Overcoming Cybersecurity Headwinds Part 3: Future Proofing Your TPRM Program

Welcome back to our Overcoming Cybersecurity Headwinds blog series—building on our latest webinar about third party risk with Marc Crudginton, CISO at Howard Hughes Corporation. In our previous blogs, we explored the wisdom of centralizing cyber risk management and automating third-party risk management (TPRM). Today, we will focus on future proofing your TPRM program.

Future proofing is about making choices that secure your cybersecurity beyond here and now—from selecting the right partners to balancing short-term gains with long-term stability. It's a journey that demands innovation, planning, and choosing the right tools.

Our customer, The Howard Hughes Corporation, had a clear vision of what their cybersecurity and TPRM program should look like. When they evaluated vendors, they chose Bitsight because of the breadth and depth of capabilities that we offer for managing cyber risk in your organization and across your third-party supply chain. They knew they weren’t going to be able to implement all our capabilities at once, but whenever they needed to build onto their program, they didn't need to evaluate additional vendors. Just expand their existing feature set. 

Hear more from the Chief Information Security Officer of The Howard Hughes Corporation on how they are future proofing their third-party risk program with Bitsight:

Security leaders should ask themselves: What can add to the bottom line and help make the business more efficient in order to drive the top line? What will help us continue to drive innovation? One place to look for an answer is in a centralized suite of solutions that can grow with your program.

Continued Investments: The Lifeline of TPRM

To thrive in the ever-evolving realm of cybersecurity, you need to treat your TPRM program as a living, breathing entity—it’s something that grows. This means committing to both organic and inorganic investments that can grow along with you. Organic growth ensures that your program remains adaptive and flexible. It's about nurturing your existing capabilities and enhancing them to meet new challenges. Think of building better processes, integrating, and optimizing for efficiency across your investment.

Inorganic investments, on the other hand, expand your TPRM arsenal. It's about staying on the lookout for innovative tools, solutions, and technologies that can augment your program's capabilities and insights. For example, complementing vendor risk assessments with continuous monitoring to ensure third-party security controls align with your risk tolerance throughout the vendor lifecycle.  

As the threat landscape shifts, so do the needs of security leaders. And new tools and capabilities emerge as the landscape evolves. Such is the case of vulnerability and exposure management, both within the organization’s network and across its extended supply chain. A tool that fits your roadmap should have a history of, and commitment to, ongoing development and enhancement. 

At Bitsight, we do that through long lasting partnerships with customers, which allow us to keep a pulse on challenges and problems security leaders are looking to solve. One of our most recent enhancements, Third-Party Vulnerability Detection and Response, was launched to solve the constant struggle to understand and respond to zero day vulnerabilities that impact their vendor ecosystem. 

We’re continually hearing about the need for Shadow IT and better, more actionable insights into portfolio risk—two key areas of investment for our team as we look to help customers proactively manage risk to their business.

And to remain connected to our customers’ needs, we regularly host Customer Advisory Boards where we gather feedback, thoughts, insights, and suggestions to keep facilitating cyber risk management. 

Finding Tools and Technology for the Long Run

In the high-speed race of cybersecurity, not all tools and technologies are built to last. When choosing where to spend your budget, ask yourself: what vendors are investing in R&D and innovation? To secure your future, you need partners who can keep up when new threats emerge. Who can support your journey towards maturity and compliance. Who can not only solve today's problems—but also anticipate tomorrow's challenges.

When your solution aligns with your long-term roadmap, you minimize disruption because it's a natural extension of your existing security infrastructure. This seamless integration allows for a smoother transition and minimizes downtime.

To get there, start with a vision of where you want to take your TPRM program, and then find the vendors and solutions that can get you there. Don't be swayed by short-term gains; prioritize aligning with your long-term cyber risk management goals.

As you embark on the quest to find the right cybersecurity solution for your business, remember a few key principles:

• Centralization: A unified approach to cyber risk management streamlines your efforts and saves you from the constant upheaval of change management and training. Your team should focus on mitigating cyber risk, not managing a decentralized toolkit.
   
• Scalability: A tool that fits your long-term roadmap is typically designed to scale with your organization. It can adapt to changing requirements, whether it's an expanded vendor network, increased data volumes, or evolving compliance standards.
   
• Regulation Readiness: Compliance is non-negotiable. Because regulations are constantly evolving, you need flexible capabilities that can be mapped to regulatory requirements—such as independent benchmarking to comply with the SEC cyber risk disclosure guidelines, or continuous monitoring of ICT third parties to comply with DORA standards.
   
• Balanced Approach: Balance short-term needs with long-term goals. Identify areas where efficiency can save money and where innovation can boost your bottom line, in line with your organization’s goals. It's about playing the long-term game while making the short-term wins count.

Future-proofing your TPRM program is securing your tomorrow today. So choose wisely, and invest strategically.