Nth Party Risk typifies “the fear of the unknown”: you cannot see them, you do not have visibility into how they operate, but you sense their lurking forms out in the interconnected world that supports your bottom line. H.P. Lovecraft (American poet influenced by Edgar Allen Poe) wrote “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” 

Supply chain challenges faced during the pandemic could be alleviated with a better sense of your Nth parties. We’ve asked experts in TPRM for their advice on the one thing TPR managers can do to manage Nth party risk.  Read on for a timeline of tips to use throughout the risk management process. These tips will help you understand the risk you are dealing with in regard to the vendors of your vendors.  

Under “Inventory” in the list above, Linnea Solem furthered her tip by suggesting organizations use the free Target Data Tracker tool to track exactly how data is being stored, shared and used. This tool helps with privacy governance obligations as it identifies, tracks and documents the use of personal information. Who do your vendors share data with?