Financial Services and Fintech Security
We help fintech companies build security programs that protect financial data, meet compliance requirements, and support enterprise sales.
How We Engage with Fintech Companies
Our Fractional CISO Approach for Fintech Companies
Most fintech companies engage a Fractional CISO to provide strategic security leadership without full-time overhead. We work with you through a three-phase approach - assessing where you are, designing what you need, and building programs that protect financial data while supporting enterprise sales and regulatory compliance.
What This Looks Like for Fintech Companies:
We understand your regulatory and partnership landscape - from state money transmitter licensing requirements to rigorous bank partnership security assessments (3-6 month reviews with ongoing annual audits). Fintech-specific priorities include financial data protection with real-time transaction security (protecting transfers without adding latency), fraud prevention and detection (balancing security without blocking legitimate high-value transactions), SOC 2 or ISO 27001 and 42001 certification for third-party risk assessments, and regulatory compliance (GLBA, state-specific requirements, partner bank reviews).
For partner bank relationships, we manage the extensive security diligence that banks require - annual comprehensive security assessments, penetration testing and remediation, responses to state regulator examinations, and evidence of continuous monitoring. We help you build programs that satisfy bank risk management teams and state regulators while maintaining development velocity.
When Should You Engage Security Leadership?
You don't need perfect security to start enterprise fintech sales, but you do need a plan. Here are signs you should engage security leadership now rather than later:
Sales & Revenue Signals:
- Enterprise financial services customers requiring SOC or ISO 27001 and 42001
- Bank partners asking for comprehensive security audits
- Lost deals where security posture was cited as a blocking factor
- Sales cycles extending 3+ months due to third-party risk reviews
- Security questionnaires taking weeks to complete
Technical Risk Signals:
- Financial data or transaction records not properly encrypted
- API security controls unclear or not tested
- No fraud detection system beyond payment processor defaults
- Cloud infrastructure has never been security-assessed
- Unable to answer "how is customer financial data protected?" with confidence
Organizational Signals:
- No one owns SOC 2 or ISO-27001 and 42001 timeline or regulatory compliance program
- Regulatory inquiry or examination about security controls
- Scaling transaction volume rapidly without security scaling
- Board or investors asking about financial data protection
- Planning to hire first security engineer (assess before hiring)
Compliance Signals:
- Money transmitter license applications requiring security controls
- Customers requiring ISO 27001 and 42001 certification
- Expanding into regulated financial services or international markets
- Banking partners requiring formal security audits
- Customer contracts including specific security requirements
If a few or more of these apply, you're past the point where you can kick security down the road. Financial services breaches damage customer trust that takes years to rebuild, and regulatory enforcement is increasing across fintech sectors.
Common Questions About Fintech Security
Do we need a CISO before pursuing enterprise financial services customers?
Not necessarily a full-time CISO, but you need CISO-level expertise to build your security program, achieve SOC 2/ISO 27001, and respond to third-party risk assessments from banks and financial institutions. Many growth-stage fintech companies use virtual CISO services to get expert guidance without full-time overhead. This provides the financial services security expertise you need while you determine when to hire full-time security leadership.
How do we handle third-party vendor security assessments?
Establish a vendor security assessment process that evaluates vendors based on risk level. High-risk vendors (those handling financial data or critical services) need comprehensive security reviews including SOC 2 reports, security questionnaires, and contract terms. Lower-risk vendors can use simplified assessments. We help you build scalable vendor risk management programs that protect your business without creating operational bottlenecks.
Ready to Strengthen Your Fintech Security?
Let's discuss your fintech security needs and compliance requirements.