A curated list of resources for the answerer's side of security questionnaires — the vendor or seller who has to fill one out.
Most security-questionnaire tooling on GitHub is built for the buyer / reviewer (third-party risk management). This list is the opposite: frameworks, response tools, trust-center tooling, templates, guides, and communities for the team that receives a SIG, CAIQ, or bespoke questionnaire and has to answer it — accurately, traceably, and fast.
- Frameworks & question banks
- Response tools & platforms (answerer-side)
- Compliance automation platforms (evidence sources)
- Trust centers & trust-page tooling
- Templates & starter answers
- Guides & how-to
- Communities
- Standards bodies & references
The standardized questionnaires, control matrices, and frameworks that vendors are most often asked to answer against.
- CSA CAIQ (STAR Level 1) - Cloud Security Alliance yes/no control questionnaire mapped to the Cloud Controls Matrix.
- CSA Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) - Cloud security control framework of 197 objectives across 17 domains that CAIQ answers map to.
- Shared Assessments SIG - Standardized Information Gathering questionnaire (Core and Lite) covering third-party risk control domains.
- Vendor Security Alliance (VSA) - Free VSA-Core and VSA-Full questionnaires published by a coalition of companies for vendor assessment.
- Google MVSP - Minimum Viable Secure Product, a vendor-neutral baseline checklist of controls to answer against, backed by Google, Okta, and others.
- ISO/IEC 27001 - International standard for information security management systems commonly referenced in questionnaires.
- SOC 2 (AICPA) - AICPA SOC suite and Trust Services Criteria underpinning the SOC 2 report vendors cite as evidence.
- NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) - NIST CSF 2.0 outcome-based framework used to structure security posture questions.
- NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 - NIST catalog of security and privacy controls referenced by many detailed questionnaires.
- NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 - NIST requirements for protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in nonfederal systems.
- NIST Privacy Framework - NIST voluntary framework for identifying and managing privacy risk, referenced in privacy questionnaires.
- CIS Critical Security Controls - Prioritized set of safeguards (v8.1) frequently cited when answering technical control questions.
- HECVAT (EDUCAUSE) - Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit for vendors selling to colleges and universities.
- PCI Security Standards Council - Home of PCI DSS and the Self-Assessment Questionnaires (SAQ) for cardholder-data environments.
- GDPR - Reference resource for the EU General Data Protection Regulation used to answer data-privacy questions.
- OWASP ASVS - Application Security Verification Standard listing web application security requirements to answer against.
- HITRUST CSF - Certifiable control framework harmonizing 60+ standards, common in healthcare and regulated vendor reviews.
Software that helps a vendor answer inbound security questionnaires from a reusable content or claim library.
- Loopio - RFP and security questionnaire response software with a searchable content library and auto-answer.
- Responsive (formerly RFPIO) - Response management platform for RFPs, security questionnaires, and buyer questions from curated content.
- Conveyor - AI platform that completes inbound security questionnaires and manages a customer trust center.
- Vanta Questionnaire Automation - Generates questionnaire answers from a knowledge base of security documentation for reviewer approval.
- Secureframe Trust - Combines a knowledge base, ML-assisted questionnaire answering, and a trust center.
- Whistic - Platform for publishing a security profile and responding to inbound vendor assessments.
- AccountMade - Builds decks and answers security questionnaires from one governed, source-traceable claim library.
- HyperComply - Questionnaire automation combining AI answers with human review; now part of SecurityScorecard.
- Skypher - AI agent that completes security questionnaires across spreadsheet, document, and portal formats.
- SecurityPal - Managed service pairing AI with analysts to answer security questionnaires and due-diligence questionnaires.
- Arphie - AI platform that drafts RFP and security questionnaire responses from a company knowledge base with source citations.
- AutoRFP.ai - AI response tool that generates RFP and security questionnaire answers from approved content.
- Inventive AI - AI agents that draft RFP and security questionnaire responses from a curated knowledge source.
- Iris - AI tool that generates security questionnaire and RFP answers from a knowledge base for reviewer approval.
- Workstreet - Managed service that completes security questionnaires and compliance work using experts and automation.
- TrustCloud TrustShare - Security assurance platform whose TrustShare module pre-fills customer questionnaires and hosts a trust page.
GRC and compliance-automation tools that produce the audit evidence and controls a vendor cites when answering.
- Vanta - Continuous compliance monitoring and evidence collection across SOC 2, ISO 27001, and other frameworks.
- Drata - GRC automation platform for continuous control monitoring and multi-framework compliance evidence.
- Secureframe - Compliance automation for SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and related frameworks with evidence collection.
- Sprinto - GRC platform automating compliance monitoring and audit readiness for growing companies.
- Thoropass - Combined compliance-automation platform and in-house audit for SOC 2, ISO 27001, and more.
- Hyperproof - GRC platform mapping evidence to controls across 160+ frameworks with audit and risk management.
- Anecdotes - GRC platform that collects and normalizes compliance evidence from 200+ connected systems.
