STRATEGIC CYBERSECURITY AND COMPLIANCE ADVISORY FOR HIGHLY REGULATED COMPANIES

In the fiercely competitive landscape of financial software providers, the traditional On Premises deployment model was the norm. By offering deployment of the FundCount software on clients' premises, FundCount harnesses existing infrastructure while offering application-level support in collaboration with internal IT resources. Some clients, particularly those in the Family Office space, still prefer this model. However, FundCount recognized their strength was in comprehending industry complexities and client needs, prompting a strategic shift for this global group, which now also offers Cloud services through its Canadian subsidiary.

The tide is turning with the growing adoption of cloud technology in the financial industry. Clients are seeking to retire aging hardware, reduce operational costs, or outsource operations, each bringing additional concerns about cybersecurity and compliance. FundCount began viewing software not merely as an IT asset but as a service to be consumed—a shift toward the Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Realizing the need for a comprehensive transition, FundCount faced several challenges. These included building a cloud support team with understanding of legal requirements, establishing cybersecurity operations, purchasing additional cybersecurity tools, standardizing deployments, and equipping their sales team with new capabilities. Each hurdle required the investment of both time and money. Anticipating a 90 to 120 day timeline, FundCount opted for a strategic partnership with Digital Edge rather than navigating these obstacles independently.

“It was absolutely essential that we work with a partner who not only understands our business but the Fintech space at large, regulatory requirements, and most importantly cybersecurity. We have the utmost trust in Digital Edge who takes the risk out of our processes by covering compliance and cybersecurity operations. They not only do this for us but also for large banking institutions, which gave us confidence that they were the right partner for FundCount. This allows us to reply to DDQs much faster with auditable artifacts. Their expertise and fast response times helps us accelerate our own sales cycles allowing us to increase revenues and offer the most secure and competitive product on the market.” - says Alex Ivanov, CEO of FundCount.

Within a remarkable 60 days, FundCount and Digital Edge successfully launched the first client, kick-starting a process of continuous learning and optimization in their cooperation model. Over the subsequent year, 15 clients seamlessly transitioned to the new SaaS model. The partnership's next task was enhancing FundCount's sales team with SaaS capabilities, with focus on expediting the sales cycle impacted by cybersecurity concerns and Supply Chain security for end customers.

“FundCount delivers a unified platform for the general ledger, portfolio, partnership accounting and management and reporting needs of financial organizations. We work with the very best in the single and multiple family office, asset management, fund administration, private equity and hedge fund, spaces to help them drive excellence and efficiency into their back-office accounting solutions. When working with new firms we need to build trust in our solution. Trust in ability of the software to deliver expected results, but also trust in ability of our solution to safeguard client’s information and comply with laws and regulations in financial industry internationally. We need to have a trusted partner to deliver on the DDQ’s in a timely manner. As head of Global Sales, I need to know that our partner is “getting it right”, it makes all the difference in being able to achieve a mutually beneficial partnership with our clients” - says Ashley Whittaker - Head of Global Sales.

By leveraging Digital Edge's certifications and standardized cybersecurity framework, FundCount's sales team achieved a improvement in the sales conversion and cycle, addressing concerns related to Cybersecurity Due Diligence Questionnaires and overall Supply Chain security.

A leading Capital Market firm dedicated to delivering cutting-edge technology solutions to a diverse range of financial institutions, including banks, broker/dealers, insurance firms, hedge and pension funds, and asset management companies needed a partner who could deliver an integrated cybersecurity, compliance, and operations solution to support the demands of their growing customer base.

The client offered a distinctive stack of service analytics and capabilities designed to shape the future of fintech. They sought a partner with expertise in global regulatory laws, compliance, as well as the operational capability to help them modernize their cloud infrastructure. This partnership was crucial to ensure seamless interoperability with existing platforms and required expertise on implementing and managing an AWS SaaS Infrastructure as a Service platform.

