theinnerauditor

Pre-emptive fraud risk assessments targeting client vendor security are increasingly receiving CFE attention. This is because in the past several years, sophisticated cyber-adversaries have launched powerful attacks through vendor networks and connections and have siphoned off money, millions of credit card records and customers’ sensitive personal information.

There has, accordingly, been a noticeable jump in those CFE client organizations whose counsel attribute security incidents to current service providers, contractors and to former partners. The evolution of targets and threats outside the enterprise are powerfully influencing the current and near-future of the risk landscape. CFEs who regard these easily predicted changes in a strategic manner can proactively assist their client’s security and risk leadership to identify new fraud prevention opportunities while managing the emerging risk. To make this happen enterprises require adequate oversight insight into vendor involved fraud security risk as part of a comprehensive cyber-risk management policy.

Few managements anticipated only a few years ago that their connectivity with trusted vendors would ever result in massive on-line exploits on sister organizations like retailers and financial organizations, or, still less, that many such attacks would go undetected for months at a time. Few risk management programs of that time would have addressed such a risk, which represents not only a significant impact but whose occurrence is also difficult to predict. Such events were rare and typically beyond the realm of normal anticipation; Black Swan events, if you will. Then, attackers, organized cyber-criminals and some nation-states began capturing news headlines because of high-profile security breaches. The ACFE has long told us that one-third (32 percent) of fraud survey respondents report that insider crimes are costlier or more damaging than incidents perpetrated by outsiders and that employees are not the only source of insider threat; insider threat can also include former employees, service providers, consultants, contractors, suppliers and business partners.

Almost 500 such retailer breaches have been reported this year alone targeting credit card data, personal information, and sensitive financial information. There has, accordingly, been a massive regulatory response.  Regulators are revisiting their guidelines on vendor security and are directing regulated organizations to increase their focus on vendor risk as organizations continue to expand the number and complexities of their vendor relationships. For example, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (0CC) and the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System have released updated guidance on the risk management of third-party relationships. This guidance signals a fundamental shift in how retail financial institutions especially need to assess third-party relationships. In particular, the guidance calls for robust risk assessment and monitoring processes to be employed relative to third-party relationships and specifically those that involve critical activities with the potential to expose an institution to significant risk. CFEs and other assurance professionals can proactively assist the counsels of their client enterprises to elevate their vendor-related security practices to keep pace with ever-evolving fraud threats and security risk associated with their client’s third-party relationships.

Vendor risk oversight from a security point of view demands a program that covers the entire enterprise, outlining the policy and guidelines to manage and mitigate vendor security risk, combined with clearly articulated vendor contracts negotiated by the corporate counsel’s function. Such oversight will not only help organizations improve cybersecurity programs but also potentially advance their regulatory and legal standing in the future. What insights can CFEs, acting proactively, provide corporate counsel?

First, the need for executive oversight. Executive alignment and business context is critical for appropriate implementation throughout the organization. Proper alignment is like a command center, providing the required policies, processes and guidelines for the program. The decision to outsource is a strategic one and not merely a procurement decision. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that executive committees provide direction for the vendor risk management program. The program can obtain executive guidance from:

–The compliance function to provide regulatory and other compliance requirements that have specific rules regarding vendor risk management to which the vendor organizations must adhere;

–The IT risk and control function to determine the risk and the risk level, depending on the nature of access/data sensitivity shared with the vendor(s). The vendor risk management program should utilize the key risk indicators provided by this function to address risk during vendor assessments;

–The contract governance function and corporate counsel to ensure that vendor contracts adequately address the need for security assessments and define vendors’ obligations to complete these assessments.

Most larger organizations today deal with a considerable amount of third parties and service providers. Missing contact information, responsibility matrices or updated contracts are typical areas of concern about which risk managers might have engaged CFEs initiate fraud risk assessments. This can pose a significant challenge, especially, when there are multiple teams involved to carry out the procurement business process. A vendor and contract database (VCD) ensures that an accurate and complete inventory of vendors is maintained, including other third-party relationships (e.g., joint ventures, utilities, business partners, fourth parties, etc.).

In effectively assessing a vendor risk management program, the CFE can’t conduct the same type of fraud risk assessment for all vendors. Rather, it’s necessary to identify those vendor services deemed to carry the greatest risk and to prioritize them accordingly. The first step is to understand which vendors and services are in the scope from an active fraud risk management perspective. Once this subset of vendors has been identified and prioritized, due diligence assessments are performed for the vendors, depending on the level of client internal versus vendor-owned fraud prevention and detection controls. The results of these assessments help establish the appropriate trust-level rating (TLR) and the future requirements in terms of CFE assisted reassessments and monitoring. This approach focuses resources on the vendor relationships that matter most, limiting unnecessary work for lower-risk relationships. For example, a vendor with a high TLR should be prioritized over a vendor with a low TLR.

Proper control and management of vendor risk requires continuous re-assessment. It’s important to decide the types of on-going assessments to be performed on vendors depending on the level of their TLR and the risk they represent.

Outsourced relationships usually go through iterations and evolve as they mature. As your client organizations strategize to outsource more, they should also validate trust level(s) in anticipation of more information and resources being shared. With technological advancements, a continuously changing business environment and increased regulatory demands, validating the trust level is a continuous exercise. To get the most rational and effective findings, it’s best to use the results of ongoing assessments. In such a reiterative process, it is necessary to continuously monitor and routinely assess vendors based on the trust level they carry. The program should share information about the vendor security posture and risk levels with corporate counsel or other executive sponsor, who can help the organization progress toward the target profile. Clearly communicating the fraud risk from a business perspective can be an additional feature, especially when reports are furnished to inform internal stakeholders, internal audit functions, lines of business and the board of directors, if necessary.

Vendor fraud risk management elevates information security from a technical control business process to an effective management business process. Regular fraud risk security assessments of vendors give organizations the confidence that their business is aware of the security risk involved and is effectively managing it by transferring, mitigating or accepting it. Comprehensive vendor security assessments provide enterprises with insight on whether their systems and data are being deployed consistently with their security policies. Vendor fraud risk management is not a mere project; it is an ongoing program and requires continuous trust to keep the momentum going. Once the foundational framework has been established, our client organizations can look at enhancing maturity through initiatives such as improving guidelines and procedures, rationalizing assessment questionnaires, and more automation. Awareness and communication are key to ensuring that the program is effective and achieves its intended outcome, securing enterprises together with all their business partners and vendors.