ISC2 CISSP Practice Question

A third-party certification review is the most appropriate approach for evaluating entities outside of enterprise control, such as cloud service providers handling customer transaction data. This type of assessment is designed to examine vendors, service providers, and external partners that may access, process, or store organizational data without the organization having direct control over their security infrastructure.

Third-party certification reviews typically involve reviewing documentation like SOC 2 reports, ISO certifications, cloud security assessments, or conducting vendor questionnaires. This allows the financial institution to gain assurance about the provider's security practices and compliance status without requiring direct access to the provider's systems. Unlike internal assessments (which focus on systems within organizational control) or technical testing methods like penetration testing or security architecture reviews (which may not be permitted against provider environments), third-party assessments provide a structured approach to evaluating external security postures.