Independent technical practice
Forensics and cyber risk for financial institutions
Investigations and independent assessments for institutions that answer to examiners, boards and customers at the same time.
Exposure
Where the exposure starts
Fraud inside a financial institution is rarely a single event. It is a pattern spread across core banking records, email, messaging, mobile devices and personal accounts, and reconstructing it requires evidence handling that will hold if the matter proceeds to termination, arbitration, regulatory referral or prosecution.
Account takeover, business email compromise and payment redirection remain the highest-frequency external exposures, and all three exploit process and authority rather than software defects. The investigative question is usually who authorized what, on which device, on the basis of which instruction.
Concentration risk in vendors and service providers is the structural issue. Core processors, payment platforms, cloud providers and outsourced technology functions mean that an institution’s effective attack surface is largely other companies’ environments, which is why third-party assessment is now examined as a governance matter rather than a procurement one.
Scoping
Questions the engagement must answer
- Which accounts, devices and transaction systems hold the record of the disputed activity?
- Can insider activity be distinguished from credential misuse on the available logs?
- What retention windows are about to close on the evidence that matters?
- What does the examiner’s finding mean for regulatory notification and customer remediation?
- How will the analysis be explained to a regulator, an auditor and, if needed, a court?
Services
How we help
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Digital Forensics & Expert Witness
Internal fraud investigation, evidence preservation, and reports and testimony that survive challenge.
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Executive Cyber Risk Advisory
Independent program and governance review reported to the board and audit committee.
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Cyber Due Diligence
Third-party and acquisition risk review for portfolio purchases, fintech partnerships and vendor onboarding.
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AI & Deepfake Analysis
Voice and video authentication where a payment instruction or identity claim is disputed.
Context
Regulatory context
- Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
- The safeguards obligation requires a documented information security program with risk assessment, oversight and service-provider management, all of which have to be evidenced rather than asserted.
- SEC cybersecurity disclosure rules
- Public registrants must disclose material cybersecurity incidents and describe risk management, strategy and governance, which puts a premium on defensible, fast materiality analysis.
- FFIEC guidance
- Examiners assess cyber program maturity, resilience and third-party oversight using published interagency expectations.
- Suspicious activity reporting
- Investigations into internal fraud frequently intersect with reporting obligations, so evidence is preserved in a form that supports both the internal decision and any subsequent filing.
We are not your compliance counsel; we produce the technical findings and evidence your counsel and examiners rely on.
Related case study
Banking Industry: Executive-Level Financial Fraud
Examination of executive conduct and transaction records inside a banking institution.
Financial Fraud
Talk with an examiner
Discuss the matter and the next step.
Call to discuss timing, scope and the safest way to share information. Do not send evidence or credentials by email.
24/7 hotline: 1-800-868-8189