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Managed Vendor Risk Management Services Australia
Every vendor, supplier, and technology partner your organisation connects with extends your attack surface. Third-party risk management is the structured discipline of identifying, assessing, and governing those connections before they become liabilities. CyberPulse delivers end-to-end vendor risk management programmes for Australian organisations, combining automated risk intelligence with expert advisory to give your team continuous visibility across the supply chain. As a result, your organisation moves from one-off vendor reviews to a proactive, audit-ready governance posture.
Trusted by leading Australian organisations
CyberPulse clients include Minter Ellison, Veolia, Sydney Roosters, Meshed and Nexigen Digital.
Security Partner of the Year 2026
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Why Third Parties Are Your Biggest Blind Spot
Most organisations invest heavily in internal security controls, yet overlook the risks introduced by the vendors and partners they rely on daily. Attackers exploit this gap. The Australian Signals Directorate puts it plainly in its Annual Cyber Threat Report 2024–25: an organisation’s supply chain can often be its weakest link, with malicious actors exploiting the trusted relationship between a vendor and its customer to steal information or deliver malware.
Third-party relationships introduce risk across three dimensions: operational continuity, data exposure, and regulatory compliance. A supplier with poor security hygiene can undermine your ISO 27001 programme, expose regulated data under the Privacy Act 1988, or create direct liability under APRA CPS 234 if you are operating in financial services.
Furthermore, as organisations adopt more SaaS platforms and outsourced services, the number of third-party connections grows faster than most internal teams can manually review. Consequently, organisations without a structured third-party risk management programme are effectively managing these risks blind.
Managed Vendor Risk Management: We Run the Programme, You Keep the Decisions
A tool gives you a dashboard and leaves the work with your team. A managed service does the work. We operate your third-party risk programme end to end and bring your team the decisions that need making, with the evidence behind each one.
Managed vendor risk management is an outsourced service in which a provider operates your third-party risk programme on your behalf, covering vendor discovery, tiering, assessment, continuous monitoring and reporting, while your organisation retains risk acceptance and accountability. It differs from vendor risk software, which supplies the platform but leaves the assessment work to your internal team.
We run the programme
Vendor discovery and tiering, assessment execution, chasing evidence from vendors, scoring, remediation follow up and board reporting all sit with us. You are not handed a licence and a login.
You keep the decisions
You approve vendor tiers, accept or reject residual risk, and set remediation deadlines. Governance and accountability stay inside your organisation, which is what regulators expect to see.
Your team stops chasing
No questionnaire chasing, no spreadsheet register drifting out of date, no scramble to assemble evidence before an audit. Your people spend their time on the vendors that actually carry risk.
Free automated assessment Pick one vendor. We will assess it and send you the report. ✓ An external exposure scan, run on our own platform ✓ Every finding shown with its evidence and what it means ✓ States what it does not cover, so you can rely on what it does ✓ No questionnaire for you or the vendor to complete ✓ In the managed service an analyst also reviews every finding and the vendor’s evidence | Request your assessment |
Assessments Built on Evidence, Not Assertions
A questionnaire records what a vendor says about itself, which is a claim, not proof. Our assessments start from what can be observed and verified independently, then use the questionnaire to reach what observation cannot. An analyst reviews both before anything is rated.
Observed before asserted
Each vendor gets an external exposure scan: what they expose to the internet, verified from outside their perimeter rather than taken on trust from a questionnaire.
Unverified claims do not move the score
A vendor asserting a control is not evidence that the control exists. Where a claim cannot be corroborated it is recorded as unverified and treated as a gap, never counted as a control in place.
Every finding carries its proof
Each finding shows where the evidence came from and what it means for your organisation in plain terms. Your team and your certification body can follow the reasoning rather than accept a number.
The assessment states its own limits
Each report sets out what it does not cover. A clean external result is never presented as a full security review, which is what makes the rating safe to rely on in a board paper.
The platform observes. Our analysts decide.
