Third-party risk assessments identify, evaluate, and mitigate potential risks that third-party vendors might introduce into business operations. These processes form the foundation for a proactive risk management program, meeting regulatory requirements while safeguarding organizational assets and preventing reputational damage. Cyber risk assessments help identify any security hazards that could potentially disrupt operations and the supply chain.

A Third-Party risk assessment is a critical component of a Third-Party Risk Management program. Without understanding how to properly execute these assessments, the efficiency of your TPRM program will remain limited. This post provides a detailed six-step guide for performing third-party risk assessments in cybersecurity.

While virtual private networks (VPNs) have been the go-to solution for remote access for decades, the surge in remote work during the pandemic has highlighted the cracks in its armor. Granting unrestricted access to everything stored within a corporate network can quickly become a security nightmare, especially as remote workers continue to rely on an increasing number of devices and access points.

Protecting credentials has become increasingly critical in recent years, with everyday employees using more passwords, devices, and systems than ever before. Remote work has significantly increased the risk of identity attacks. 55% of remote workers say they receive more phishing emails than they used to while working in the office and attempted password attacks are up tenfold. In 2023, Microsoft detected 156,000 business email compromise (BEC) attacks every day over twelve months.

For SaaS applications and cloud service providers (CSPs), maintaining compliance with FedRAMP requirements is critical to the bottom line. It means the difference between working with U.S. government agencies—or not. But as one might expect from a bureaucratic process, getting FedRAMP authorization is complicated and takes time. Before starting the FedRAMP approval process, teams and company leaders must understand the required steps, prepare thoroughly, and muster their patience.

The distribution of component object models across different computers is called Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM). DCOM in Windows means an object of the client program can request services from objects on the server program on other computers within the same network. DCOM can also be implemented on a majority of UNIX platforms and aids communication among software components across different computers within a wide area network, local area network(LAN), or over the internet.

Windows Remote Desktop Service(RDS) in Microsoft Windows allows users to control a remote computer or virtual machine over a network using the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). To secure this access, it’s crucial to implement strong passwords to prevent brute force attacks and unauthorized access.