DefenseStorm – Helping Financial Institutions Achieve Real-Time Cyber Safety

With the constantly evolving storm of threats facing the financial services industry, organizations need an efficient way to connect monitoring, detection, triage, response, resolution, audit-trail and reporting. And with a global shortage of qualified cyber staff and a highly competitive marketplace for well-credentialed experts, it’s difficult to hire the people needed to stay ahead of these threats. Artificial intelligence has transformed pretty much every industry in which it’s been embraced, including healthcare, the stock markets, and, increasingly, cybersecurity, where it’s being utilized to both enhance human work and strengthen defenses. As a result of recent improvements in machine learning, the dreary work that was once done by people, filtering through apparently unlimited amounts of information searching for threat indicators and anomalies would now be able to be automated.

Present day AI’s ability to understand threats, risks and relationships enable it to sift through a generous amount of the noise burdening cybersecurity divisions and surface just the pointers destined to be legitimate. Indeed, even as AI innovation changes some aspects of cybersecurity, the crossing point of the two remains significantly human. In spite of the fact that it’s maybe unreasonable, humans are upfront in all pieces of the cybersecurity triad: the terrible actors who look to do hurt, the gullible soft targets, and the great on-screen characters who retaliate.

DefenseStorm Cybersecurity leverages human interaction with machine learning for optimal performance. Security data is consolidated from any and all sources without volume limits, real-time visibility into the entire security operation is achieved, false positives are eliminated and events are prioritized to enable you to zero-in on the threats that matter most. A co-managed approach multiplies your cyber team and talent instantly. The Threat Ready Active Compliance (TRAC) team of banking and cybersecurity experts helps monitor and manage your security posture 24x7x365. It provides cybersecurity, CyberCompliance, and CyberFraud solutions specifically built for banking to achieve and maintain Cyber Safety and Soundness. The DefenseStorm GRID is the only co-managed, cloud-based and compliance-automated solution of its kind, operating as both a technology system and a service. It watches everything on a financial institution’s network to provide real-time cyber exposure readiness while a Threat Ready Active Compliance (TRAC) Team ensures cost-effective coverage.

Unique Factors That Makes DefenseStorm Reliable

Threat Ready: Proactively manage your total cyber exposure with a system built for banking. Easily oversee and understand your entire security operation with real-time visibility and machine learning-assisted alert detection. Specialized innovations such as ThreatMatch, PatternScout, Trigger Library and Alert Derivatives work in concert with the Active Compliance engine to deliver the highest levels of security and compliance.

Team Smart: Multiply your cyber team and expertise almost instantly through a Security Operations Center (SOC) in the cloud, without the capital expenditure and staff-up. In dynamic co-management with your resources, the TRAC (Threat Ready Active Compliance) team of cybersecurity and cybercompliance experts monitors and manages your security and compliance posture 24x7x365 to identify and resolve millions of potential cyber threats daily.

Board Accountable: Connect controls to actual policy enforcement with the real-time Active Compliance engine to drive perpetual, full cycle compliance. Evidence collection, proof of compliance and real-time executive and board visibility combine with the ease of Google search-like query capabilities and reporting. Security and regulatory frameworks are built-in, as are your policies and any other internal controls you desire.

Built for Banking Difference

DefenseStorm provides the only co-managed, cloud-based and compliance-automated solution designed specifically for the unique cyber threat and compliance demands facing the financial services industry. Conceived and led by bankers and fintech experts, DefenseStorm unifies cyber threat detection, investigation and reporting with compliance into a common system of record. Event data is aggregated across all cybersecurity tools and links policies to real-time alerts so you can prove to regulators you are doing the right things, in the right way, at the right time, while also adhering to your own internal policies. DefenseStorm’s latest innovation, DefenseStorm CyberFraud adds an additional layer of protection against fraudulent account opening and loan applications, account take-overs, payment fraud, money laundering and internal fraud.

The DefenseStorm GRID

The state-of-the-art DefenseStorm GRID powers the only purpose-built for banking system that combines human interaction with machine learning for optimal performance. The co-managed solution integrates essential threat detection with compliance processes to deliver automatic regulatory adherence and real-time threat visibility and prioritization. A team of cybersecurity analysts and engineers continuously protects your environment. Augmenting your staff with certified cybersecurity professionals eliminates alert fatigue and reduces false positives. Machine learning finds threats in anomalous activity. By leveraging this technology, you can automatically recognize patterns of behavior. Slash audit prep time by automatically collecting all compliance-related evidence and auto-generating reports to prove compliance to internal stakeholders and external regulators.

Threat Ready Active Compliance (TRAC)

The company’s co-managed approach to cybersecurity is supported by a team of analysts and engineers who continuously monitor and protect your network. The TRAC team of certified cyber professionals augments your staff and investigates alerts on your behalf, allowing you to focus on your core business. DefenseStorm’s TRAC team applies advanced information processing techniques using GRID to provide incident response, investigation of indicators of compromise (IOC) and threat analysis. The team has access to three Security Operations Centers (SOCs) for collaboration and training but operate independent of a specific geographic location. Defenders need to understand the tactics, techniques and procedures of bad actors to detect and defend against attacks in the real world. TRAC team members are encouraged to learn and practice ethical hacking and penetration testing, as well as acquire and maintain diverse certifications. Experience 7x24x365 protection aligned to your escalation process, including mitigation and change recommendations from experienced incident managers. Users can access Cyber Threat Center forum and can share experiences and insight with one another.

The Visionary Leader Upfront

Steve Soukup is the Chief Executive Officer of DefenseStorm. He has served as Chief Executive Officer since 2020 and in that role is responsible for leading all aspects of the company’s business. He is passionate about building a community of trust among the teams and with their customers while also enabling customers to do the same with their accountholders. Steve joined us as Chief Revenue Officer in May 2017 with a charge to drive growth for the business while leveraging his extensive experience serving the banking vertical. He was promoted to President in October 2019 and then to CEO in April of 2020. Under his leadership, DefenseStorm has set the standard for cyber safety and soundness within the banking vertical.

Steve has built world class customer-focused sales teams that have delivered double-digit year-over-year profitable revenue growth in fast paced and competitive environments. His background includes shaping a 100+ sales organization at e-banking leader Q2 to deliver 30% year-over-year revenue growth, as well as leadership positions at Intuit, S1 Corporation and KPN. Steve also has direct banking experience through management positions at Key Bank, BankBoston and State Street Bank. Steve is a graduate of Boston College and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Boston University. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Steve and his family have called the Atlanta area home for over 10 years.

“We help security teams stay smart and executives stay informed, so they can easily prove they are secure as well as compliant with their own policies and with evolving regulatory requirements and industry standards.”