Most organizations claim to manage third-party risk. Many are managing the appearance of it. As vendor ecosystems explode into the hundreds or thousands, risk programs remain stuck in checkbox mode, assessing a small subset of vendors while assuming the rest are “low risk.” The result is a dangerous gap between perceived oversight and real exposure, and attackers are increasingly exploiting it. In this session, we’ll break down why traditional third-party risk management models fail at scale, how process-driven programs create false confidence, and why “having a TPRM process” is no longer enough. Using real-world scenarios and fresh data, attendees will learn how vendor sprawl outpaces governance, where blind spots actually form, and what program maturity really looks like in practice. If you’re responsible for vendor risk, supply-chain resilience, or cyber governance, this session will challenge assumptions and change how you think about third-party risk.