TPRM in the Age of AI
As organizations race to integrate AI into their workflows, the supply chain is becoming increasingly complex. Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) is no longer just about checking compliance boxes; it’s about understanding the deep-seated risks that AI vendors introduce.
From data privacy concerns to model poisoning and regulatory compliance (like the EU AI Act), the landscape is shifting.
In my experience executing over 500 risk assessments, I’ve seen that the biggest gap often lies not in the contracts, but in the technical evidence. Do your vendors actually encrypt data at rest and in transit? How do they manage secrets? operationalizing cryptographic governance is key.
The Shift to Continuous Monitoring
We need to move beyond questionnaires and towards continuous monitoring and technical validation. Security isn’t a point-in-time check; it’s a lifecycle.
Key questions to ask your AI vendors:
- Data Segregation: Is my data used to train your base models?
- Access Control: who has access to the inference logs?
- Incident Response: How quickly can you detect and notify us of a breach involving our data?
The future of TPRM is technical, real-time, and AI-aware.