In the quest for a partner, they needed a firm capable of working alongside their client base while offering an end-to-end integrated solution. They needed to choose a partner who had the credentials and competency that could help this client push the boundaries to consistently deliver breakthrough technology, and digitalize business processes while reimagining risk for their clients. Entrusting Digital Edge to support overall strategy, navigate day-to-day complexities, and provide 24/7 DevSec support underscores the significant value that Digital Edge continues to bring to the table.
“Digital Edge provides a myriad of services for us & has repeatedly demonstrated competency and flexibility in meeting our needs. We cannot speak highly enough of how Digital Edge has become an integral partner in helping scale our SaaS business on AWS”. says Nestor Nelson, CIO.

The solution provided Fintech with the flexibility to scale operations up or down, relieving operational burdens on in-house teams. The overall result was heightened performance, agility, and transparency across their global footprint. With a robust cybersecurity and data governance plan in place, the client gained peace of mind, ensuring compliance with laws and regulations in the regions and countries where they conduct business, and the confidence that they were meeting necessary certifications.

• Amplified customer centricity through improved scalability and automation
• Optimized costs and increased efficiencies
• Mitigated risks with disaster recovery and ISO certifications
• Enhanced cost accounting, budgeting, and reporting metrics for IT and Finance

Without Digital Edge, the fintech company would be unable to deliver a strategic infrastructure that provides a competitive edge to their customers.

NextGen Strategic Advisors, a management consulting firm, prioritizes assembling project teams with seasoned expertise in Senior Management and C-Suite roles. Their unique approach integrates direct executive experience with consulting, project management, and implementation proficiency specifically in the Financial Services sector.

Given NGSA access to sensitive financial data, they faced the challenge of revisiting and fortifying their security posture, a prerequisite set by their partners. In January 2024, NGSA enlisted Digital Edge to address their cybersecurity requirements.

Digital Edge collaborated with NGSA to conduct a thorough examination of existing documents and perform an extensive risk assessment, leveraging their cybersecurity and privacy expertise with Digital Edge’s in-house counsel. Practical recommendations were provided to enhance the current system while appropriately assessing residual risks.
Additionally, Digital Edge provided a comprehensive end-to-end internal audit and gap analysis, aligning with industry best practices, specific to the financial services sector. Interviews with NGSA's Chief Security Officer and a meticulous review of evidence affirmed compliance with internal policies, ensuring a highly secure environment for both in-house and client data. Digital Edge consistently offered suggestions to refine processes and fortify existing controls efficiently from a time and cost perspective.
Additionally, Digital Edge played a crucial role in refining and creating policy documentation, providing a legal overview with their own in-house legal advisory team, advising NGSA on relevant privacy laws. This comprehensive approach not only strengthened NGSA's cybersecurity resilience but also had a direct business impact for both NGSA and their clients.
‘Keith is an excellent legal consultant and partner. He has made this process so easy and understandable for me” says Gary Mendelblatt, Managing Partner, NextGen Strategic Advisors.

The collaboration with Digital Edge resulted in refined policy documentation, positively impacting NGSA and their clients. The fundamental legal overview and advice on privacy laws, considering business interests and industry specifics, added another layer of security. Here is an overview of business benefits:
• Assured trust in solution between client and Digital Edge
• Aligning Data Privacy Regulations to upsell and cross sell for new projects
• Secured Confidence with NextGen Strategic Advisors by implementing best practices for in-house policies and procedures.

As a final step, Digital Edge assisted NGSA in completing a cybersecurity questionnaire from one of their partners, further solidifying their commitment to cybersecurity excellence and demonstrating how they can be leveraged as an ongoing partner.

A leading Capital Market firm dedicated to delivering cutting-edge technology solutions to a diverse range of financial institutions, including banks, broker/dealers, insurance firms, hedge and pension funds, and asset management companies needed a partner who could deliver an integrated cybersecurity, compliance, and operations solution to support the demands of their growing customer base.

For a company with general help desk-oriented IT, it is a daunting challenge to assess how information is classified and to establish risk analysis and technological procedural controls quickly. The management team at Pure Finance Group assessed that they would need both a strategy and an overall adoption of technology and processes required by the law. They also agreed that it would take approximately 3 months. As a next step, they needed to identify a firm that had the expertise in cybersecurity, compliance, and operations who could offer guidance and streamline the process for them.

