
New in Vanta | October 2022
This past month, we launched our enhanced Risk Management solution along with:
- Updates to Vanta Trust Reports
- Reintroduced Smart System Description
- Test SLAs for all tests
- Event Log tracking in Vanta
- Custom Tag support for Inventory management
Introducing our enhanced Risk Management solution

Vanta’s enhanced Risk Management solution is our latest automated offering based on the ISO 27005 risk assessment guidelines and methodology.
Risk Management makes it easy to assess and reduce risk and improve your security posture on a proactive, continuous basis. Organizations can enjoy a robust, yet simple, risk assessment process, faster audits, lowered labor costs, and accelerated revenue from timely compliance attestations or certifications.
Read the full story on Risk Management here
The enhanced Risk Management solution is accessible in a few ways:
• For new customers, visit the Risk Management page to try it out.
• For existing customers, to switch to the new module, please contact your Customer Success Manager.
More functionality for Vanta’s Trust Reports
In June, we introduced Trust Reports to further Vanta's work of moving security demonstration from point-in-time checks to continuous, transparent reporting. Since then, the response we have received from customers has been enthusiastic.
Now, you can create and share a public page and a custom domain to provide more transparency into your security posture.
You can also institute a flow that allows you to mark documents as private and approve access to certain viewers. You can even upload your NDA or add a text watermark to your PDFs to ensure that your customers and prospects–not your competition–get the information they need.
• Read the full story on Vanta Trust Reports here
• View and edit your Vanta Trust Report
Save time with Smart System Description

The System Description is a detailed overview of the scope of your SOC 2 report. It describes your company's product or service, approaches to security, and the controls you have in place to meet the standard.
Preparing this dozen-plus page document could take up to 15 hours and require you to go back and forth with your auditor—incurring more time and fees.
Vanta’s Smart System Description solves these challenges by walking you through 13 required sections to complete: including your service description, people, and data operations. Best of all, Vanta pre-populates parts of these sections based on your existing work in the platform. Smart System Description is available for all SOC 2 customers.
• Learn more about Smart System Description here
• View your Smart System Description on the Documents page
Updates to Test SLAs and Priority management
We've updated the way your team prioritizes and resolves failing tests in Vanta with a new “due soon” status based on your SLA remediation settings. This update allows your team to define a specific grace period in which to resolve failing tests.
SLA test deadlines represent a big shift in how Vanta helps you approach compliance—rather than focusing on whether or not a test has ever failed, Vanta makes it easy for you to know when a test has failed, how to remediate it, and will only mark the test as failed if it has not been resolved within its remediation deadline.
SLAs are available for every test and can be edited within the SLA Settings page.
• View our help article to learn more
• Visit your Tests page to get started
Event Log tracking in Vanta
Tracking user activity in Vanta is easy with our new event log functionality. You can find this helpful feature within your company drop-down menu. The event log tracks administrative activity, such as creating a user, approving a policy, or deactivating monitoring for a test.
Data modification is also tracked, such as when a new document has been uploaded or deleted. Vanta login activity is tracked for additional security.
• View the Event Log help article
Custom Tag support for inventory management

Vanta now supports custom tags for cloud resources. By doing a one-time mapping in the custom tags modal, you can set up Vanta to automatically detect and define your infrastructure based on your team’s existing tagging taxonomy.
For example, if your team uses the tag “owner” to define who’s responsible for a given resource, rather than using the Vanta tag “VantaOwner”, your team may continue to use your custom tag—as long as the mapping has been completed in Vanta. Access this time-saving feature from the Inventory page by clicking on the “Edit bulk tag” button.
• Learn more about Bulk tags, Vanta tags, and Custom tags here
Try it out
Log in to your Vanta account to try out these new features. For prospective customers, request a demo.
As always, we welcome your feedback. Let us know what you think by reaching out to your Customer Success Manager. Keep in touch on LinkedIn.

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PCI Compliance Selection Guide
Determine Your PCI Compliance Level
If your organization processes, stores, or transmits cardholder data, you must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), a global mandate created by major credit card companies. Compliance is mandatory for any business that accepts credit card payments.
When establishing strategies for implementing and maintaining PCI compliance, your organization needs to understand what constitutes a Merchant or Service Provider, and whether a Self Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) or Report on Compliance (ROC) is most applicable to your business.
Answer a few short questions and we’ll help identify your compliance level.
Does your business offer services to customers who are interested in your level of PCI compliance?
Identify your PCI SAQ or ROC level
The PCI Security Standards Council has established the below criteria for Merchant and Service Provider validation. Use these descriptions to help determine the SAQ or ROC that best applies to your organization.
Good news! Vanta supports all of the following compliance levels:
A SAQ A is required for Merchants that do not require the physical presence of a credit card (like an eCommerce, mail, or telephone purchase). This means that the Merchant’s business has fully outsourced all cardholder data processing to PCI DSS compliant third party Service Providers, with no electronic storage, processing, or transmission of any cardholder data on the Merchant’s system or premises.
Get PCI DSS certified
A SAQ A-EP is similar to a SAQ A, but is a requirement for Merchants that don't receive cardholder data, but control how cardholder data is redirected to a PCI DSS validated third-party payment processor.
Learn more about eCommerce PCI
A SAQ D includes over 200 requirements and covers the entirety of PCI DSS compliance. If you are a Service Provider, a SAQ D is the only SAQ you’re eligible to complete.
Use our PCI checklist
A Report on Compliance (ROC) is an annual assessment that determines your organization’s ability to protect cardholder data. If you’re a Merchant that processes over six million transactions annually or a Service Provider that processes more than 300,000 transactions annually, your organization is responsible for both a ROC and an Attestation of Compliance (AOC).
Automate your ROC and AOC
Download this checklist for easy reference
Questions?
Learn more about how Vanta can help. You can also find information on PCI compliance levels at the PCI Security Standards Council website or by contacting your payment processing partner.

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