RIA compliance software for SEC Reg S-P, vendor oversight, and exam readiness
BlackSheep is RIA compliance software for firms managing Reg S-P, vendor oversight, incident response, and audit-ready evidence in one platform. If you're evaluating ria compliance software, it gives investment advisers one system for June 2026 urgency, practitioner-led guidance, and SEC exam readiness.
Built by a CISSP with 20 years in financial-services cybersecurity · 100+ compliance programs built · 100% clean SEC exam record
SEC Reg S-P
78% — On Track
compliance score
NYDFS 500
61% — Needs Work
compliance score
NIST CSF
54% — Needs Work
compliance score
Open Tasks
3 overdueComplete incident response plan
Mar 25Annual vendor risk assessment
Apr 1MFA implementation review
Apr 5RIA compliance software for firms still stuck in spreadsheets
If your investment adviser compliance program still lives across shared drives, MSP emails, and vendor questionnaires, exam readiness always turns into a scramble. BlackSheep gives RIAs one living system for policies, evidence, incident response, vendor oversight, and follow-up work.
Without BlackSheep
- Spreadsheets nobody trusts as the source of truth
- Shared drives and inboxes full of evidence nobody can find fast
- No clear ownership between the RIA, the MSP, and key vendors
- Exam prep that turns into a last-minute scramble for documents
- No living compliance system keeping policies, incidents, and follow-up current
With BlackSheep
- Every framework mapped with live compliance scores
- Evidence in one place, exportable for any exam
- Incident response plan with automatic breach timers
- Vendor oversight, risk assessments, and access reviews tracked
- When the examiner asks, you pull up a dashboard
RIA compliance software features for SEC Reg S-P, incident response, and vendor oversight
Replace ad hoc checklists with investment adviser compliance software that helps RIAs operationalize SEC Reg S-P, document vendor oversight, manage incident response, and stay exam-ready before the SEC asks for proof.
Compliance Dashboard
One screen, all your frameworks, actual scores. When the examiner calls, you pull this up instead of digging through folders at midnight.
Policy Management
Your policies shouldn't live in someone's inbox. Create them, version them, get sign-offs. Templates match what regulators actually ask for.
Incident Response
Something went wrong. Now what? Log it, track it, manage the response. The 30-day SEC breach notification clock starts on its own.
Vendor Management
Every vendor is a risk you own. Track who they are, what data they touch, when their DPA expires, and whether anyone did the last assessment.
Evidence Collection
"Can you pull that for us?" Sure, give us a minute. Audit evidence is in one place, exports clean for board decks or examinations.
Team Collaboration
You can't do this alone and you shouldn't have to. Assign tasks, name your CISO, control who sees what with role-based permissions.
SEC Reg S-P compliance software mapped to RIA controls, gaps, and evidence
BlackSheep maps SEC Reg S-P and related RIA cybersecurity requirements into one working system so you can track controls, remediation, evidence, and vendor obligations without guessing where the gaps are.
Start with SEC Reg S-Pif you're preparing for the June 2026 Safeguards Rule deadline.
SEC Reg S-P
The Safeguards Rule. Mandatory for every SEC-registered RIA by June 3, 2026.
- Written incident response program
- 30-day customer breach notification
- 72-hour vendor breach notification
- Vendor oversight policies & due diligence
- 5-year recordkeeping of all compliance activities
NYDFS 23 NYCRR 500
New York's cybersecurity regulation. It has teeth.
- CISO designation
- Annual penetration testing
- Multi-factor authentication
- Encryption requirements
- Annual certification filing
NIST CSF 2.0
The framework regulators keep referencing in exams.
- Govern — policies & roles
- Identify — asset management
- Protect — access control
- Detect — monitoring
- Respond & Recover
DOL EBSA
Cybersecurity guidance for ERISA fiduciaries and service providers.
- Formal cybersecurity program
- Annual risk assessments
- Third-party & cloud security oversight
- Encryption & technical controls
- Business resiliency & disaster recovery
FINRA Cybersecurity
Requirements for broker-dealers and dually registered RIAs.