We built the platform rather than reselling a ratings feed, for one reason: a rating is only as good as the link between a finding and the organisation it belongs to. Ours only draws on sources that can be tied to a domain you have confirmed, so nothing enters a score that we cannot attribute. What the platform does not do is decide what a finding means for your business. Questionnaire responses, the evidence a vendor supplies and the platform’s own results are all reviewed by an analyst before they reach your risk register. Automation is what makes this work across a large vendor estate. It is not what decides your risk. You get access to a vendor risk portal holding your register, the findings and their status, and the evidence behind any finding is available when you or your auditor need it.
In-House, Ratings Tool, or Managed: How the Three Compare
Most organisations arrive at vendor risk management from one of two directions: an internal team running spreadsheets, or a ratings subscription that scores domains but does not do the work. Here is how each compares with a managed programme.
| In-house team | Ratings tool only | CyberPulse managed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vendor discovery and tiering | Manual, and usually incomplete because shadow vendors are missed | Only covers domains you already know to add | We load your vendor list, usually by CSV, tier by data access and criticality, and sometimes surface vendors you are not assessing |
| Assessment execution | Your team writes, sends and reviews every questionnaire | Not included, the tool scores but does not assess | We run the assessments and chase the vendor for evidence |
| Basis of the rating | Vendor self-attestation, taken largely on trust | External signals, with findings sometimes matched to an organisation by name | Externally observed evidence tied to a confirmed domain and reviewed by an analyst, with unverified claims excluded from the score |
| Continuous monitoring | Rare, most registers are reviewed annually at best | Yes, this is the core strength of a ratings tool | Yes, with a person reviewing what the alert actually means for you |
| Remediation follow-up | Competes with everything else on your team's list | Not included | We drive it and report on the progress |
| Audit evidence | Assembled under pressure before each audit | Score history only, which auditors rarely accept alone | Maintained continuously and mapped against your required compliance obligations |
| Where the workload sits | Entirely with your team | Entirely with your team | With us, apart from the decisions that must stay yours |
CyberPulse Approach to Third Party Risk Management
Our programme is structured around four phases, designed to deliver measurable outcomes at each stage rather than generating reports that sit unread.
Vendor Discovery and Tiering
We start from your current vendor list, usually loaded from a CSV export of your supplier or finance records. Each vendor is tiered by data access level, operational criticality, and inherent risk profile. Where your programme runs on our platform, it will sometimes surface vendors you are not currently assessing. It will not find everything, and we will not claim otherwise. This tiering forms the foundation for prioritised assessment rather than blanket reviews that consume more resource than they return.
Risk Assessment and Due Diligence
We deploy structured risk questionnaires aligned to ISO 27001 controls A.5.19 to A.5.23, NIST SP 800-161, and APRA CPS 234 requirements. Assessments are supplemented by continuous external monitoring on our own exposure management platform, giving your team a live view of vendor posture rather than a point-in-time snapshot. Where your organisation requires ISO 27001 audit readiness, vendor controls are documented in formats your certification body will accept directly.
Risk Scoring, Triage, and Remediation
Each vendor receives a customisable risk score based on threat severity, data sensitivity, and business criticality. High-risk vendors are escalated for targeted remediation support, including contractual clauses, security uplift requirements, and exit planning where necessary. Your internal team receives clear remediation workflows integrated into your existing GRC or ticketing tooling.
Ongoing Monitoring and Reporting
Risk does not stop after the initial assessment. We provide continuous monitoring via real-time alerts, scheduled vendor reviews, and portal dashboards that give your risk team an always-current view of supply chain exposure. Our managed compliance services can absorb the ongoing programme management entirely, freeing your team to focus on remediation rather than administration.
What You Receive
Every managed engagement produces the same set of artefacts, so your team, your executive and your auditor are all working from the same record.
A vendor risk portal
Your register in one place, every vendor tiered by data access, operational criticality and inherent risk, kept current rather than rebuilt each year.
An assessment report per vendor
Each finding stated with its evidence, what it means in plain language, and the control required to close it.
Monitoring alerts that are triaged
Changes in a vendor's external posture are reviewed by an analyst before they reach you, so you receive what matters rather than raw noise.
