Keeping a company’s data beyond the reach of hackers requires much more than defending its internal infrastructure. Organizations must also worry about the security of the cloud providers and other external parties with which they share their information, a challenge that RiskRecon Inc. is trying to alleviate.

To support its efforts, the Salt Lake City-based startup today raised a $12 million funding round led by Dell Capital. Other contributors include F-Prime Capital Partners, General Catalyst and former Akamai Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Paul Sagan. RiskRecon will use the money to spread the word about its namesake cloud service, which is described as a central hub for monitoring risks in an organization’s business ecosystem.

The startup provides insight into suppliers’ security practices by assessing the infrastructure that they expose to the web. According to RiskRecon, its platform determines how well a company protects key systems based on more than 50 factors including what kind of software they’re running and whether or not patches are up to date. The data gathered about each partner is then turned into a score designed to give an overall idea of their commitment to breach prevention.

RiskRecon says that the ratings produced by its platform are useful in several ways. First, they enable companies to identify suppliers with a weak security posture and bring issues to their attention. Second, the service provides the ability to check if a partner that has been notified of an issue is making progress on improving its security, which can help firms determine the best course of action. 

RiskRecon’s scores are likewise handy for evaluating any new suppliers that an organization might want to bring aboard. To help streamline the assessment process, the startup offers features for comparing a firm’s security against that of existing partners and industry best practices.

Today’s investment should put RiskRecon in a better position to compete with the other providers working to ease the management of third party risks. One of the startup’s biggest competitors is BitSight Technologies Inc., which picked up $40 million in funding last year from a consortium that included Comcast Corp. and several other backers.

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