Survey Reveals Significant Risk Gaps between Companies and Their Vendors, According to Study from Protiviti and Shared Assessments

Shared Assessments and Protiviti benchmark current industry practices and find serious vulnerabilities; improvements needed in governance, policies, standards, and procedures

SANTA FE, N.M. and MENLO PARK, Calif., May 19, 2014 /CNW/ - Organizations are failing to adequately address information technology and security risks that emerge from outsourcing and partnering with third-party vendors, according to a new survey by Shared Assessments Program (http://SharedAssessments.org/) and global consulting firm Protiviti (www.protiviti.com) that examines organizations' current vendor risk management programs.

Despite the extensive range of standards and regulations in the business environment today, and the need for increased vigilance due to highly publicized data breaches and cyber threats, the benchmarking study, titled 2014 Vendor Risk Management Benchmark Study (www.protiviti.com/vendor-risk), found that companies lack mature vendor risk management practices and do not have the necessary resources and staff to meet best practice standards.

"Managing the risks associated with outsourced services and vendor relationships is one of the many challenges facing organizations when it comes to data security," said Rocco Grillo, a managing director with Protiviti and the firm's global leader for incident response and forensic investigations. "Many companies aren't adequately or effectively protecting themselves from exposure to vendor outsourcing risks. This could result in their potential exposure to system compromise, fraudulent abuse of data and, in some cases, regulatory exposures and fines, which could have significant impact on their brands and reputations."

Nearly 450 IT and risk management professionals rated their organizations on the Vendor Risk Management Maturity Model (VRMMM), a best practice tool from Shared Assessments that measures the quality and maturity of an existing risk management program. Respondents scored more than 100 characteristics about their organizations' vendor risk management strategies on a maturity scale of 1 to 5 (lowest to highest) across eight categories (average scores shown below):

• Program Governance (2.9)
• Policies, Standards and Procedures (2.9)
• Contracts (3.0)
• Vendor Risk Identification and Analysis (2.7)
• Skills and Expertise (2.3)
• Communication and Information Sharing (2.6)
• Tools, Measurement and Analysis (2.4)
• Monitoring and Review (2.9)

"While the needs to manage vendor risk vary by specific company profile and needs, we found that organizations are still falling short of best practice recommendations," said Catherine Allen, chairman and CEO of The Santa Fe Group, which manages the Shared Assessments Program. "The increased use of third parties could create a wider gap for risk managers that can only be addressed through closer attention to consistency in policies, procedures and governance. Failing to include the necessary components may result in vendor risks going undetected, with potentially devastating results."

Key Findings from the Survey

• Financial Services Organizations Outperform Other Industries. Although all companies had ratings that were below the desired range, the financial services industry had more mature risk management programs across key categories than other sectors. This is largely driven by stricter guidelines for companies in the sector and by the highly regulated nature of the industry.
• Lackluster Procedures for Assessing Vendors. Organizations fail to have mature processes in place for reviewing vendors periodically through the course of an engagement, as well as for establishing criteria and process around the end of a vendor relationship. Given the potential risk involved with third parties, companies should have stronger policies and guidelines to ensure they are protected at the beginning of an engagement, through the course of the relationship via ongoing risk reviews, and during the exit process.
• A Need for Training, Staffing and Resources. Companies don't spend enough time assessing their own skill sets and deficiencies in terms of vendor risk management – nor are they proactive about training and improving areas where employees' knowledge is inadequate. The overall investment in resources to better manage vendor risk is below average for most companies.

Resources Available to Learn More

The 2014 Vendor Risk Management Survey precedes the seventh annual Shared Assessments Summit, to be held in Boston on May 19 – May 21, 2014. Protiviti's Rocco Grillo will be a panelist in the session titled, "Shared Assessments Program 2014: Moving Beyond the Tools" on Tuesday, May 20.

Additionally, Protiviti will host a complimentary webinar, led by Grillo and Brad Keller, senior vice president and program director of The Santa Fe Group (which manages the Shared Assessments Program), to discuss the results of the survey on June 3, 2014, at 10:00 a.m. PDT. They will be joined by guest speaker Tom Garrubba, senior privacy manager with CVS Caremark. To register, visit www.protiviti.com/vendor-risk. Grillo and Keller have also recorded a podcast in which they offer insights into what companies can do to raise their vendor risk management maturity levels.

To download a complimentary copy of the survey report, 2014 Vendor Risk Management Benchmark Study, please visit: www.protiviti.com/vendor-risk. The site also hosts an infographic of the survey's highlights and a benchmarking tool to compare the user's results to the survey respondents' results.

About the Shared Assessments Program

The Shared Assessments Program is the trusted source in third-party risk management, with resources to effectively manage the critical components of the vendor risk management lifecycle, creating efficiencies and lowering costs for all participants. The Program keeps current with regulations, industry standards and guidelines, and the current threat environment. It is adopted globally across a broad range of industries, both by service providers and their customers. Through membership and use of the Shared Assessments Program Tools (the Agreed Upon Procedures, Standard Information Gathering questionnaire and Vendor Risk Management Maturity Model), Shared Assessments offers companies and their service providers a faster, more efficient and less costly means of conducting rigorous assessments of controls for IT and data security, privacy and business continuity. The Shared Assessments Program is managed by The Santa Fe Group (www.santa-fe-group.com), a strategic consulting company based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Shared Assessments Program members are national and international organizations of all sizes that understand the importance of comprehensive standards for managing third-party risk. They include financial institutions, healthcare organizations, energy/utility providers, retailers and telecommunications companies. They are service providers of all sizes, consulting companies, and assessment firms. They are the best in their class, members of a global community of vendor risk management professionals who understand the value of implementing efficient and effective industry-standard practices.

About Protiviti
Protiviti (www.protiviti.com) is a global consulting firm that helps companies solve problems in finance, technology, operations, governance, risk and internal audit, and has served more than 40 percent of FORTUNE 1000^® and FORTUNE Global 500^® companies. Protiviti and its independently owned Member Firms serve clients through a network of more than 70 locations in over 20 countries. The firm also works with smaller, growing companies, including those looking to go public, as well as with government agencies.

Protiviti is a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Half (NYSE: RHI). Founded in 1948, Robert Half is a member of the S&P 500 index.

Protiviti is not licensed or registered as a public accounting firm and does not issue opinions on financial statements or offer attestation services.

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Editor's note: infographic of survey highlights available in PDF or JPEG formats.

SOURCE: Protiviti

For Protiviti: Kathy Keller, [phone], [email protected]; or For Shared Assessments: Lisa MacKenzie, MacKenzie Marketing Group, 503-705-3508, [email protected], or Kelly Stremel, [email protected]

http://www.protiviti.com

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