Executive and board reporting
Where supply chain exposure moved, which vendors drove it, and what was closed since the last review. Board reporting is normally batched to your governance cycle, so it lands when your committee actually meets rather than on a calendar of ours.
An audit evidence pack
Vendor controls mapped against the compliance obligations your organisation actually carries, in formats a certification body accepts directly.
A remediation tracker
Open items, owners and deadlines, with the follow-up run by us and visible to your risk team in the portal.
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Third Party Risk Management Service Features
Automated External Risk Ratings
Our own exposure management platform continuously monitors third-party exposures across your digital supply chain, with every finding traceable to the evidence behind it.
Streamlined Vendor Due Diligence
Via integrated risk questionnaires and posture validation aligned to frameworks like ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, and GDPR.
Customisable Risk Scoring and Triage
To prioritise vendor remediation based on threat severity, data access level, and business criticality.
Integrated Compliance Mapping
Ensuring third-party controls align with regulatory obligations and internal risk policies.
Real-Time Alerts and Reporting Dashboards
Enabling risk teams to track changes in vendor posture and respond proactively to emerging threats.
Audit-Ready Evidence Collection
That automates documentation workflows for vendor reviews, accelerating compliance processes and reducing manual overhead.
Australian Regulatory Context
Third-party risk is addressed explicitly in the frameworks most relevant to Australian organisations. Which of these binds you depends on your sector, but most organisations of any size are covered by at least one.
APRA CPS 230
APRA CPS 230 Operational Risk Management took effect on 1 July 2025 and replaced CPS 231 Outsourcing. It requires APRA-regulated entities to identify their material service providers, keep a register of them, manage the risks those arrangements carry, and hold service agreements that meet the standard. Transitional arrangements for agreements already in place ran to 1 July 2026. CPS 230 sits alongside CPS 234 rather than replacing it: CPS 230 governs the arrangement, CPS 234 governs the information security capability behind it.
APRA CPS 234
APRA CPS 234 requires APRA-regulated entities to assess and, where possible, test the information security controls of material service providers, and to maintain the right to audit them. Failure to demonstrate third-party oversight is a direct compliance exposure, separate from any breach that follows.
ISO 27001:2022
ISO 27001:2022 addresses supplier relationships in Annex A controls A.5.19 to A.5.23. These require documented supplier policies, information security clauses inside supplier agreements, security across the ICT supply chain, ongoing monitoring and review of supplier service delivery, and specific controls for the use of cloud services. The 2013 edition covered the same ground under Annex A.15, which is the numbering still quoted in many older policies. These controls are assessed during certification audits and must be evidenced, not simply stated.
The Privacy Act 1988
The Privacy Act 1988 makes you accountable for the vendors that handle personal information on your behalf. Australian Privacy Principle 11 requires you to protect that information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access. Australian Privacy Principle 8 goes further: where you disclose personal information to an overseas recipient and that recipient mishandles it, you are treated as having breached the principles yourself. Eligible data breaches must be notified to the OAIC and to affected individuals under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, whether the breach occurred in your systems or in a vendor’s.
The SOCI Act
The Security of Critical Infrastructure Act requires responsible entities for critical infrastructure assets to maintain a Critical Infrastructure Risk Management Program. That program must take an all-hazards approach across four vectors: cyber and information security, personnel, physical security and natural hazards, and supply chain. Supply chain hazard is named explicitly, so third-party and managed service provider risk is a program obligation rather than an optional extra.
The ASD Essential Eight
The ASD Essential Eight does not address third-party risk directly. However, application control and patch management controls are frequently compromised through third-party software and service providers, so a structured vendor risk programme reduces the surface area through which these controls can be bypassed.
Who Needs Third-Party Risk Management in Australia
Third-party risk governance is a regulatory requirement, not simply good practice, across several Australian sectors.
APRA-regulated entities under CPS 234 must assess the information security capability of all material service providers. ISO 27001:2022 requires documented controls across supplier relationships under Annex A.5.19 to A.5.23. Government contractors handling sensitive data must demonstrate supply chain risk oversight as part of IRAP and Essential Eight assessments.
