Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

Across the financial sector, compliance teams face rising expectations from regulators and customers alike. Agencies such as the SEC, OCC, FDIC, CFPB, and the European Banking Authority now demand proof of continuous compliance—not point-in-time reports. Yet most financial institutions still depend on spreadsheets, manual command-line checks, and tribal knowledge to validate security controls.

With regulatory complexity rising across all industries, managing multiple frameworks and amended regulations simultaneously has become the new security standard. Regular audits and continuous improvement have also become essential, both to ensure ongoing compliance and to strengthen customer trust. ‍ However, manual compliance audits are time- and resource-intensive. Their complexity grows with each new framework, significantly raising the risk of human error and compliance fatigue.

PCI audits are not designed to protect your organization. They are designed to protect the payment card industry. This misalignment exists because card brands bear the burden of fraud-related costs, so the framework is built to minimize their exposure rather than address the unique risks merchants face. For example, PCI DSS focuses heavily on infrastructure and network security, reflecting a time when payment processing happened in secure, on-premise environments.

Ephemeral accounts are temporary, high-privilege accounts created for short-term use. They’re a convenient way to get quick, temporary access to systems, data or applications for one-off tasks. Need temporary admin rights for a few minutes? Just create an ephemeral account, complete your task and move on. But behind the convenience of these temporary credentials loom serious security threats.

Many years ago, a friend of mine worked as a security director at a firm and had what they called an “audit box.” It was a pre-prepared box filled with policies, network diagrams, security controls and checkboxes. Basically, all the things an auditor would want to see during a visit. Except they weren’t always a true reflection of reality. That's a tidy version of cybersecurity. You purchase a tool, deploy it, tick the box and the problem goes away.

As IT threats and vulnerabilities continue to evolve, regulatory and compliance demands are growing in response. Many organizations today need to navigate multiple mandatory security frameworks and regulations. According to Vanta’s 2025 Trust Maturity Report, 90% of respondents cite compliance requirements as a top driver for investing in security. ‍ Maintaining compliance with the necessary frameworks requires continuous monitoring of your security posture and critical controls updates.

We are pleased to announce that Internxt has passed its second consecutive security audit for all its services from the leading independent European pentesting company, Securitum, which also works with firms as relevant as Proton. Having become the first cloud storage with post-quantum, plus our zero-knowledge policies, when we say your data is private and secure from hackers, it’s not just a claim, but verifiable by external security professionals and experts in the field.

For decades, penetration testing has been the gold seal of cybersecurity. Auditors love them. Insurance brokers demand them. Your board sees them and believes the “secure” box for your company has been sufficiently checked. And to be clear: manual pen tests have an important place. For compliance mandates, regulatory filings, or mission-critical systems, there’s no substitute for a skilled third-party team that probes your environment.