In just 6 months, Foursys strengthened a financial institution’s security with Zero Trust, achieving 100% MFA coverage and zero identity incidents in the post-implementation period—without disrupting operations.
The Challenge: Supply Chain Vulnerabilities and Identity Gaps in a High-Growth Operation
The rapid growth of transactional operations and the expansion of digital channels posed a critical cybersecurity challenge for the financial institution. The coexistence of multiple integrated ecosystems, exposed APIs, and hybrid work teams exposed gaps in Identity and Access Management (IAM).
The need for a overhaul became a priority after the detection of a security incident at a third-party supplier in the supply chain. The incident triggered a formal alert to the Board of Directors, demanding urgent action to strengthen the security perimeter, ensure compliance with Brazilian Central Bank (BACEN) guidelines, and eliminate operational risks.
Key Challenges:
- Overcoming the Legacy Perimeter Model: The need to transition from traditional edge firewalls to controls based on context and active identities.
- Adhering to the Principle of Least Privilege: Eliminating accumulated permissions and excessive privileges without centralized governance.
- Swift Regulatory Compliance: A rapid and traceable response to the cybersecurity standards required by BACEN.
Why Foursys?
To carry out a profound transformation in a critical financial ecosystem, the institution sought more than just an analytical consulting firm: it needed a strategic partner with strong practical execution capabilities and a focus on business continuity.
Foursys was selected based on the following differentiators:
- Hands-On and Practical Approach: Unlike purely theoretical consulting models, Foursys offered the ability to deliver real, rapid, and results-oriented implementation from day one.
- Execution Without Operational Friction: Proven expertise in carrying out complex migrations and security reengineering in 24/7 environments without causing downtime or productivity bottlenecks.
- Integrated Mastery of SecOps and DevSecOps: A holistic view of security that spanned from identity governance (IAM/Zero Trust) and monitoring (SIEM) to security automation in the code pipeline.
- Agility and Meeting Tight Deadlines: Ability to mobilize experts and achieve 100% MFA coverage in just 3 months, responding swiftly to the Board’s demands.
Success Factors
Foursys’ work elevated the institution’s cybersecurity maturity to levels of excellence, with highly significant results:
- Zero Operational Downtime: Migration of rules and MFA rollout carried out without any interruption to the availability of the application or 24/7 transactional services.
- Dramatic Reduction in MTTR: The average time to detect threats dropped from 72 hours to just 4 hours (a 94% reduction).
- Elimination of Identity Incidents: Achieved a record of zero incidents on the perimeter post-implementation.
Regulatory Compliance and Governance: Full compliance with BACEN regulations and successful reporting to the Board of Directors.
The Solution
Based on the Zero Trust principle (“Never trust, always verify”), Foursys designed and executed a roadmap consisting of 6 implementation phases over 6 months:
- Comprehensive Zero Trust Assessment: Thorough mapping of attack surfaces, data flows, and access matrices.
- Universal MFA Deployment: Implementation of mandatory multi-factor authentication for 100% of users and both internal and external access within 90 days.
- Access Governance & Least Privilege: Reengineering of permissions and strict granting of privileges based on role profiles.
- Continuous Monitoring via SIEM: Centralization and real-time correlation of events from more than 30 heterogeneous log sources in Splunk SIEM.
- DevSecOps in the Development Cycle: Automation of SAST and DAST scans using SonarQube, OWASP ZAP, and Fortify for preventive remediation of code vulnerabilities.
Endpoint Protection and Microsegmentation: Implementation of CrowdStrike Falcon and isolation of critical environments and workloads.
Results
Foursys’ work elevated the financial institution’s cybersecurity maturity, ensuring resilience, governance, and compliance:
- Zero Identity Incidents: Stability and total perimeter protection post-implementation.
- 347 Vulnerabilities Fixed: Thorough remediation of code (SAST), APIs (DAST), and infrastructure.
- 94% Reduction in Detection Time: Threat response time reduced from 72 hours to 4 hours with Splunk SIEM.
- 100% Universal MFA in 3 Months: Full adoption of strong authentication in record time.
- Regulatory Compliance (BACEN): Full compliance with regulatory standards and effective response to the Council.