In practice, organisations that benefit most from a structured programme include:
Financial services firms with critical outsourcing arrangements subject to CPS 234 oversight. Legal firms managing client data across cloud platforms and third-party document systems. Utilities and infrastructure operators with OT/IT integration points and supply chain dependencies. Enterprise organisations seeking ISO 27001 certification, where the A.5.19 to A.5.23 supplier controls must be evidenced.
CyberPulse’s compliance audit and advisory services integrate vendor risk governance directly into your broader compliance programme, so your third-party controls satisfy multiple frameworks simultaneously.
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What They Say About Us
The managed service model delivers that, while freeing my team from the bulk of compliance coordination effort and lifting the quality of both controls and supporting evidence. The outcome is a programme with the capacity to mature further and to take on new certification frameworks proactively, ahead of client and regulatory triggers.
What stands out is the depth of expertise. CyberPulse brings real command of the standards and the threat landscape, and applies it with judgement rather than box-ticking. Year on year they strengthen our security and compliance maturity and give leadership confidence that risk is genuinely understood, not just documented.
CyberPulse gave us clarity we didn't have before, not just on where we stood but a practical path forward. The roadmap they delivered has become the foundation of how we think about security investment.
Their guidance was practical, clear, and always grounded in what actually mattered for our business. They didn't just help us tick boxes; they helped us build a security posture we're genuinely proud of. If you're serious about enterprise-grade security, I can't recommend CyberPulse highly enough.
CyberPulse didn't just help us build an ISMS; they helped us build a more resilient business. Their practical approach ensured that every control we implemented serves a real purpose and has a positive, tangible impact on our daily operations.
Blogs & Guides
View all articles →FAQ – Third Party Risk Management Services
What is third-party risk management?
Third-party risk management is the process of identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks introduced by vendors, suppliers, contractors, and service providers that have access to your systems, data, or operational processes. In Australia it is a formal requirement under APRA CPS 230 and CPS 234 for regulated entities, and under ISO 27001:2022 controls A.5.19 to A.5.23 for certified organisations.
How does APRA CPS 234 apply to third-party vendors?
CPS 234 requires APRA-regulated entities to assess the information security capability of any service provider whose failure could materially affect the entity. This includes documenting controls, testing capabilities where feasible, and maintaining the right to audit third parties.
What is included in a vendor risk assessment?
A vendor risk assessment covers what can be observed independently and what the vendor can evidence. CyberPulse begins with an external exposure scan of the vendor. An analyst then reviews contractual security obligations, data handling practices and certifications such as ISO 27001 or SOC 2, using a questionnaire to reach what observation cannot. Claims that cannot be corroborated are recorded as unverified rather than counted as controls in place.
How often should vendor risk assessments be conducted?
High-risk and critical vendors should be reviewed annually as a minimum, with continuous automated monitoring in between. Lower-tier vendors can be reviewed on an 18 to 24 month cycle. Regulatory changes or significant vendor incidents should trigger out-of-cycle reviews regardless of schedule.
How does third-party risk management support ISO 27001 certification?
ISO 27001:2022 requires documented supplier policies, security obligations inside supplier agreements, ICT supply chain controls and evidence of ongoing supplier monitoring, under Annex A controls A.5.19 to A.5.23. A structured third-party risk management programme provides the documented evidence your certification body requires across all five controls.
What is managed vendor risk management?
Managed vendor risk management is an outsourced service in which a provider operates your third-party risk programme on your behalf. That covers vendor discovery and tiering, running the assessments, chasing evidence from vendors, continuous monitoring, remediation follow-up and reporting. Your organisation keeps risk acceptance decisions and remains accountable to its regulator. It differs from vendor risk software, which provides a platform but leaves the assessment work with your internal team.
Does APRA CPS 230 change what we have to do about vendors?
Yes. CPS 230 Operational Risk Management took effect on 1 July 2025 and replaced CPS 231 Outsourcing. It requires APRA-regulated entities to identify and register their material service providers, manage the risks of those arrangements, and hold service agreements that meet the standard. Transitional arrangements for pre-existing agreements ran to 1 July 2026. CPS 234 still applies to the information security capability of those providers, so most regulated entities need to evidence both.
