Leveraging Predictive Risk Profiles for Greater Third-party Security Insights

5 minute read

March 2022

by cybergrx


With cyber-attacks escalating daily and a constant flow of headlines about ransomware demands bringing
supply chains to a standstill, it’s clear that third-party breaches are on the rise. So it should come as no surprise that taking a proactive approach to third-party risk is a step in the right direction. Companies are now seeking new ways to incorporate actionable information into their security defense to better manage their third-party vendor relationships.

To gain security insights into third-party vendors, businesses have turned to predictive risk profiling. Through the power of machine learning and advanced analytics, Predictive Risk Profiles can be created from data held in the CyberGRX Exchange. Companies have access to these profiles to gain valuable insights into third-party risk exposure. Visibility of a Risk Profile for each third party within your ecosystem can provide your business with specific areas of concern and a  level of risk posed to your operation that cannot be achieved by assessments alone. The model can score vendors or suppliers based on specific risk factors, enabling an organization to address critical security gaps. Read on to find out why this is vitally important and why your organization should prioritize third-party risk.

What Is Predictive Risk?

Predictive risk is the idea that the best way to reduce uncertainty in an uncertain world is to predict where the greatest areas of risk reside. To address this, we have created the world’s largest Cyber Risk Exchange containing risk data from over 130,000 companies,  spanning multiple industries and geographies. 

To arrive at a final risk profile result, machine learning is used to analyze many different factors including real-time threat intelligence, vulnerability assessments, and real-life cyber attack data, plus attributes such as the vendor’s industry, location, and past behavior. We use the standardized data from the Exchange to predict how different companies within an ecosystem will respond to a detailed security assessment questionnaire with an accuracy rate nearing 85%.

When Predictive Risk Profiles are combined with more than 10,000 self-attested assessments on the CyberGRX Exchange, organizations can take advantage of critical insights to identify potential risks and vulnerabilities that they may not be aware of if applying the usual manual assessments to a prospective third party. The same organizations can use predictive risk analysis to identify third parties that require control gap remediation to keep them safe.

How Do Predictive Risk Profiles  Support Informed Decisions About Third-party Security Challenges?

The output generated by the Exchange data culminates in an overall cyber risk intelligence report that forms a Predictive Risk Profile. This profile can be used to compare potential risks from the third party against your organization’s security standards.

CyberGRX pulls together information from the following focus areas : 

  •     Operational
  •     Strategic 
  •     Core
  •     Management
  •     Privacy

The Predictive Risk Profile is a powerful tool helping organizations identify high-risk vendors and make rapid, data-informed decisions.

The Risk Profiles Produced Provide Organizations With Data That Enables Them To Perform Analysis To Answer Questions Such As:

  •     What is likely to go wrong?
  •     When is it likely to go wrong?
  •     How much might it cost if it does?
  •     How can I reduce costs or avoid problems?

Managing Cyber Risk and Enhancing Your Reputation With Data Intelligence

Security gaps in your organization could make all the difference between a successful cyber-attack and a successful defense. Measuring your cyber risk can help you ensure a safe and stable organization. By taking proactive measures with the third parties your business relies on, you can reduce the potential damage from a cyberattack, protect your brand and reputation, and protect your revenue.

Knowing the security gaps enables you to form a tactical (short term) and a strategic (long term) plan.This ensures that appropriate control mitigations are in place to defend and protect your organization from any deficiencies that might be inherent within your third-party relationships.

Included in Your Strategy, Your Organization Might Also Consider:

  •     Establishing clear, defined policies and procedures to govern third-party interactions
  •     Defining roles and responsibilities for third-party business relationships
  •     Designing or changing processes for vetting and hiring third parties
  •     Actively monitoring third parties for security changes and data breaches
  •     Tracking third-party vendor performance metrics

How Your Organization Benefits From Accessing CyberGRX Risk Profiles

  •     Stop chasing assessments. Instead, spend your valuable time and resources remediating risks where it counts.
  •     There is no need to churn through endless reports and assessments; you will prioritize your critical and high risks using the risk profiles.
  •     Manage your organization’s reputation through your own risk profile
  •     Map your security controls to the MITRE ATT&CK® Framework and use threat profiles based on real-world cyber events to better defend against threats
  •     Demonstrate to  Board of Directors improvement in risk management program 

Ensuring That Your Organization Is Secure On All Fronts

Running a business with reliance on  a digital ecosystem produces many benefits, but unfortunately it can also attract attention from cybercriminals. To help combat this threat, CyberGRX has led the charge on predictive risk profiles to help organizations make faster, more informed decisions about their third parties. 

We assist organizations in rising above and beyond their competition by taking preventive measures and contributing to their layered defenses to protect their business. Remember, the best protection against cyber-attacks is effective information security practices and control mitigations that cover all potentially vulnerable areas of your organization: people, processes, and technology.

At CyberGRX we pride ourselves on being a market-leading cybersecurity intelligence service. Our predictive risk profiling platform can be leveraged to provide organizations with visibility into their security posture and a means of measuring cyber readiness. With CyberGRX, organizations can strengthen their cybersecurity posture and reduce their risk of attack by applying a disciplined approach to assessing their cybersecurity risk and identifying where improvements can be made. 

To learn more about how CyberGRX can help you manage your third-party cyber risk, request a demo today.

Book Your Demo

Related Articles

About Us

ProcessUnity is a leading provider of cloud-based applications for risk and compliance management. The company’s software as a service (SaaS) platform gives organizations the control to assess, measure, and mitigate risk and to ensure the optimal performance of key business processes. ProcessUnity’s flagship solution, ProcessUnity Vendor Risk Management, protects companies and their brands by reducing risks from third-party vendors and suppliers. ProcessUnity helps customers effectively and efficiently assess and monitor both new and existing vendors – from initial due diligence and onboarding through termination. Headquartered outside of Boston, Massachusetts, ProcessUnity is used by the world’s leading financial service firms and commercial enterprises. For more information, visit www.processunity.com.