Cybersecurity for Financial Services Companies

Stopping business disruptions for financial services providers and their clients.

2nd most targeted

Financial institutions are second only to Healthcare facilities when it comes to cyberattacks1.

1318%

The banking industry saw a 1318% increase in ransomware attacks in 20212. 

$5.72 Million

The average cost per breach within financial services in 2021 was $5.72 million3.

The financial services industry is literally “where the money is”, making it a leading target for cybercriminals. Increased customer adoption of internet banking, mobile apps, and instant payments has increased the industry’s attack vectors and introduced new vulnerabilities. In addition, financial institutions are responsible for protecting clients’ Personal Identifiable Information, staying compliant with regulatory requirements and keeping pace with technological innovation.

Critical Start’s Managed Detection and Response (MDR) Services simplify breach prevention to help financial institutions stay ahead of emerging threats, optimize their security investments, improve security team effectiveness and avoid the tangible and intangible costs of a breach.

  • Detecting the Right Threats

    During onboarding, we dive in deep to understand the customer’s environment and requirements so we can drive actionable insights from their existing tools. We adapt our playbooks to help tune out false positives and our Cyber Research Unit (CRU) curates original and third-party threat intel to develop new detections and IOCs. We also map IOCs to the MITRE ATT&CK® Framework for visibility into the customer’s detection coverage.


    Responding with the Right Actions

    We provide seasoned security analysts and one-of-a-kind technology to take action on the customer’s behalf or provide them with detailed response recommendations. Our U.S.-based Security Operations Center (SOC) provides 24x7x365 human-led monitoring, rapid investigation, continuous threat hunting and response. Our SOC analysts work with you until remediation is complete, leveraging real-time communication.


    Providing the Right Agility and Adaptability

    We help customers stay ahead of emerging threats and give their team the flexibility to work on strategic initiatives. Our SOC analysts undergo 300 hours of onboarding training, followed by 60-80 hours of continuing education each year. And a dedicated Customer Success Manager (CSM) ensures that our MDR customers receive the tools and support they need to succeed.

  • Protect

    Our Cyber Incident Response Team (CIRT) proactively works with our customers to understand their readiness to respond to a cyberattack and offers IR monitoring, IR retainers, Tabletop Exercises, Cybersecurity Readiness Assessment, IR Plan Review and Threat Hunting Training to help protect customers.


    Respond

    Leverage our CIRT to lead your team through critical stages of an incident. ZTAP and our SOC provide 24/7/365 threat hunting and response, and our Threat Hunting Training services prepare your own defenders to proactively identify malicious activity within your network and take appropriate action.


    Digital Forensics

    On-demand forensic investigators with experience in PCI-DSS, HIPAA and other protected governance standards for highly sensitive investigations offer forensic imaging and analysis, clear, concise and professional documentation, sound and confident courtroom testimony, and evidence handling procedures and documentation that directly align with NIST to ensure forensically sound results.

Zero Trust Analytics Platform™ (ZTAP®)

ZTAP is the backbone of our managed detection and response (MDR) services. Our Trusted Behavior Registry™ (TBR) within ZTAP enables us to auto-resolve false positives – the largest volume of alerts—at scale, and our SOC utilizes ZTAP to handle 100% of your alerts.

MOBILESOC®

Customers can reduce attacker dwell-time with our MobileSOC iOS/Android app. It goes far beyond ticketing and notifications by letting you triage and respond to alerts, so you never miss an event.

Hear from our MDR customers

“Prior to the relationship with Critical Start, my SOC analysts were experiencing what we all call alert fatigue. Critical Start has really been able to reduce those alerts. Our SOC Analysts are able to get through every alert they toss our way. I’ve been able to take our level three and level four analysts and put them back to work at what they were really hired to do.”

“The biggest lesson is transitioning from alert overload to being at a point where we do have eyes on alerts, where every alert is truly possible. It’s something that a lot of people sell and not a lot of people do very well. Being able to come into this relationship, then where we’re at today, it kind of opened my eyes to: There is the opportunity and the possibility to do this.”

Bank on Cybersecurity: Protecting Financial Services from Harm

How can financial services companies defend against evolving threats, keep data safe and ensure business continuity? Watch our webinar where we discuss ongoing cybersecurity threats to financial institutions, steps you can take to protect your business and how managed detection and response (MDR) services can help.

  • Webinar

    How to Build a Solid Cybersecurity Foundation

    Financial services companies know the importance of meeting compliance standards, yet for cybersecurity meeting these standards doesn’t always mean you’re secure. Check out our blog for the top 18 security controls to protect your environment.

    Read Blog

  • Webinar

    Q-Bot Ransomware: What Is It and What to Do About It

    Quack-Bot, or Q-Bot, is notorious for staying a step ahead of financial services protections. MDR services can help you stay a step ahead of Q-Bot. Learn how in this blog post.

    Learn More

  • Data Sheet

    Financial Services Buyer’s Guide

    For financial institutions, being compliant should be the result of a strong cybersecurity program – not the other way around. Check out our guide to MDR for financial services.

    Read More

    Ready to Talk with an Expert?

    1 Center for Strategic & International Studies

    2 The Six Biggest Cyber Threats for Financial Services in 2021”, Edward Kost, December 16, 2021

    3 IBM Security Cost of a Data Breach Report 2021

    Join us at RSA Conference - booth #449 South!
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