Glossary
Security posture score
A security posture score is a synthetic indicator aggregating a vendor's assessment results — questionnaire answers, certifications, evidence provided, known incidents — to allow comparison and prioritisation across third parties.
A score is for triage, not for decisions
The score answers "which vendors should I look at first?", not "should we sign?". A well-rated third party that is the only provider of an essential activity is still a SPOF; a mid-rated one with no data access does not warrant an action plan. The meaningful reading always crosses score with criticality: the "critical and poorly rated" quadrant is what drives action.
Conditions for validity
Three requirements keep a score usable:
- Traceability: every point must map back to an identifiable answer or piece of evidence.
- Freshness: an undated score ages silently — a certificate expiry should move it.
- Stable scale: changing the weighting invalidates history and comparisons.
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