Security analysts: real-time supply chain visibility is now reality

Still relying on point-in-time assessments and spreadsheet lists to monitor supply chain risk? You’re not alone – and the data reflects it.

72% of organisations still rely on spreadsheets to manage their TPRM programme. 70% of organisations cannot currently identify concentration risks. 73.2% of organisations lack full visibility into their nth party connections. 

In today’s interconnected world, your organisation's security is only as strong as an obscure nth party in your supply chain. But many security analysts lack the visibility and workflows needed to assess, detect, monitor and mitigate nth-party supply chain risks…until now. 
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How TPRM holds back security analysts

Today’s security analysts have been dealt an impossible hand: trying to defend against modern supply chain risks with outdated third-party risk management (TPRM) tools. 

TPRM does not provide nth-party visibility 

TPRM was built for a simpler world where suppliers were isolated entities that could be assessed periodically. But with today’s interlinked supply chain connections, a breach at one distant supplier can quickly work its way through the network to your door. For example, the Log4j cyber incident cascaded through 60% of corporate networks with 800,000 attacks in 72 hours. 

While supply chain risk has evolved, TPRM processes have stood still by only vetting your direct third-party relationships and ignoring the vast, invisible web of 4th, 5th, and nth parties that those suppliers rely on. This leaves you exposed to nth party vulnerabilities and hidden concentration risks (i.e. suppliers relying on the same SaaS provider), unprepared for cascading supply chain disruptions, and reactively dealing with incidents that could have been avoided with proactive mitigation.

The result? You’re blind to the real threats in your supply chain. 
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TPRM does not monitor fast-moving supply chain risks 

Traditional TPRM uses point-in-time questionnaires to assess supply chain threats, which quickly become outdated. A supplier’s security posture is fluid, not static, so relying on quarterly, biannual or annual assessments leaves you unaware of evolving risks in the interim. 

With TPRM, you have no knowledge of changing supplier relationships that could impact your organisation and no idea when a supplier’s risk profile changes. You only find out about a weakness after it’s been exploited - which is already too late. 

The result? You’re basing your supply chain security on guesswork, not real-time data. 
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How Active Supply Chain Security puts security analysts in the driver’s seat

TPRM’s static approach, limited visibility, and lack of collaboration are neither fit for purpose, nor fixable with incremental improvements. Instead, security analysts are moving toward a new approach: Active Supply Chain Security (ASCS). 

Active Supply Chain Security is the evolution of TPRM for the modern era: a new operating model for supply chain security, built on continuous visibility, shared intelligence, and systemic risk reduction across an interconnected ecosystem. 

The result? 

• You get visibility into concentration risks and nth-party dependencies. With full visibility over your supply chain and continuous monitoring of changing connections, you can easily pinpoint single points of failure, understand how supplier disruptions cascade through the ecosystem and take proactive action to mitigate risks before they become incidents. 
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• You see risks others can’t. By overlaying live threat intelligence across your supplier ecosystem, you identify supplier exposure (and cascading risks) earlier than traditional tools allow, so you know now what's happening before your suppliers tell you.
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• You demonstrate proactive risk management to your team lead. With network-level insights, community intelligence and compelling visualisation, you can inform your security leader about threats you’ve successfully mitigated, instead of threats you’re facing. 

Download our Security Analyst’s guide to ASCS
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From reactive firefighter to proactive leader with Active Supply Chain Security 

Active Supply Chain Security is more than just real-time supply chain visibility. From streamlining supplier onboarding and seamlessly collaborating with supply chain partners to finding out about emerging threats earlier and getting instant access to up-to-date supplier risk data, ASCS enables security analysts to focus on what matters most: understanding systemic risk, prioritising response, and strengthening resilience across the supply chain.

Find out how you can follow an ASCS approach at your organisation

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