Security and privacy at Vanta

Security is at the heart of what we do—helping our customers improve their security and compliance posture starts with our own.

Governance

Vanta’s Security and Privacy teams establish policies and controls, monitor compliance with those controls, and prove our security and compliance to third-party auditors.

Our policies are based on the following foundational principles:

01.

Access should be limited to only those with a legitimate business need and granted based on the principle of least privilege.

02.

Security controls should be implemented and layered according to the principle of defense-in-depth.

Security and Compliance at Vanta

Vanta maintains a SOC 2 Type II attestation and an ISO 27001 compliance certification. Our SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001 certificate are available on our Trust Center.

Vanta maintains compliance with

03.

Security controls should be applied consistently across all areas of the enterprise.

04.

The implementation of controls should be iterative, continuously maturing across the dimensions of improved effectiveness, increased auditability, and decreased friction.

Data protection

Data at rest

All datastores with customer data, in addition to S3 buckets, are encrypted at rest. Sensitive collections and tables also use row-level encryption.

This means the data is encrypted even before it hits the database so that neither physical access, nor logical access to the database, is enough to read the most sensitive information.

Data in transit

Vanta uses TLS 1.2 or higher everywhere data is transmitted over potentially insecure networks. We also use features such as HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) to maximize the security of our data in transit. Server TLS keys and certificates are managed by AWS and deployed via Application Load Balancers.

Secret management

Encryption keys are managed via AWS Key Management System (KMS). KMS stores key material in Hardware Security Modules (HSMs), which prevents direct access by any individuals, including employees of Amazon and Vanta. The keys stored in HSMs are used for encryption and decryption via Amazon’s KMS APIs.

Application secrets are encrypted and stored securely via AWS Secrets Manager and Parameter Store, and access to these values is strictly limited.

Product security

Penetration testing

Vanta engages with one of the best penetration testing consulting firms in the industry at least annually. Our current preferred penetration testing partner is Doyensec, one of the leading experts in GraphQL security.

All areas of the Vanta product and cloud infrastructure are in-scope for these assessments, and source code is fully available to the testers in order to maximize the effectiveness and coverage.

We make summary penetration test reports available via our Trust Center.

Vulnerability scanning

Vanta requires vulnerability scanning at key stages of our Secure Development Lifecycle (SDLC):

Static analysis (SAST) testing of code during pull requests and on an ongoing basis

Software composition analysis (SCA) to identify known vulnerabilities in our software supply chain

Malicious dependency scanning to prevent the introduction of malware into our software supply chain

Dynamic analysis (DAST) of running applications

Network vulnerability scanning on a
period basis

External attack surface management (EASM) continuously running to discover new external-facing assets

Enterprise security

Endpoint protection

All corporate devices are centrally managed and are equipped with mobile device management software and anti-malware protection. Endpoint security alerts are monitored with 24/7/365 coverage. We use MDM software to enforce secure configuration of endpoints, such as disk encryption, screen lock configuration, and software updates.

Vendor security

Vanta uses a risk-based approach to vendor security. Factors which influence the inherent risk rating of a vendor include:

Access to customer and corporate data

Integration with production environments

Potential damage to the Vanta brand

Once the inherent risk rating has been determined, the security of the vendor is evaluated in order to determine a residual risk rating and an approval decision for the vendor.

Secure remote access

Vanta secures remote access to internal resources using Tailscale, a modern VPN platform built on WireGuard. We also use malware-blocking DNS servers to protect employees and their endpoints while browsing the internet.

Security education

Vanta provides comprehensive security training to all employees upon onboarding and annually through educational modules within Vanta’s own platform. In addition, all new employees attend a mandatory live onboarding session centered around key security principles. All new engineers also attend a mandatory live onboarding session focused on secure coding principles and practices.

Vanta’s security team shares regular threat briefings with employees to inform them of important security and safety-related updates that require special attention or action.

Identity and access management

Vanta uses Okta to secure our identity and access management. We enforce the use of phishing-resistant authentication factors, using WebAuthn exclusively wherever possible.

Vanta employees are granted access to applications based on their role, and automatically deprovisioned upon termination of their employment. Further access must be approved according to the policies set for each application.