Pure Financial decided to engage Digital Edge first for an internal audit to better understand the challenges and then create an overarching adoption plan. Digital Edge’s legal team provided the law and control applicability analysis, while the cybersecurity team created a plan of technology controls implementation. By leveraging the tools and resources that Digital Edge brought to the project, Pure Finance Group revealed a 60% saving in time, and the overall completion of the project was cut in half.

“We engaged Digital Edge (“DE”) in the assistance of this very important compliance project. The turnaround time on the project was very short. As soon as we engaged them, their Team of experts quickly responded, and the project was underway. They took the time to thoroughly explain what was needed, promptly completed the necessary tasks to complete the project and provide us with the information we needed to meet our deadline. Michael, Keith, and the rest of the Team were very professional, knowledgeable, and committed to helping us meet our deadline. Pure Finance Group would consider using Digital Edge for future projects.” Says HJ Snead, Director of Compliance and Risk.

The overall implementation and preparation of the documentation including information classification, risk analysis, policies, and procedures, as well as the internal audit, took 8 weeks. Following completion of the project, the package was submitted to the state and approved within a few days after the submission.

This success story underscores the value of a responsive, integrated approach to cybersecurity, compliance, and operations, providing companies in the Financial Services sector with a vital “License to Operate” amid the ever-changing regulatory landscape.

Our client is a well-capitalized global fintech based in downtown Chicago, catering to an extensive network of over 6,000 Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs). These RIAs rely on the company for investing in protective financial products such as structured notes, annuities, and buffered ETFs, safeguarding investor portfolios against market downturns. The client also provides tools to empower financial advisors in learning, analyzing, customizing, purchasing, and managing the most suitable products for their clients.

The executive and management staff faced escalating concerns regarding the impact of the regional and global regulatory environment on their business. Additionally, there was a growing need for guidance on complex cloud workloads within their infrastructure environment with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that was keeping them up at night. They needed to mature their cybersecurity and compliance posture and improve visibility and reporting capabilities.

Digital Edge addressed these challenges by implementing a robust data governance framework and rules of engagement. Cloud modernization strategies were deployed using the AWS Account Factory program to streamline AWS accounts, thereby increasing speed to market and delivery for all users. Adhering to AWS SaaS best practices, the solution improved security and compliance while enhancing transparency and reporting capabilities. Digital Edge provided 24/7 dedicated engineering resources with DevOps and SecOps capabilities, ensuring the security of their systems.

The integrated cybersecurity, compliance, and operations solution delivered by Digital Edge significantly reduced executive management and staff involvement. The solution offered improved visibility, reporting, and management of workloads, addressing a major pain point for the client.

• Implementation of a multi-account strategy
• 30% reduction in internal deployment times
• Amplified customer centricity through improved scalability and automation
• 30% average year-over-year cost optimization and increased efficiencies
• Enhanced visibility through a dashboard for continuous oversight
• Dedicated DevOps with a highly competent team of cloud engineers and compliance professionals with legal expertise in Regtech

The ongoing collaboration between Global Fintech, Digital Edge, and AWS has transformed the client's organization into a customer-centric, digitally savvy business. The introduction of a new SaaS option has provided the client's user base with benefits such as AWS-compliant security, enhanced resilience, accessibility from anywhere, cost savings, and scalable storage options. Digital Edge continues to offer engineering, production, and governance support.

In the Financial industry, reputation is paramount, underscoring the ability to navigate challenging and difficult circumstances out of a firm’s control. The capacity to function effectively amid adversities, encompassing disasters, outages, and notably, cybersecurity breaches is indispensable for survival. Enclosed are several success stories that illustrate Incident Response as a defensive mechanism for continuous uptime operations. These examples spotlight Digital Edge collaborating with their clients, safeguarding them from prospective cyber breaches and sustaining full operational integrity.

Navigating an acquisition can be both exhilarating and daunting, as it introduces the prospect of inheriting vulnerabilities that may compromise the security of an organization. Such was the case for a prominent International FinTech client. In this instance, the inherited Active Directory, aging and devoid of 2 Factor Authentication, became an unwitting gateway for a successful and undetected brute force attack.