- Scrut Automation - GRC automation platform for control monitoring and evidence collection across 60+ frameworks.
- OneTrust - Governance, risk, compliance, and privacy platform whose GRC modules can source controls and evidence.
Tools for publishing a self-service security posture page so buyers can review documents before sending a questionnaire.
- SafeBase (Drata Trust Center) - Trust center product, formerly SafeBase, for self-service access to security posture and documents.
- Vanta Trust Center - Hosted trust center with document access workflows and AI answers drawn from the trust content.
- Conveyor Trust Center - Self-service portal where prospects sign NDAs and download security documents like SOC 2 reports.
- Secureframe Trust Center - Customizable trust center publishing controls, FAQs, and documents with NDA-gated access.
- Sprinto Trust Center - Trust center that publishes live compliance status and security documents for prospect self-service.
- Whistic Profile / Trust Center - Publishable security profile shared via link or the Whistic exchange to enable zero-touch assessments.
- CSA STAR Registry - Public registry where cloud providers publish CAIQ self-assessments and third-party certifications.
Genuinely public repos, spreadsheets, and checklists that give answerers a starting point for a response library.
- Google VSAQ - Open-source (Apache 2.0) questionnaire framework with web app, privacy, and infrastructure templates; archived and read-only since 2022.
- Ericius Vendor_Security - CC-BY-SA vendor security questionnaire and review process with answer guidance.
- OWASP ASVS repository - Source repo for the Application Security Verification Standard with downloadable CSV and checklist formats.
- Loopio security questionnaire template - Free Excel template of 142 security assessment questions mapped to SIG, CAIQ, and VSAQ.
- VeriRFP security questionnaire template - Free reusable response template capturing question, control domain, owner, evidence source, draft answer, reviewer, and status.
- SaaS CTO Security Checklist - Prioritized security checklist for SaaS teams, useful as a baseline of controls to reference in answers.
Reputable articles on answering questionnaires, reducing turnaround, and building traceable evidence.
- UpGuard: What is CAIQ? - Explainer on the CAIQ, its structure, and how it maps to the Cloud Controls Matrix.
- UpGuard: Security questionnaire guide - Overview of what security questionnaires are and how to respond to them effectively.
- Vanta: Security questionnaires explained - Primer covering why vendors receive questionnaires, common topics, and how to answer them.
- TrustCloud: Ultimate security questionnaire guide for vendors - Vendor-focused walkthrough of understanding and completing security questionnaires.
- Hyperproof: Security questionnaire guide - Guide with tactical recommendations for completing security questionnaires more efficiently.
- Secureframe: SOC 2 vs security questionnaires - When a SOC 2 report can substitute for answering a full security questionnaire.
- Conveyor: AI agents for security questionnaires - How questionnaire-answering AI agents work across intake, drafting, and review, and how to evaluate them.
- NIST SP 1326: Due Diligence Quick-Start Guide - NIST guide on the minimum due-diligence rigor buyers apply to suppliers.
- Google Open Source: Scalable vendor security reviews - Google's writeup on open-sourcing VSAQ and templating vendor security reviews.
- HyperComply: How to choose questionnaire software - Criteria for evaluating security questionnaire automation tooling.
- Sprinto: AI tools for security questionnaires - Overview of questionnaire-automation tools and how they fit an answerer's workflow.
Forums and professional communities where practitioners discuss vendor security reviews and questionnaire answering.
- r/cybersecurity - General cybersecurity subreddit where vendor assessment and questionnaire topics recur.
- r/GRC - Subreddit focused on governance, risk, and compliance, including third-party risk and questionnaires.
- r/AskNetsec - Q&A subreddit for network and information security practitioner questions.
- r/sysadmin - Systems administration community where vendor security reviews are frequently discussed.
- r/ISO27001 - Subreddit for ISO/IEC 27001 implementation, certification, and evidence discussion.
- FAIR Institute - Not-for-profit community advancing quantitative cyber and operational risk management (FAIR model).
- IAPP - International Association of Privacy Professionals, relevant for privacy and data-protection questionnaires.
- ISACA - Professional association for IT audit, risk, and governance practitioners.
The authoritative organizations that publish the frameworks and questionnaires referenced above.
- Cloud Security Alliance - Publisher of the CAIQ, Cloud Controls Matrix, and STAR assurance program.
- Shared Assessments - Publisher of the SIG questionnaire and third-party risk management standards.
- AICPA & CIMA - Owner of the SOC suite and Trust Services Criteria behind SOC 2.
- NIST CSRC - NIST Computer Security Resource Center hosting CSF, SP 800-53, and related publications.
- ISO - International Organization for Standardization, publisher of ISO/IEC 27001 and related standards.
- OWASP Foundation - Nonprofit behind ASVS and other open application security standards.
- REN-ISAC - Research and education security center that co-maintains the HECVAT toolkit.
Contributions are welcome! Read the contribution guidelines first. Add resources for the answerer's side, with a real link and a neutral one-line description.