The Customer

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Founded in 1950, our customer, a growing financial services firm, has grown through strategic mergers and acquisitions, marked by its NASDAQ listing in the early 2000s. The firm's expansion includes significant acquisitions, enhancing its footprint, and cementing its status as a dynamic and evolving financial institution in the regional banking landscape.

Precision and risk management are paramount for the firm, so their challenge was not unusual in the banking world, but the approach they were about to take was revolutionary. Its newly appointed Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) brought an unconventional background in economics to a role traditionally dominated by technical expertise. His challenge? Demystify the complex world of cybersecurity for a board highly skilled in finance but not in the arcane language of IT security.

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The Challenge

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The CISO’s journey began with a fundamental question: How could he translate the nuanced, often abstract, concepts of cyber risk into clear, business financial terms? This task was critical, as the board needed to understand the potential financial impact of cyber threats to make informed decisions. It was here that X-Analytics caught his attention. Unlike traditional cybersecurity tools that often lost their audience in a maze of technical jargon, X-Analytics promised a different approach aligned with the firm’s economic perspective and offered a financial model of cyber risk.

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The Solution

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The problem facing the firm was a familiar tale in the world of cybersecurity. There was a pervasive sense of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) surrounding cyber threats. The CISO aimed to replace this uncertainty with clarity and structure. With X-Analytics, he could present cyber risks in a language that the board understood – the language of dollars and cents. The platform enabled him to identify which cybersecurity investments were truly essential and which were less critical based on financial impact.

The CISO began integrating X-Analytics into the firm’s regular risk management practices, using it weekly and monthly to monitor and assess cyber risk. The platform proved invaluable to the bank.  Thanks to the insights provided by X-Analytics, the team is prepared for their most likely and biggest financial exposure events. Their goal? Quickly mitigate any attack, minimize downtime, and contain potential financial losses.

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The Result

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The results of implementing X-Analytics were transformative. The team was able to reduce the firm’s financial exposure by over 28% in their first round of program improvements.  This reduction was not just a win in terms of risk management but also represented a substantial financial return on the firm’s cybersecurity investments. The team was able to demonstrate a remarkable ROI on its cybersecurity program, a figure that powerfully communicated the value of these investments to the board.

In seeking out the best tools for its needs, the firm also evaluated other solutions.  X-Analytics stood out for its comprehensive approach. It combined extensive datasets and a business-centric approach to provide a financially grounded view of cyber risk. This approach resonated with the bank's leadership, aligning perfectly with the firm’s financial decision-making processes.