- Technology governance & risk management
- Access controls & identity management
- Data protection & loss prevention
- Incident response & reporting
- Branch office controls
BlackSheep vs spreadsheets, consultants, MSP-only support, and generic GRC for RIAs
Compare BlackSheep directly against spreadsheet-based compliance, outside consultants, MSP-only support, and generic GRC tools. The right fit depends on how much SEC Reg S-P structure, vendor oversight, incident response tracking, and exam readiness you need in one system.
Spreadsheets & DIY compliance
Policies live in a shared drive nobody opens. Evidence is scattered across inboxes and folders. When an SEC examiner asks for something specific, everyone scrambles to rebuild the story.
Free (until it isn't)
Hope is not a compliance strategy.
Outside consultants only
Great expertise, but engagements are periodic. Between meetings, your RIA still needs a living investment adviser compliance software system to keep evidence, ownership, and remediation current day to day.
$5K–$25K+/year
Best paired with a platform for continuous coverage.
Generic GRC platforms
Many generic GRC tools were built for SaaS teams chasing SOC 2. RIAs often still need extra work to adapt them for SEC Reg S-P, NYDFS 500, and exam-readiness workflows.
$7.5K–$100K+/year
Built for tech companies, not advisory firms.
Managed IT / MSP-only support
They'll patch laptops and manage firewalls. Ask for your incident response plan, SEC Reg S-P evidence trail, or NYDFS certification status and you still need a separate compliance operating system.
$775–$3K+/month
IT operations ≠ compliance management.
How BlackSheep compares across common RIA compliance alternatives
Side-by-side with the common options RIA teams often review before choosing investment adviser compliance software.
| Feature | BlackSheep | COMPLY (RIA in a Box) | SmartRIA | Vanta / Drata | Consultants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built specifically for RIAs | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Partial |
| SEC Reg S-P mapping | Yes | Partial | No | No | Partial |
| NYDFS 500 mapping | Yes | No | No | No | Partial |
| NIST CSF 2.0 mapping | Yes | Partial | No | Partial | Partial |
| DOL EBSA mapping | Yes | No | No | No | Partial |
| FINRA cyber mapping | Yes | No | No | No | Partial |
| Live compliance scores | Yes | Partial | No | Yes | No |
| Policy management & sign-off | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Incident response tracking | Yes | Partial | No | Partial | No |
| Vendor risk management | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Partial |
| Evidence collection & export | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | No |
| Security training & tracking | Yes | Yes | No | No | Partial |
| Run it yourself or with a consultant | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Transparent pricing | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Starts under $250/month | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Full support Partial / add-on Not available
Investment adviser compliance software priced to replace manual RIA compliance buildoutsOne platform, one price.
Our founder used to charge $30,000/year per firm to build these investment adviser compliance programs by hand. BlackSheep turns that same RIA compliance workflow into software your team can run every day.
Here's what you're getting
DIY
Save $36,000+/year on compliance costs
The full platform. Every feature. Every framework. No gates. Whether you self-manage or work with a consultant, everything is in one place.
- All 6 compliance frameworks
- Live compliance dashboard & scores
- Policy templates & sign-offs included
- Vendor risk management & oversight
- Risk assessment with gap analysis
- Access reviews & IT controls review
- Incident tracking with breach timers
- IR & BCP testing logs
- Security training & tracking
- Cyber insurance readiness
- Tasks, scheduling & annual reporting
- Unlimited users
- Email support
Builder
Hands-on services included
Everything in DIY, plus we do the hands-on work. Incident response testing, business continuity testing, audit support, and annual training included.
- Everything in DIY
- We lead your incident response testing
- We lead your business continuity testing
- We provide audit support
- We lead your annual security training
Professional
Your fractional compliance team
Everything in Builder, plus we're alongside you week to week. Still less than a single consulting engagement.
- Everything in Builder
- Biweekly calls to lead your compliance program
- We will personally guide you through the full implementation of your cybersecurity program
- The Maverick to your Goose
- We have your back
All plans include a 14-day free trial. No credit card required. Cancel anytime.
Ready for an exam in 30 days or we extend your trial free until you are.
Investment adviser compliance software FAQs for RIA buyers
What does SEC Reg S-P require from RIAs?
