Integrations are the foundation of automation in Vanta. By connecting your tools and systems, you enable Vanta to continuously collect evidence, monitor controls, and alert you when something falls out of compliance automatically. This turns manual, time-consuming work into real-time insight and gives you a living view of your compliance and security posture.
How Integrations Power Your Compliance Program
When you connect your services to Vanta, you’re building the foundation of your compliance house. Each connection strengthens your security framework and fills in the picture of where risks or gaps may exist.
Vanta integrations act like a live gap assessment, continuously scanning your systems and mapping evidence back to compliance frameworks. Instead of waiting for an auditor to identify issues once a year, you see your compliance posture update in real time. As you resolve failed tests or gaps, your dashboard reflects progress toward full compliance, no spreadsheets required.
The more integrations you connect, the more accurate your automated monitoring becomes. Think of each connection as another layer of visibility into your organization’s security health.
Is Connecting to Vanta Secure?
Let's address the question that's probably on your system owners' minds: "Is this secure?" The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that Vanta's integrations are built with security as our top priority. Here’s what you can share with your team:
Key Security Principles
Principle of Least Privilege: Integrations only request the minimum permissions required, most commonly read-only access.
Secure Encryption: All credentials, API keys, and tokens are encrypted both in transit and at rest, ensuring your sensitive information is always protected.
Dedicated Service Accounts: Use single-purpose service accounts for integrations to maintain a clear audit trail and simplify permission management.
Communicating with System Owners
To make it easy to request integrations from your team, you can use the email template below:
Subject: Connecting [SYSTEM NAME] to Vanta for our Security Program
Hi Team,
As part of our company's goal to achieve [SOC 2, ISO 27001, etc.], we are using Vanta to automate our compliance and security monitoring. I need your help to connect our [SYSTEM NAME] account to the platform.
Why this helps: This integration replaces the need for manual evidence collection, like screenshots and spreadsheets. It allows Vanta to automatically and continuously verify our security settings via a secure, read-only connection built with the principle of least privilege. This saves us dozens of hours, provides stronger evidence to our auditors, and helps us achieve our compliance goals faster—a key priority for the business.
The ask: The setup is quick and follows security best practices. You can read about the integration here: [PASTE VANTA HELP CENTER LINK]. Let me know if you have a few minutes to connect this week. Thanks!
P.S. Quick heads-up: When I add you to Vanta to grant permissions, you'll receive an automated welcome email from the platform. Please feel free to disregard it for now—I’ll be in touch to coordinate the next steps with you directly.
Please note: Before your colleagues can connect their systems, you may need to add them as users in Vanta and grant them the right permissions. When added manually, they’ll receive an automated welcome email from Vanta. We recommend giving them a quick heads-up before adding them.
A Recommended Integration Roadmap
We've guided thousands of companies through this process, and to help you prioritize, we recommend this phased approach. As you connect your systems, you'll see Vanta's automation come to life through two core GRC features: Tests and Access.
Think of a test as a 24/7 automated check of a specific security setting—like ensuring MFA is enabled—that generates live, audit-ready evidence when it passes. Vanta’s Access page helps you keep track of who has access to what.
Your IdP integration provides the "who" (the employee list), and every other system you connect provides the "what." By connecting both, Vanta gives you a single, unified view of user access across your key systems, dramatically simplifying access management and evidence gathering. With that in mind, here is a proven path to success:
Phase 1: The Foundation
Start with your Cloud Service Provider (CSP) and Identity Provider (IdP). These two integrations provide the most significant immediate value by securing your core infrastructure and defining your employee and cloud compute scope, instantly activating a large portion of Vanta's monitoring capabilities.
Category: Cloud Service Provider (CSP)
Examples: AWS, Google Cloud, Azure
Your cloud environment represents the heart of your audit scope. Integrating your CSP with Vanta provides immediate visibility into how your production environment is configured and ensures your infrastructure meets key security standards.
Key Vanta Features Unlocked
Continuous Monitoring: Automatically verifies key configurations such as encryption, access restrictions, and logging.
Real-Time Asset Inventory: Keeps an always-updated list of cloud assets visible under Assets > Inventory.
Automated Evidence Collection: Collects and maintains evidence for infrastructure and application controls required by frameworks like SOC 2 and ISO 27001.
Simplified Access Reviews: Makes it easy to verify who has access to your production environment.
Common Questions and Vanta’s Approach
“We have a complex cloud setup with multiple AWS accounts or Azure subscriptions. What’s the best way to connect everything?”
That’s a very common setup, and Vanta is built to handle it. For the most efficient and comprehensive coverage, we recommend connecting Vanta at the highest management level available in your cloud provider—an AWS Organization, Azure Tenant, or GCP Organization.
This “org-level” approach allows Vanta to automatically discover all the member accounts or subscriptions within that structure. It saves you from connecting each account individually and ensures that new accounts added later are automatically included.