Digital Edge's Cybersecurity Incident Response Team (CIRT) acted swiftly to address the incident. Following a review by the cybersecurity insurance company, Digital Edge was assigned full responsibility for the recovery, underscoring trust in their expertise. Their actions not only stopped the encryption process but also ensured a complete recovery.

Prompt intervention by the CIRT curtailed the encryption process and eradicated the intruder. Remarkably, the client maintained 90% operational capacity throughout the incident, ensuring uninterrupted service delivery to clients.

• Enhanced detection capabilities through proprietary technologies
• Identity Threat Detection and Response measures implemented
• Proactive stance against future threats through advanced techniques

Legacy software vulnerabilities posed a significant risk for a client. Exploiting outdated systems, an intruder initiated a cascade of encryptions. Despite the subtlety of the attack, Digital Edge’s vigilance and honeypot technology were instrumental in detecting and mitigating the threat.

Honeypot technology revealed the intruder during reconnaissance operations. Swift eradication efforts mitigated the immediate threat, while recalibrating operational capacities helped address damages caused by the breach.

Despite the severity of the incident, Digital Edge maintained 100% workforce operability. Service delivery to end customers experienced minimal disruption, limited to a two-day delay attributed to legacy software limitations.

• Demonstrated importance of addressing legacy software vulnerabilities
• Swift and decisive response minimized disruption
• Operational continuity measures ensured seamless workforce operations

Identity Threats account for 40% of cybersecurity breaches. Even with rigorous training, the human factor remains a vulnerability. A financial services client fell victim to a malicious link, triggering an Office 365 exploitation.

Digital Edge’s Identity Threat Detection and Response system flagged a risky login alert. The Security Operation Team, in collaboration with the Cybersecurity Incident Response Team (CIRT), quickly neutralized the threat and uncovered spying rules in Exchange Online.

The compromised account was reset to optimal settings, thwarting further threats. The incident had no impact on operations, with 100% of the client’s staff remaining fully operational.

• Seamless service continuity for the client
• Enhanced threat detection and mitigation
• Robust incident response ensured operational integrity

Executives within the Financial Industry express growing apprehension regarding the state of their organization's infrastructure, compliance, and cybersecurity resilience. Despite these concerns, decision-makers grapple with internal conflicts that often run counter to their overarching objectives.
For many small and midsize businesses, the challenge lies in justifying the allocation of resources for a dedicated cybersecurity and compliance team due to budgetary constraints. Consequently, these organizations continue to rely on their conventional IT or DevOps teams to handle these critical functions. However, this reliance on traditional teams proves ineffective, as neither possesses the comprehensive expertise essential for efficiently mitigating and managing risks in cloud environments.
Digital Edge offers an integrated cybersecurity, compliance, and operations solution tailored for traditional IT and DevOps teams, enhancing visibility and reporting capabilities while streamlining operations for their clients.

A client using an Investment Relationship Management SaaS Platform faced compliance challenges governed by GLBA, GDPR, and state-specific privacy laws. Non-Compliance issues, primarily from unused and ungoverned objects, created significant risks. Executives perceived these as potential legal liabilities and reputational threats.

Digital Edge, collaborating with senior management, rectified 100% of Non-Compliance issues within 50 days. Guardrails were implemented to enforce compliance policies, preventing the introduction of new vulnerabilities.

An internal audit revealed 70% of required controls were unimplemented. Digital Edge’s solution addressed these vulnerabilities, ensuring the platform's compliance and operational resilience.

This solution established sustained compliance and security while aligning the platform with complex regulatory requirements.

The AML SaaS Platform, used in Europe and the Middle East, faced over 600 Non-Compliance instances uncovered during an internal audit. Although these issues posed no immediate high-security threats, they carried significant legal risks.

Digital Edge innovatively avoided access to production environments by using an audit account created by the DevOps team. Aggregating logs enabled compliance checks without compromising sensitive data. Compliance reached 98% within the first 90 days.

Digital Edge’s methodology empowered IT teams to demonstrate adherence to security guidelines, ensuring alignment with industry best practices and bolstering CxO confidence.

• CxO confidence in security measures
• Visibility into cybersecurity compliance
• Demonstrated adherence to global regulations and standards