What is Know Your Vendor?

Know Your Vendor (KYV) due diligence assesses third‑party providers that touch your data, funds, or customer experience—ID proofing vendors, PSPs, data providers, couriers. If they’re the weak link, they become your breach, your fine, your churn. KYV should cover security and business diligence.

A KYV checklist that works: legal status and owners, security posture (SOC 2/ISO, pen tests, incident history), data‑processing locations, subcontractors, financial health, and exit/continuity plans. Look for artifacts to validate vendor claims, not just slides. If a vendor does identity proofing or sanctions screening, ensure that results plug into your identity verification or AML compliance workflows cleanly.

Contracts should have teeth—SLAs, audit rights, breach notice windows, deletion guarantees. Revisit annually, or on trigger events. KYV is tedious until it’s the day you need it.