Vulnerability Management Rebuild for an Independent Broker-Dealer
Overdue critical vulnerabilities taken from 1,140 to 37, with advisor laptops finally inside the program.
Client name withheld by agreement- Client
- Independent broker-dealer, 1,800 affiliated advisors
- Region
- San Antonio, Texas
- Year
- 2024
- Duration
- 14 weeks
- Scope
- 9,200 endpoints · 610 advisor offices · 3 cloud tenants
- Practice
- Offensive Security & Resilience
The challenge
What was at stake.
An independent broker-dealer supports 1,800 affiliated advisors working from 610 offices, most on laptops the firm did not issue. Scanning covered the home office well and the advisor network barely at all.
FINRA and SEC examiners were asking about patching of devices that touch client data, and the firm had more than a thousand critical findings past due.
What we did
The approach, step by step.
- 01
Advisor devices brought into view
A lightweight agent and minimum security standard put 9,200 endpoints, including advisor-owned laptops, into one inventory.
- 02
Priority by real risk
Findings were ranked by known exploitation, internet exposure and access to client data, which cut the urgent list to a size the team could act on.
- 03
Patching that reaches advisors
Automated patch rings and a non-compliance access block gave advisors clear deadlines and a reason to meet them.
- 04
Reporting for examiners
A monthly view of exposure, remediation times and exceptions, written for the CCO and examiners as well as IT.
Outcomes
What changed, in numbers.
- 1,140 to 37
- overdue critical vulnerabilities
- 9,200
- endpoints inventoried and scanned
- 610
- advisor offices in the program
- 11 days
- median time to fix critical findings
For years the advisor network was our blind spot. Now it is the part of the report our examiners compliment.
Services delivered
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