How RestFlow Standardized Security Processes under NIS2 with Supplier Security Automation in Stockholm

In today’s rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape, organizations face mounting challenges to comply with regulations like the European Union’s NIS2 Directive — especially concerning supplier security monitoring and risk management. 🛡️ This case study explores how a leading security company in Stockholm partnered with RestFlow to automate and standardize its security processes, dramatically easing compliance with NIS2’s stringent requirements.

In this article, you’ll learn about how RestFlow implemented a compliance-first automation strategy leveraging tools like n8n to automate vendor onboarding, risk scoring, renewals, and security attestations. We will cover the challenges posed by the regulation, the risks of manual compliance, the technical architecture of the solution, and the measurable business benefits achieved. Plus, discover real examples of workflow design, error handling, and scalable automation strategies.

If you’re a startup CTO, automation engineer, or operations specialist looking to simplify NIS2 compliance or improve your vendor security processes, this case study delivers actionable insights and templates to help you get started.

The Problem: Challenges of NIS2 Compliance for Security Vendor Management

The client is a cybersecurity solutions provider based in Stockholm, Sweden, specializing in advanced threat detection and prevention for critical infrastructures. Their security operations department managed onboarding and ongoing risk management of hundreds of suppliers and vendors.

With the adoption of the NIS2 Directive—a European directive focused on enhancing cybersecurity resilience via cyber risk management, incident reporting, supply chain security, and governance—the company faced serious compliance friction:

• Manual Processes: Supplier risk assessments, security attestations, and renewal tracking were largely manual, involving spreadsheets, emails, and ad hoc reporting.
• High Error Rates & Delays: Human errors in data entry led to incorrect risk scores and missed renewal deadlines—impacting the company’s governance and SLA obligations.
• Lack of Visibility: Limited centralized monitoring complicated incident escalation and supply chain audits.
• Resource Intensive: The security team spent roughly 60 hours per month just managing vendor compliance documentation and follow-ups.

These inefficiencies increased the risk of non-compliance penalties and threatened the company’s trusted vendor ecosystem, potentially impacting revenue and customer confidence.

Our Approach: Designing a Compliance-First Automation Strategy with RestFlow

Understanding these challenges, RestFlow initiated a comprehensive discovery phase working closely with the client’s security and IT operations teams. The main objectives were to:

• Map the existing supplier security and risk intake workflows end-to-end.
• Identify critical compliance points related to NIS2 themes: cyber risk management, incident reporting, supply chain security, and governance.
• Pinpoint inefficiencies caused by manual steps and lack of integration.
• Propose an automation architecture leveraging n8n — an open workflow automation tool — chosen for its flexibility, API integrations, and robust community support.

The high-level architecture envisioned a modular, scalable workflow integrating with the client’s existing services: Gmail for communications, Google Sheets as a trusted data store during migration, Slack for team notifications, and a cloud document management system for storing security attestations. This would enable automated vendor onboarding, risk scoring via external APIs, renewal reminders, and real-time incident reporting updates.

RestFlow’s key value: an end-to-end Automation-as-a-Service model, including design, implementation, hosting on secure infrastructure, continuous monitoring, and maintenance—ensuring sustainable compliance management.

To explore ready-built workflows for compliance automation, explore the Automation Template Marketplace.

The Solution: Architecture & Workflow Overview

The automation solution was architected around the following core components:

• Triggers: Webhook endpoints and scheduled triggers initiating workflows when a new vendor is onboarded or renewals approach.
• Orchestration Tool: n8n platform orchestrating workflow nodes for data collection, transformations, risk scoring, approval routing, and notifications.
• External Services Integrated: Gmail API for emails; Google Sheets as a temporary database; Slack API for real-time alerts to security operations; cloud storage for security attestations (e.g., OneDrive or Google Drive); and third-party risk scoring services via REST APIs.
• Outputs: Automated emails to vendors, risk reports in Google Sheets dashboards, Slack notifications to governance teams, and compliance logs for audit readiness.

End-to-End Workflow Walkthrough

1. Vendor Onboarding Form Submission: Vendors complete a standardized security questionnaire using a web form triggering an n8n webhook.
2. Data Validation & Enrichment: Workflow nodes validate the input data, enrich via external risk scoring APIs.
3. Risk Scoring & Decision Branches: Conditional nodes route vendors for manual review or automatic approval based on risk thresholds.
4. Security Attestation Collection: On approval, automated email requests for vendor security attestations are sent and tracked.
5. Renewal Scheduling: Scheduled triggers automatically remind vendors and internal teams of upcoming renewal deadlines.
6. Incident Reporting Integration: Incoming incident reports related to suppliers trigger notifications and update the compliance dashboard.
7. Audit Logging: All actions, approvals, and communications are logged into Google Sheets and cloud storage for audit traceability.

Step-by-Step Node Breakdown 🚀

Webhook Trigger: Vendor Security Submission

The workflow starts with an HTTP webhook node configured in n8n. It listens for POST requests from the vendor onboarding form hosted on the client’s website. Key fields captured include vendor name, contact details, and preliminary security questionnaire responses.

The webhook validates headers and content type to ensure security and data integrity.