However, if you prefer more granular control, or want to begin with a smaller scope, you can also connect individual AWS accounts or Azure subscriptions one by one. Vanta gives you full flexibility. Note that for Google Cloud, connections must be made at the Organization level to ensure complete visibility.
“Our team manages all cloud resources using Infrastructure as Code (IaC). Do we have to set up the integration manually in the AWS Console?”
Not at all. Vanta is designed to integrate seamlessly into existing workflows. Many teams prefer not to rely on “click-ops” in the cloud console and instead use automated deployment tools like Terraform or CloudFormation.
To support this, Vanta provides dedicated CloudFormation and Terraform templates for provisioning the IAM roles and permissions required for the integration. This method keeps your setup automated, repeatable, and version-controlled—aligned with how your engineering team already manages infrastructure.
“We have many different environments. Can we limit Vanta’s monitoring to only our in-scope production assets?”
Absolutely. Vanta provides full scoping flexibility so you can choose which infrastructure assets to synchronize. You can use bulk tagging in your CSP to label resources for inclusion or exclusion, and you can scope by compliance framework within Vanta.
For example, you might designate certain resources as in-scope for SOC 2 while excluding them from ISO 27001 monitoring. This lets you maintain fine-grained control over your compliance coverage.
“Will Vanta have access to our proprietary data, like the contents of our storage buckets?”
This is a common concern—and the answer is no. Vanta reads only metadata and configuration settings from your CSP to verify compliance, such as checking whether encryption is enabled on a storage bucket or whether audit logging is active.
Vanta never accesses, reads, or stores the contents of your systems or customer data. Access permissions are scoped strictly to what’s needed for compliance verification.
“How will Vanta’s API calls impact our monthly cloud bill?”
Vanta’s architecture is optimized for lightweight, periodic API calls that minimize load and cost. In most cases, the cost impact is negligible—often below a rounding error in your monthly statement.
Compared to the significant engineering time saved through automation, the tradeoff is overwhelmingly positive. The continuous, real-time evidence gathering that Vanta provides replaces hundreds of hours of manual effort per audit cycle.
Category: Identity Provider (IdP)
Examples: Okta, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365
Your IdP is your single source of truth for user accounts and access permissions. Integrating it ensures every account in your organization is traceable, properly onboarded, and offboarded on time—eliminating one of the biggest audit risks: lingering access for former employees.
Key Vanta Features Unlocked
Defines your employee list for all personnel-based tests.
Detects and flags accounts still active after termination.
Automates access review workflows by syncing accurate user data.
Enables centralized visibility under Personnel > People.
Please note: Integrating your IdP is not the same as enabling Single Sign-On (SSO). SSO setup requires additional steps within your IdP.
Common Questions and Vanta’s Approach
“How should we handle contractors or other non-full-time employees?”
The best practice is to establish clear groups for different user types within your IdP before connecting. This allows you to easily include or exclude groups from scope, ensuring accurate monitoring.
“Our HRIS tracks more accurate start and end dates—can Vanta use both?”
Yes. Vanta can combine IdP data with your HRIS integration for a unified, accurate view of your employee lifecycle.
Phase 2: Endpoint and Code Security
Next, connect your Mobile Device Management (MDM) and Version Control System (VCS). This layer secures your employee devices and your software development lifecycle, automating evidence collection where it counts.
Category: Mobile Device Management (MDM)
Examples: Jamf, Kandji, Microsoft Intune, Hexnode
Every laptop, desktop, or mobile device used by your employees is an endpoint that can access sensitive data. Securing these endpoints is one of the most critical parts of any compliance program. An MDM integration provides auditors with automated, system-verified proof that every device meets your company’s security standards—without requiring screenshots or manual reports.
Why It Matters:
Integrating your MDM ensures that device security controls are always enforced and continuously monitored. This integration saves time for IT teams and eliminates human error in evidence collection.
Key Vanta Features Unlocked
Automatically checks for key settings like disk encryption, screen lock, and firewall configuration.
Maintains a centralized inventory of devices linked to their owners under Personnel > Computers.
Enables automated tests that confirm every managed device remains compliant.
Common Questions and Vanta’s Approach
We use multiple MDMs—can we connect them all?
Yes. Vanta supports multiple simultaneous MDM integrations to cover all your managed devices.
Does Vanta track personal (BYOD) devices?
Vanta focuses on company-managed endpoints. Personal devices are typically excluded unless enrolled in your MDM with compliance settings enforced.
Category: Version Control System (VCS)
Examples: GitHub, GitLab
Your version control system holds your organization’s most valuable intellectual property, your code. Integrating it with Vanta ensures you can automatically demonstrate secure software development practices.
Key Vanta Features Unlocked
Checks that key security settings—like branch protection rules, required code reviews, and restricted pushes—are enabled.
Confirms that pull requests are reviewed and approved before merging.
Ensures that repository access is limited to authorized team members only.
Surfaces known vulnerabilities in repositories and helps you track remediation timelines.
All repositories appear under Assets > Code Changes, while scanned vulnerabilities show under Assets > Vulnerabilities.