SEC Reg S-P requires RIAs to maintain written incident response procedures, protect customer information, oversee service providers, and stay ready to notify affected customers when a covered breach triggers the rule.
What should RIA or investment adviser compliance software actually help with?
RIA compliance software should help your firm map SEC Reg S-P obligations, maintain policies, assign owners, collect evidence, document vendor oversight, run incident response workflows, track remediation, and stay ready for SEC exams without rebuilding everything from scratch.
How does BlackSheep help with vendor oversight and third-party risk?
BlackSheep helps RIAs track critical vendors, due diligence, contract status, questionnaires, remediation items, and ongoing review work so vendor oversight is not split across inboxes and annual checklists.
Can BlackSheep help RIAs manage incident response and notification timelines?
Yes. BlackSheep gives RIAs a live incident workflow with owners, evidence, and deadline-aware tracking so your team can move faster when an incident affects customer information or triggers follow-up obligations.
Can BlackSheep help us get ready for an SEC exam or audit request?
That is one of the main reasons RIAs use it. BlackSheep keeps policies, evidence, risk decisions, vendor reviews, incidents, and remediation history in one place so you can answer document requests without rebuilding the story from scratch.
How is BlackSheep different from a generic GRC tool?
Generic GRC tools usually need heavy setup before they reflect how RIAs actually work. BlackSheep is already shaped around regulated-firm workflows, SEC Reg S-P, NYDFS 500, NIST CSF, evidence collection, vendor oversight, and exam readiness.
Can our MSP, IT partner, or outside consultant work inside BlackSheep with us?
Yes. BlackSheep works well when the CCO, operations lead, MSP, and outside consultant all need shared visibility into tasks, evidence, risks, and ownership without losing accountability inside the firm.
Ready to stop rebuilding your compliance story for every request?
Start your trial if you want to get organized fast, or book a demo if you want to see how BlackSheep handles Reg S-P, vendor oversight, incident workflows, and exam-ready evidence for RIAs.
RIA compliance frameworks this investment adviser compliance software helps operationalize
SEC Reg S-P
The core SEC customer-information rule driving incident response, vendor oversight, and exam-readiness work for RIAs.
NYDFS 23 NYCRR 500
Additional cybersecurity requirements many advisers and affiliated firms still need to operationalize alongside Reg S-P.
NIST CSF 2.0
Use the framework firms map against when they need clearer structure for controls, evidence, and remediation priorities.
Who built this
Investment adviser compliance software built by a financial-services cybersecurity practitionerNot a generic SaaS team guessing at RIA exam pressure.
Our founder has spent 20 years in financial services cybersecurity. CISSP. Former bank CISO. Former Director of Cybersecurity at a top 25 CPA firm. He's built cybersecurity compliance programs for over 100 RIA firms, solo practices up through firms with 400 employees.
Every firm he prepared that went through an SEC examination in 2025 passed with zero deficiencies, zero enforcement actions. He's led live incident response events for 15 years. Not tabletop exercises. Real incidents.
The problem was always the same: firms running compliance out of spreadsheets, outdated policies nobody had read, no incident response plan, CCOs hoping their IT partner was covering the right things. He charged $30,000 a year per firm to fix it by hand. It worked, but it didn't scale.
BlackSheep is everything he built for those 100+ firms, in software. Same frameworks, same structure, same approach that passed SEC exams. Now available to every firm and every consultant managing compliance programs.
Do good things
Know an RIA that's still running compliance out of a spreadsheet? Tell them about us. When they stick around for 3 months, you get 3 months free.
Send your link
Share your referral link with an RIA you think should stop winging it.
They sign up
They join and start building their compliance program.
You get 3 months free
Once they hit 3 months, your credit kicks in. Want a free year? 4 referrals does it.
Good karma and free compliance software. Hard to argue with that.
Compliance Resources
Everything you need to understand what applies to your firm and how to get compliant.
Built by someone who's done this 100+ times.
20 years building cybersecurity programs for financial firms. Now it's a platform starting at $249/month. 14-day free trial, 30-day money-back guarantee. If it doesn't save you time in the first month, you pay nothing.
14-day free trial. No credit card. 30-day money-back guarantee.