Which ISO 27001 controls cover suppliers?
In ISO 27001:2022 the supplier controls are Annex A.5.19 information security in supplier relationships, A.5.20 addressing information security within supplier agreements, A.5.21 managing information security in the ICT supply chain, A.5.22 monitoring, review and change management of supplier services, and A.5.23 information security for use of cloud services. The 2013 edition covered similar ground under Annex A.15, which is why older policies still reference that numbering.
How is a managed service different from a vendor risk rating tool?
A ratings tool scores domains you add to it and alerts you when a score moves. It does not decide which vendors matter, run the assessment, obtain evidence from the vendor, judge what a finding means for your business, or pursue remediation. A managed service does all of that and gives you the rating as one input rather than the answer. Organisations that buy a tool alone commonly find the workload has not moved, it has only become more visible.
Do you use your own platform?
Yes. CyberPulse runs vendor monitoring and scoring on its own exposure management platform. It draws only on sources that can be tied to a domain you have confirmed, so a finding is never attributed to the wrong organisation, and every finding carries the evidence behind it. The platform does the collection and the monitoring; an analyst reviews the results, the questionnaire responses and the vendor’s evidence before a rating is issued. Where a client already owns a ratings subscription, CyberPulse takes its output into account rather than asking you to duplicate the spend.
What does a vendor risk assessment cost?
Cost is driven by the number of vendors in scope and how many sit in the top tier, because tier one vendors need evidence review rather than an external scan alone. Most programmes start with a discovery and tiering exercise so the scope is based on your real vendor estate rather than an estimate. CyberPulse can size a programme on a short call.
Is an external scan enough to assess a vendor?
No, and any assessment that claims otherwise should be treated with caution. An external scan shows what a vendor exposes to the internet, which is strong evidence of security hygiene, but it says nothing about internal controls, staff practices or how data is handled once it is inside the vendor. CyberPulse reports state explicitly what the assessment does not cover, so a clean external result is never mistaken for a full security review.
What happens if a vendor will not co-operate with the assessment?
The external assessment does not require the vendor to participate, so you still get an evidence-based view of their exposure. Co-operation matters for what observation cannot reach, such as internal controls, policies and certification evidence. Where a vendor declines, that gap is recorded as unverified and put to your organisation as a risk decision rather than quietly scored as acceptable. For a material vendor, refusing to evidence controls is itself a finding worth taking to your risk committee.
Can you help build our CPS 230 material service provider register?
Yes. APRA CPS 230 requires regulated entities to identify their material service providers and maintain a register of them. The discovery and tiering phase of a CyberPulse programme produces that register from your current vendor list, usually loaded by CSV, and tiers each provider by data access and operational criticality so that materiality decisions are evidenced rather than asserted. Where the programme runs on our platform it will sometimes surface vendors you were not assessing, though no tool finds every one.
Do you replace our existing GRC or ticketing tools?
No. Remediation workflows are delivered into the GRC or ticketing tooling your team already uses, so vendor risk work sits in the same queue as the rest of your security programme rather than in a separate system nobody checks. Where an organisation already owns a vendor ratings subscription, CyberPulse takes its output into account rather than asking you to duplicate the spend.
Is your assessment automated or done by people?
Both, and the split matters. The platform does the collection: external observation of the vendor, continuous monitoring, and consistent scoring of what it finds. Analysts do the judgement: reviewing the questionnaire responses, checking the evidence a vendor supplies, deciding what a finding actually means for your business, and reviewing the rating before it reaches your risk register. Automation is what makes this possible across a large vendor estate. It is not what decides your risk. A service that is purely automated is a ratings tool with an invoice attached.
From Blind Risk to Measurable Assurance
CyberPulse gives you the visibility, structure, and intelligence to govern third-party risk at scale. Whether you are building a programme from scratch or maturing an existing one, our advisors work alongside your team to deliver outcomes that satisfy regulators, auditors, and executive stakeholders.