Common Questions and Vanta’s Approach
“We have lots of repositories. Can we choose which ones to monitor?”
Yes. After connecting your VCS, you can scope the integration from Vanta’s Integrations page. Many customers start with key repositories—such as production apps or core libraries—and expand coverage over time.
“Will connecting our VCS give Vanta access to our source code?”
No. Vanta’s integration is limited to reading metadata about your repositories and their settings. Vanta never clones, downloads, or reads your source code. Instead, it checks configuration parameters such as whether branch protections are active and whether PRs are approved.
“Does Vanta support GitHub Enterprise or self-hosted instances?”
Yes. Vanta integrates with both cloud and self-hosted enterprise instances using API-based authentication. The integration follows the same principle of least privilege, requesting only read access to repository metadata.
“How frequently does Vanta check for repository changes?”
Vanta continuously monitors your repositories for updates to configuration settings. When a branch rule or permission change occurs, it’s reflected in your Vanta dashboard automatically, ensuring your compliance evidence is always current.
Phase 3: Workflow and People Operations
Finally, integrate your Task Tracker and Human Resources Information System (HRIS). These connections streamline remediation workflows and automate critical people operations.
A quick tip: If you use Jira, we recommend connecting it after other systems are scoped to avoid a flurry of automated tickets before you're ready.
Category: Task Tracker
Examples: Jira, Asana, Linear
Your task tracker is where operational security work happens. Integrating it allows Vanta to automatically link compliance and risk tasks with your team’s workflow, closing the gap between detection and remediation.
Key Vanta Features Unlocked
Create tickets for remediation tasks, risk scenarios, access reviews, and issues directly from Vanta and send them to your team's projects. For Jira, this can even be fully automated.
Link security tasks directly to Vanta tests, providing a clear trail from discovery to resolution.
Manage recurring security duties within your team's project boards.
Enable user access reviews for your task tracker, making it easy to verify who can access the system that houses your internal projects and sensitive tickets.
Common Questions and Vanta’s Approach
“Can we control which project tickets are created in?”
Yes. You can choose where new tickets are created and which users they’re assigned to. The best practice is to set up a dedicated project—for example, “Vanta Security Tasks”—to keep compliance and remediation work organized.
“Will Vanta automatically assign tickets?”
You can specify default assignees in your integration settings. Many organizations assign tasks to control owners or team leads responsible for the relevant area.
“How does syncing work for Jira?”
When you enable syncing, Vanta can automatically update ticket statuses as you close issues in Jira. This keeps both systems in sync and your audit trail clean.
“Should we connect Jira before other systems?”
If you use Jira, we recommend connecting it after other systems are scoped and tested. Connecting it too early may result in a large number of automatically created tickets before your integrations are ready.
Category: Human Resource Information System (HRIS)
Examples: Workday, BambooHR, Gusto, Rippling
Your HRIS is the system of record for all employee data. Integrating it ensures the people lifecycle is reflected accurately in your compliance data from onboarding and training to offboarding and background checks. Personnel data is central to most audit frameworks. By syncing your HRIS, Vanta verifies employment dates, training completion, and offboarding timeliness without manual uploads or spreadsheets.
Key Vanta Features Unlocked
Streamline the background check process, linking it directly to your hiring workflow.
Formalize employee start and end dates, moving beyond IdP assumptions by syncing the official, source-of-truth dates from your HRIS to make your audit evidence airtight.
Simplify evidence gathering for numerous HR-related controls.
Simplify user access reviews for your HRIS, ensuring you can regularly verify and document who has administrative access to your most sensitive employee data.
Common Questions and Vanta’s Approach
“Will Vanta have access to sensitive employee data, such as payroll or PII?”
No. The HRIS integration is strictly scoped. Vanta only pulls non-sensitive fields required for compliance. Typically name, start date, and termination date. Payroll or financial information is never accessed or stored.
“What if contractors or interns are in our HRIS?”
You can define scoping rules within Vanta to include or exclude specific user groups, departments, or roles. This ensures your compliance evidence matches your audit scope.
“Do HRIS and IdP integrations overlap?”
They complement each other. The IdP tells Vanta who currently has access, while the HRIS confirms when employment started and ended—helping detect offboarding delays or account access issues.
Phase 4: Expanding Your Automation
Once the six foundational integrations are in place, expand into specialized tools such as:
Security awareness training platforms
Background check providers
Vulnerability scanners
Cloud access security brokers
Each new connection adds context, reduces manual work, and deepens automation. Over time, you’ll move from automated compliance to a fully dynamic, real-time governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) program.
Conclusion: Your Path to Automated Compliance
Integrations transform Vanta from a static checklist into a live engine for trust and security. Begin by connecting your Cloud Service Provider and Identity Provider to see immediate results.
If you need support, explore our detailed setup guides or contact your Customer Success Manager. Every connection strengthens your compliance posture and reduces audit fatigue
Welcome to a smarter, faster, and dare we say, more pleasant way to manage compliance.