What Is Third-Party Intelligence?

Businesses today rely heavily on third parties, yet for many organizations, managing third-party risk is anything but effective.

A 2020 study by the Ponemon Institute found 55% of organizations have had a breach that originated from a third party, and only 29% believe their partners would notify them in the event of a compromise.

Traditional third-party risk assessments rely on point-in-time self-assessments, financial audits, or occasional status reports. All of these methods lack timely context, though. The static information they provide doesn’t tell the whole story, and that creates blind spots that leave decision-makers guessing.

The Solution Is Elite Third-Party Intelligence

To reduce the risk of data breaches and protect the organization, third-party risk management teams need a way to continuously monitor and understand the dynamic risk levels of every third party with whom they do business. Elite third-party intelligence from Recorded Future is different. It empowers you to make informed decisions about the companies in your organization’s supply chain and reduce risk at scale.

Definition of Third-Party Intelligence

So, what is third-party intelligence?

**Definition**: Third-party intelligence is precision security intelligence that reduces overall risk by providing real-time insights about the vendors and partner companies that make up your business ecosystem — including vulnerable technologies, domain abuse, threats targeting the organization and industry, and more.

Real-time alerts on company risk indicators instantly inform third-party risk management teams when a vendor experiences an issue — enabling fast, decisive action. Evidence-based risk scores for every company makes deep analysis easy to strengthen procurement due diligence and empower teams to continuously understand and mitigate the risks of doing business with a provider.

Get the ‘Security Intelligence Handbook’

Download the “Security Intelligence Handbook” to explore the impact of third-party risk on modern businesses, understand the limitations of static assessment methods, and see why real-time, automated third-party intelligence is the best way to fix any weak links in your supply chain.