Cynomi targets MSPs with new third-party risk push

Cynomi has released a new industry guide arguing that third-party risk management is a major commercial opportunity for managed service providers as supply chain attacks rise and compliance pressures increase.

Titled The Rise of Third-Party Risk Management: Securing the Modern Perimeter, the guide outlines a framework for MSPs that want to turn vendor risk oversight into a recurring security service. It positions third-party risk management (TPRM) as a growth area beyond user awareness and other "human risk" services.

Supply chain security has become a board-level issue for many organisations, driven by vendor sprawl and reliance on external software and service providers. Gartner predicts that 45 percent of organisations worldwide will experience attacks targeting their software supply chains. Separate industry research cited by Cynomi puts the share of data breaches involving third parties at 30 percent.

Regulatory pressure

Compliance requirements are also pushing companies toward more formal vendor governance. The guide points to assurance-driven frameworks and rules including SOC 2, HIPAA, CMMC, NIS2, ISO 27001 and DORA.

For MSPs, the shift can broaden security conversations with customers. Vendor risk oversight can include onboarding checks, ongoing reviews, control documentation, and executive-ready reporting. It typically complements incident response, security monitoring, and advisory work rather than replacing them.

Cynomi is pairing the publication with a limited-time offer: a Pro NFR licence that includes TPRM functions through June 30. NFR licences are commonly used by service providers for internal use and client demonstrations. Cynomi positions the offer as a way for providers to run their own vendor governance and demonstrate maturity during customer engagements.

Market growth

Forecasts suggest a growing market for vendor oversight tools and services. Research and Markets projects the global TPRM market will expand from $3.8 billion in 2024 to $7.18 billion by 2030-an 89 percent increase and a compound annual growth rate of about 11.2 percent.

Cynomi's pitch is that MSPs can turn a compliance requirement into a repeatable service line. Vendor oversight has historically relied on questionnaires, emails, and spreadsheets. Many MSPs have treated it as a consulting add-on because gathering evidence, reviewing responses, and maintaining records can be time-consuming.

Cynomi has built TPRM into its workflow tooling for MSPs, managed security service providers, and virtual CISO consultancies. The approach aims to move vendor reviews from ad hoc projects to a standardised process that can be applied across a client base.

Capabilities described include centralised vendor oversight across multiple clients, automated assessments and risk scoring, and mapping vendor risk to common frameworks. The platform also generates reporting for executives and governance stakeholders. Cynomi also highlights a shared vendor intelligence model that allows providers to reuse assessment information across multiple customers.

This shared approach can be attractive when many customers use the same SaaS suppliers, IT outsourcers, payroll platforms, or sector-specific software providers. In practice, MSPs still need to account for differences in customer context, data sensitivity, and contractual terms, even when the underlying vendor is the same.

David Primor, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO of Cynomi, said MSPs should treat the area as the next commercial wave in security services.

"Human risk became a breakout growth category for MSPs over the last several years. Third-party risk is next," Primor said. "Every organization today is deeply interconnected with a growing ecosystem of vendors, and with every new relationship, the attack surface expands in ways that are often invisible but increasingly consequential. The providers who standardize and scale third-party risk management won't just keep pace with this shift, they will define the next era of managed security services."

Partner view

MSP SlashBlue said it switched products to gain TPRM features and reduce manual work.

"We moved from a competing platform to Cynomi specifically because of its TPRM capabilities," said Dennis Boone, President of SlashBlue. "It eliminated our spreadsheets, reduced manual work, and the shared vendor model is a game-changer. We can assess a vendor once and scale that insight across multiple clients, saving time, resources, and money. The streamlined questionnaires actually get client engagement and give us a meaningful security baseline to measure third-party risk."

For MSPs building the service, operational questions often include how to price vendor reviews, how often to reassess suppliers, and how to handle remediation when a vendor does not meet a customer's requirements. Providers also need to decide which vendors qualify for review, since many customers use dozens or hundreds of third parties.

The guide outlines a staged approach to formalising a TPRM practice, from building an inventory of suppliers to standardising assessments and reporting. Cynomi expects demand to rise as customers face tighter scrutiny of their own supplier chains and greater expectations for evidence-based governance.