Data Validation & Enrichment 🛠️

Subsequent nodes parse the JSON payload, verifying mandatory data fields using conditional filters. Missing or malformed data triggers an automated email to the vendor for correction.

Enrichment is done by calling a third-party risk scoring API using the vendor’s domain and past incident history, retrieving a risk score from 0 to 100.

Conditional Logic: Risk Thresholds and Approvals ⚖️

A conditional node routes vendors based on their risk score:

• Score below 30: Automatic approval, proceed to attestation request.
• Score 30-65: Manual review required; creates a task for the security team in the client’s ticketing system via API.
• Score above 65: Automatically rejected with a notification email.

Email Automation: Security Attestation Requests 📧

Approved vendors receive an email via the Gmail API node requesting a digitally signed security attestation. The workflow tracks whether the attestation is uploaded to the shared cloud storage, verifying completeness weekly.

Renewal Scheduler and Alerts 🔔

A scheduled trigger runs weekly to check upcoming attestation expirations using Google Sheets data. Slack and email notifications remind vendors and internal approvers.

Incident Reporting Integration ⚠️

Another webhook listens to supplier-related incident reports from the client’s incident management platform. New incidents update Google Sheets and alert governance teams via Slack for rapid response, fulfilling NIS2 incident reporting requirements.

Error Handling, Robustness & Security

Error Handling and Retries

Each API call node has retry logic configured with exponential backoff (up to 3 retries). Failures trigger a Slack alert to RestFlow engineers. Manual error queues in Google Sheets allow security teams to triage exceptions.

Logging and Observability

Logs for each workflow run are aggregated using n8n’s native run history, supplemented by custom logging into Google Sheets with timestamps and status codes.

Idempotency and Deduplication

Webhook nodes check for unique vendor IDs to prevent duplicate processing if webhooks are triggered multiple times.

Security & Data Protection

API credentials are stored securely in n8n’s credential manager with least-privilege scopes. Sensitive data like PII is encrypted at rest and excluded from logs to comply with GDPR.

Performance, Scaling & Extensibility

The system scales horizontally by leveraging n8n’s webhook architecture, using event-driven triggers rather than polling where possible. Batch processing is configured for renewal checks to accommodate hundreds of vendors.

Modular workflows allow delegation per geographical region or new business units, with version control ensuring safe rollouts.

RestFlow’s managed hosting ensures uptime and performance at scale without burdening client IT teams.

Automation Tool	Cost	Pros	Cons
n8n	$0–$50/mo (self-hosted available)	Open-source, flexible, strong API integrations, self-host option	Requires some technical setup, limited prebuilt connectors compared to others
Make	Starts at $9/mo	Visual builder, extensive app connectors, good for SMBs	Price scales with operations, less suited for complex workflows
Zapier	Starts at $20/mo	Easy to use, many app integrations, reliable	Limited customization for complex logic, expensive at scale

Integration Method	Latency	Reliability	Scalability
Webhook	Near real-time	High (event-driven)	High (push model)
Polling	Minutes to hours	Medium (depends on frequency)	Limited (API rate limits)

Data Store	Cost	Pros	Cons
Google Sheets	Free up to limits	Easy access, familiar UI, good for small data	Not optimized for large datasets, concurrency issues
Relational Database (Cloud SQL, Postgres)	Moderate	Efficient querying, transactional integrity, scalable	Requires DB management, more complex setup

Results & Business Impact

The automation project delivered significant improvements across multiple KPIs within the first three months of deployment:

• Reduction in manual work hours by approximately 75%, saving 45 hours monthly for the security operations team.
• Vendor risk scoring errors dropped from an estimated 15% to under 2%, enhancing data accuracy.
• Incident reporting latency decreased by 60%, enabling faster response and mitigation.
• Renewal compliance rates improved by 30%, reducing risk of non-compliance penalties.
• Overall, processing time for supplier security attestations shortened by 70%, accelerating vendor onboarding and renewals. [Source: to be added]

Day-to-day, the security team experiences calmer, more predictable operations with clear visibility and audit trails—freeing them to focus on security strategy rather than administrative overhead.

Pilot Phase & Maintenance Disclaimer

Automation deployments always begin with a pilot phase involving controlled data and user testing. During this period, RestFlow worked closely with the client to fine-tune logic, address edge cases, and ensure data integrity.

After successful pilot validation, RestFlow transitioned the workflow into production and assumed full responsibility for managed hosting, ongoing monitoring, incident response, and workflow updates—delivering a true Automation-as-a-Service partnership.

Conclusion: Transforming NIS2 Compliance with RestFlow Automation

By partnering with RestFlow, the Stockholm-based security company successfully transformed their supplier security monitoring and risk intake processes to meet NIS2 Directive requirements. Leveraging n8n and robust API integrations, manual inefficiencies were eliminated and compliance became automated, scalable, and audit-ready.

This case exemplifies how automation can shift organizations from managing complex compliance paperwork manually to a smooth, reliable, and calm operational state. RestFlow’s end-to-end Automation-as-a-Service model ensures continuous adaptation to future regulatory and business changes.

Ready to modernize your compliance workflows? Explore the Automation Template Marketplace or Create your free RestFlow account today and start automating your NIS2 compliance with confidence.