Financial Services
Security Operations Transformation
Provided program and vendor governance for a security operations modernization spanning SIEM/SOAR consolidation, in response to fragmented tooling and recurring audit findings.
Client
A regulated enterprise security organization
Duration
11 months
Services Used
Program & Project Leadership, Technology Strategy & Roadmap
The Challenge
- Security tooling had grown organically across multiple acquisitions, leaving overlapping and poorly integrated systems.
- Manual incident response processes were creating delays and inconsistent documentation, drawing repeated audit findings.
- Multiple vendors were involved with no single point of program accountability.
The Approach
Mapped against the relevant dimensions of the ACTION™ framework.
Catalogued the overlapping security tooling accumulated across prior acquisitions and traced recurring audit findings back to their root causes in process and tooling gaps.
Defined which audit findings and risk gaps the consolidation needed to close first, prioritizing by regulatory exposure rather than ease of implementation.
Led an architecture and vendor evaluation to consolidate SIEM/SOAR tooling, establishing the governance and operating model for security tooling going forward.
Established program governance, a consolidated RAID log, and a single vendor management framework across all contracted parties.
Trained security analysts on standardized incident response playbooks and worked with each vendor's team to align on the new single point of program accountability.
Established a recurring audit-readiness review to confirm closed findings stayed closed, rather than waiting for the next audit cycle to find out.
The Solution
- Directed a phased SIEM/SOAR consolidation, prioritizing the highest-risk gaps identified in prior audits.
- Implemented standardized incident response playbooks supported by the new tooling.
- Brought consistent executive reporting and risk tracking to a previously fragmented set of vendor relationships.
The Results
Faster detection and response
Meaningful reduction in mean time to detect and respond to security incidents after consolidation.
Improved audit posture
Prior recurring audit findings were closed and did not reappear in the following cycle.
Reduced manual effort
Standardized playbooks cut the manual documentation burden on the security operations team.
The technical consolidation was necessary but not sufficient. Single-threaded program governance across vendors is what closed the audit findings for good.
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