Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

When the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) released its Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (CAT) in 2015, it became the industry standard for evaluating cyber readiness. ‍ A decade later, the threat landscape has evolved—and rather than updating the CAT, the FFIEC retired it on August 31, 2025. With CAT no longer the industry's best practice, many financial institutions are asking: What’s next? ‍

When you’re moving fast, you can’t waste cycles on noise—you’ve got to focus on what actually matters. Compliance is no different. If you’re trying to lock in SOC 2 so you can close bigger deals, you don’t have time to vet claims in the market or to deep dive into a Reddit rabbit hole. ‍ That’s why we pulled together a crew of certified experts—and startup operators who’ve actually been through it—to cut through the myths.

Organizations worldwide are increasingly developing or implementing AI-powered tools to streamline operations and scale efficiently. However, the benefits come with unpredictable risks unique to AI that need to be mitigated with the right safeguards. ‍ One of the biggest AI security challenges is the lack of formalized oversight. According to Vanta’s State of Trust Report, only 36% of organizations have AI-informed security policies in place or are in the process of building them.

We’re thrilled to announce that Vanta has signed a strategic collaboration agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to make it even easier for businesses to scale securely in the cloud. We’re expanding the reach of our compliance automation and trust management platform, enabling organizations to build stronger security programs, accelerate audit readiness, and demonstrate compliance more efficiently—all while scaling on AWS. ‍

As AI adoption grows, so do the related risks. Organizations are actively looking for strategies to secure their AI systems. According to Vanta’s State of Trust Report, 62% of organizations plan to boost investments in AI security in the next 12 months. ‍ However, another recent survey on AI governance reveals that more than half of organizations find it challenging to keep up with AI security developments.

The AI boom has introduced intelligent tools into most industries, not just in tech-first organizations. But the rising adoption also opens the door to new risks. ‍ Vanta’s AI governance survey found that 63% of organizations rate data privacy and protection as the top concern with AI, followed by security and adversarial threats at 50%. These numbers emphasize how urgently organizations want to prioritize defenses for AI-specific attack vectors.

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.

AI is rewriting the startup playbook. Today’s founders must juggle faster tech cycles and rising investor expectations around AI with age-old challenges such as finding product-market fit. ‍ Founders need more than grit and luck—they need frameworks that make growth repeatable and resilient.