Principle Security Principle Security.

NCUA · Vendor Due Diligence

Their breach is your exam finding

Credit unions run on third parties: core processors, digital banking platforms, MSSPs, fintech integrations. NCUA expects documented, risk-tiered oversight of every one. Most credit unions have a spreadsheet; examiners want a program.

The expectation

Oversight that scales with criticality

NCUA guidance expects due diligence proportional to the relationship's risk: deep review for the core processor and anything touching member data, lighter touch for the landscaping contract. That means risk-tiering your vendor inventory, defining what evidence each tier requires (SOC reports, security questionnaires, financials, incident-notification terms), and reviewing on a schedule you can prove.

The 72-hour incident reporting rule raised the stakes: a substantial cyber incident at your provider can trigger your reporting obligation. Contracts and intake processes have to make sure you hear about vendor incidents fast enough to comply.

Our approach

A program your team can actually run

We inventory and tier your vendors, build the per-tier evidence requirements and review calendar, remediate the contract gaps that matter (notification clauses, right-to-audit, data handling), and stand up intake for vendor incidents. Then we size the ongoing operation to your staff, or run it for you through Resident Engineering.

How it runs

The engagement

Delivered fixed-scope, or operated continuously through our vCISO and Resident Engineering models.

What you get

  • Risk-tiered vendor inventory with per-tier evidence requirements
  • Review calendar with documented completions, examiner-ready
  • Contract gap analysis: incident notification, audit rights, data handling
  • Vendor incident intake wired to your 72-hour reporting process
  1. 01

    Inventory & tier

    Weeks 1–2

    Every third party catalogued and risk-tiered by data access and operational criticality.

  2. 02

    Evidence & calendar

    Weeks 3–4

    Per-tier requirements set; the review schedule built and backfilled for critical vendors.

  3. 03

    Contract remediation

    Weeks 4–8

    The clauses that matter fixed at renewal: notification windows, audit rights, data terms.

  4. 04

    Operate

    Ongoing

    Reviews execute on schedule with evidence filed, by your team or ours.

Your next exam is already on the calendar.

A 45-minute conversation tells you where you stand, and what to fix first.