Vendor.Watch: a faster and more efficient way to audit, compare, and monitor your data processors
Go beyond self-reported credentials and written assurances with trusted risk signals and legal/technical reviews
We have now opened the vendor.watch access waitlist. Here’s a brief summary of the latest addition to our Toolbox.
What it does
vendor.watch is a faster and more efficient way to audit and better understand a company’s current and future data processors and the manner in which they expose it to potential vulnerabilities. Together with vendor-provided credentials and self-reported safeguards (via ad hoc or standardized forms), vendor.watch monitors risk signals through multi-source feeds and streamlines manual reviews by accredited professionals.
How it helps buyers (data controllers)
vendor.watch saves internal teams valuable time during the vetting or onboarding process for new suppliers, typically entailing a thorough analysis of vendor-provided documentation together with a due diligence effort identifying potential areas of risk or security vulnerabilities. Additionally, it surfaces hidden risks resulting from cross-vendor data flows and joint controllership scenarios.
How it helps vendors (data processors)
For their part, SaaS vendors can go far beyond the maintenance of a basic trust center (a commodity as of 2025), together with the most relevant security certifications (equally commonplace) by claiming their own profile and taking ownership of their live feed, acting on risk signals and further enriching their credentials beyond the obvious criteria that most parties have delegated to AI-driven automation (doing away with whatever level of differentiation or competitive advantage that they once could find in the maintenance of such basic documentation).
Advanced features
Data Protection Officers, Chief Privacy Officers, or Compliance professionals may need much more than search features, risk signals, or “vendor portfolio” views.
At a time when most GRC tools or “trust centers” handle scale through AI-powered automation (thus commoditizing the value of accreditations), we have found human intervention to be the most valued service in the review of third parties.
Masters of Privacy Premium subscribers can request tool comparisons, manual audits (legal/technical), and ad-hoc verifications (“manual verifications”) of various pieces of documentation like Data Processing Agreements, privacy policies, and contractual instruments underpinning international data transfers.
These can involve practicing attorneys with data privacy credentials in the relevant jurisdictions, or accredited privacy engineers. While a limited range of pre-defined tasks are bundled within this subscription (12 documents, 1 application/ year), controllers and processors alike can engage the professionals in our network to do further work or undertake more complex engagements. A previously negotiated hourly rate will apply to these additional services.
How do I access it?
Start by signing up to the vendor.watch waitlist with the same email address that you are using in your Masters of Privacy Connect or Premium subscription.
We are expecting to admit a first wave of Basic and Premium users in mid-November 2025.