakeholders. The platform’s reports can be modified to focus on specific areas of vendor monitoring interests, such as security posture changes or compliance status.
3. Bitsight
Ideal for enterprises requiring a risk-based approach to vendor risk management with extensive profiling capabilities.
See how UpGuard compares with Bitsight >
Bitsight’s performance against key vendor risk monitoring features
Below is an overview of how Bitsight performs against the key features of an ideal vendor monitoring solution.
(i). End-to-end VRM lifecycle monitoring
The Bitsight platform does not offer a seamless workflow experience. The platform’s vendor monitoring and risk assessment processes are separated. Bitsight’s risk assessment capabilities have only been extended due to the company’s acquisition of ThirdPartyTrust. Without a natively integrated risk assessment workflow, processes are likely to be disjointed, which could impact the availability of accurate risk monitoring data.
(ii). Regulatory compliance risk monitoring
Bitsight allows users to detect and monitor third-party regulatory compliance risks with a library of questionnaires that map to industry standards, such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS.
(iii). Fourth-party vendor risk monitoring
The Bitsight platform can automatically detect third-party vendors and detect concentration risks that could disrupt business continuity in the event of major disruption in the vendor ecosystem. Bitsight can also monitor the extended vendor supply chain and keep users informed of major security incidents they could potentially be affected by through notifications.
(iv). Stakeholder reporting capabilities
Bitsight offers data-driven reports to keep stakeholders informed of emerging threats in their vendor ecosystem. However, Bitsitght’s separate pricing structure for reporting could complicate procurement processes and disrupt information security teams when reporting limits are reached.
4. OneTrust
Ideal for organizations seeking a platform that combines vendor risk management with strong compliance and privacy management capabilities.
See how UpGuard compares with OneTrust >
OneTrust’s performance against key vendor risk monitoring features
Below is an overview of how OneTrust performs against the key features of an ideal vendor monitoring solution.
(i). End-to-end VRM lifecycle monitoring
OneTrust does not offer users external risk visibility, which places a significant limitation on the platform’s risk monitoring capabilities. To achieve seamless vendor monitoring across the entire VRM lifecycle, OneTrust users would need to implement a separate rating solution. Besides the added complexity and costs of coupling multiple solutions, this approach could produce inconsistent risk monitoring metric sharing between each tool.
(ii). Regulatory compliance risk monitoring
OneTrust can detect regulatory risk across all major compliance frameworks, which could be particularly helpful for organizations in regions such as EMEA with strict regulatory violation penalties. The platform also offers its users access to regulatory analysts for support with complex regulatory compliance tasks.
(iii). Fourth-party vendor risk monitoring
OneTrust’s lack of native external risk monitoring means the platform cannot be used to monitor fourth-party risks or the impact of those risks on the vendor ecosystem.
(iv). Stakeholder reporting capabilities
OneTrust’s reporting features cater to organizations monitoring risks across a wide range of categories, including ESG and data privacy.
5. Black Kite
Ideal for organizations requiring a cyber risk monitoring solution with a strong emphasis on financial impact.
Learn how UpGuard compares with Black Kite >
Black Kite’s performance against key vendor risk monitoring features
Below is an overview of how Black Kite performs against the key features of an ideal vendor monitoring solution.
(i). End-to-end VRM lifecycle monitoring
The Black Kite platform does not natively support a complete risk assessment workflow. Instead, the platform primarily focuses on vendor risk scanning. Without an integrated risk assessment workflow, Black Kite is limited in its ability to monitor vendor risks across the entire VRM lifecycle.
Black Kite customers wanting to implement a risk assessment workflow need to consider integration options with separate Third-Party Risk Management platforms.
(ii). Regulatory compliance risk monitoring
Black Kite offers tools to assist users with evaluating vendor compliance across various regulatory standards. The platform leverages AI technology to expedite the analysis of each vendor’s certifications, security documents, and completed questionnaires to streamline risk monitoring efforts during the vendor onboarding phase of a VRM program.
One of the platform’s key strengths is its ability to quantify financial risks based on discovered cyber and regulatory risks. These insights allow users to prioritize risk mitigation efforts with the greatest potential financial impact.
(iii). Fourth-party vendor risk monitoring
Black Kite offers a supply chain and nth party monitoring module that can detect security and concentration risks in the supply chain. This tool offers users advanced awareness of potential operational disruptions stemming from far regions in the supply chain beyond the fourth-party landscape.
(iv). Stakeholder reporting capabilities
The platform offers comprehensive reports for stakeholders that translate the findings of risk scans. However, the level of accuracy of these reports is questionable as they are based on Black Kite's vast range of data points, which seem arbitrary and ambiguous upon closer examination.
6. RiskRecon
Ideal for organizations focused on ongoing monitoring and automated risk assessments.
See how UpGuard compares with RiskRecon >
RiskRecon’s performance against key vendor risk monitoring features
Below is an overview of how RiskRecon performs against the key features of an ideal vendor monitoring solution.
(i). End-to-End VRM Lifecycle Monitoring
RiskRecon does not offer an integrated risk assessment workflow; however, the platform does support vendor risk monitoring during the onboarding and continuous monitoring phases of the VRM lifecycle.
(ii). Regulatory compliance risk monitoring
RiskRecon is capable of monitoring regulatory compliance risks. However, compliance teams could find the value of resulting risk insights limited in usefulness.
(iii). Fourth-party vendor risk monitoring
RIskRecon automates the discovery of fourth-party technology in the supply chain. With its visualization features, the platform allows users to understand complex risk relationships in their supply chain. However, without an integrated remediation workflow, users are significantly limited in their ability to respond to detected risks within the platform.
(iv). Stakeholder reporting capabilities
RiskRecon produces complex reports with detailed remediation guidelines. The platform has developed a good reputation for providing highly detailed and complex risk-monitoring insights in its reports.
7. Panorays
Ideal for organizations seeking an integrated platform that combines automated vendor risk assessments with a focus on cybersecurity ratings and collaborative workflows.
See how UpGuard compares with Panorays >
Panorays’ performance against key vendor risk monitoring features
Below is an overview of how Panorays performs against the key features of an ideal vendor monitoring solution.
(i). End-to-end VRM lifecycle monitoring
Panorays has developed its platform from the ground up to offer natively integrated workflows supporting the entire VRM lifecycle. The platform applies its risk monitoring tools to each stage of the VRM lifecycle to offer insights about internal and external risk exposures.
(ii). Regulatory compliance risk monitoring
Panorays offers questionnaires that map to nuance standards, such as NYDFS 500, in addition to popular standards like ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and GDPR. The platform's ability to map to NYDFS 500 allows for complex financial risk monitoring,
(iii). Fourth-party vendor risk monitoring
Panoray’s nth-party risk discovery features are capable of detecting risks beyond the third-party ecosystem. The platform’s risk monitoring tools allow users to respond quickly to supply chain threats through real-time notifications.
(iv). Stakeholder Reporting Capabilities
Panorays offers executive-level report templates to keep stakeholders informed of risk monitoring efforts and suggested remediation responses.
However, Panorays users could experience delays in new vendors being reflected in the report, which could take up to 48 hours. In comparison, this process only takes about two hours on the UpGuard platform.
8. Vanta
Ideal for organizations focused on automating compliance.
See how UpGuard compares with Vanta >
Vanta’s performance against key vendor risk monitoring features
Below is an overview of how Vanta performs against the key features of an ideal vendor monitoring solution.
(i). End-to-end VRM lifecycle monitoring
Vanta primarily focuses on streamlining compliance risk monitoring. The platform is not an ideal choice if you’re in the market for complete Vendor Risk Management software. Additional tools are needed to address all workflows in a VRM lifecycle.
(ii). Regulatory compliance risk monitoring
Vanta’s key strength is its ability to streamline and automate regulatory risk monitoring and management. The tool offers automated alerts to offer users real-time regulatory risk monitoring.
(iii). Fourth-party vendor risk monitoring
Vanta focuses on direct vendor compliance and does not support compliance monitoring in the fourth-party landscape.
(iv). Stakeholder reporting capabilities
Vanta excels in its ability to produce stakeholder reports, breaking down complex compliance metrics. These reports can be tailored to focus on specific compliance categories, such as:
- Regulatory: For tracking alignment with government regulations, such as GDPR
- Financial: For tracking alignemwnt with financial service regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX Act) and PCI DSS.
- Operational: For tracking alignment with internal policies and standards
- IT: For tracking alignment with cybersecurity standards, such as ISO 27001.
