Cyber & Operational Resilience for Financial Services
Our CREST-accredited SOC, MDR, penetration testing and incident response services give continuous monitoring, tested evidence and expert support needed to withstand ransomware, third-party ICT risk and supply-chain attacks, while strengthening cyber resilience in line with FCA, PRA and DORA expectations.
Our certified consultants help you meet FCA expectations, manage supply chain risk, and implement robust ISMS frameworks.
Cyber Resilience, DORA & Third-Party ICT Risk: What Financial Services Firms Need to Know
Financial services firms face a distinct threat profile - ransomware, third-party and supply-chain attacks, credential theft, Business Email Compromise, and cloud misconfiguration. At the same time, the FCA and PRA's Operational Resilience framework and the EU's Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA - Regulation (EU) 2022/2554) both demand proof, not policy: identified important business services, tested impact tolerances, and demonstrable oversight of third-party ICT risk.
Claranet supports this with 24/7/365 SOC monitoring and MDR across your hybrid and multi-cloud estate (AWS, Azure, GCP), CREST-accredited and CBEST-aligned penetration testing, and incident response retainers - giving you the tested evidence auditors and regulators expect. Our managed cloud and disaster recovery services for financial services help you meet RTO/RPO targets mapped to FCA/PRA impact tolerances.
We don't replace your DORA or Operational Resilience governance programme - we provide the security operations and testing evidence that sits underneath it. For ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials and wider regulatory consultancy, see our expert cyber consultancy for financial services.
24/7/365 managed detection & response (MDR) for Financial Services
Financial firms are a top target for cyber-attacks. Our 24/7/365 Security Operations Centre (SOC) acts as your dedicated expert team. We deploy and manage advanced Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services, integrating with your SIEM and other security tools. Our analysts proactively hunt for threats across your endpoints, cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP), and on-premises networks - providing rapid containment to stop ransomware, data breaches, and the third-party ICT risk introduced by your supply chain. We provide detailed reports for FCA and PRA audits, supporting the continuous monitoring financial entities need under DORA and Operational Resilience requirements.
Advanced Endpoint detection & response (EDR) for Financial Services
Secure every trader workstation, high-value server, and remote laptop. We move you beyond traditional antivirus with advanced Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR). Our solutions use behavioral analysis and AI to stop zero-day threats, sophisticated malware, and Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs). EDR is a critical component of a modern Zero Trust architecture, allowing for automatic isolation of compromised devices to halt a breach in its tracks. EDR is a foundational control for cyber resilience - and for protecting the third-party and remote access points that sit inside your ICT risk perimeter.
Penetration testing for Financial Services
Meet and exceed regulatory requirements with our CREST-certified penetration testing services. We specialize in tests for the financial sector, including intelligence-led pentesting framework simulations, PCI DSS penetration testing, mobile banking application assessments, and API security analysis. Our testers simulate real-world attacks to identify critical vulnerabilities, providing actionable reports for technical teams and executive summaries for risk committees. This gives you the resilience testing evidence - including CBEST-aligned scenarios - that regulators expect as proof of Operational Resilience and DORA-aligned digital operational resilience testing.
Financial Services incident response (IR) & Recovery
When a breach or ransomware attack occurs, every minute counts. Our 24/7 incident response retainers give you immediate access to breach coaches and forensic experts. We manage the entire incident lifecycle: containment, investigation, eradication, and recovery. Crucially, we provide expertise in navigating regulatory notification requirements for the FCA, PRA, and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to minimize financial loss and reputational damage. This directly supports your Operational Resilience obligations - minimising disruption to important business services and giving you the incident evidence needed for DORA and FCA/PRA reporting.
Speak to Our Financial Services Security Specialists
Get a tailored view of your cyber resilience and third-party ICT risk exposure from consultants who work daily with FCA- and PRA-regulated firms
Book a Resilience Consultation
Or call us on 0330 390 0507
Cyber operation Faqs for Financial Services
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DORA (the Digital Operational Resilience Act, Regulation (EU) 2022/2554) is EU legislation that sets binding ICT risk management, incident reporting, resilience testing and third-party oversight requirements for financial entities. It applies directly to firms operating in the EU - but UK groups with EU subsidiaries, EU clients, or EU-facing ICT providers are increasingly assessed against it too. Even UK-only firms use DORA as a reference standard, alongside the FCA and PRA's own Operational Resilience framework.
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Operational Resilience is the regulatory obligation - set by the FCA and PRA - to identify your important business services, set impact tolerances, and prove you can stay within them during disruption. Cyber Resilience is the practical capability that underpins it: the SOC monitoring, detection, response and recovery services that stop a cyber incident becoming an Operational Resilience breach. In short, cyber resilience is what makes operational resilience achievable.
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Not directly. DORA compliance is a governance and risk-management programme owned by your organisation. What Claranet provides is the security operations layer underneath it: 24/7 SOC monitoring, MDR, CREST-accredited and CBEST-aligned penetration testing, and incident response — giving your compliance and risk teams the tested, audit-ready evidence that a DORA or Operational Resilience programme requires
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EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) is the tool on your devices (laptops, servers) that detects and stops threats. MDR (Managed Detection and Response) is the service—our 24/7 SOC team of experts who use your EDR, SIEM, and other tools to proactively hunt for threats, investigate alerts, and respond, so your internal team doesn't have to.
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CBEST is an intelligence-led penetration testing framework created by the Bank of England, FCA, and PRA for critical financial institutions. While not "mandatory" for all, regulators expect firms designated as core to the financial system to participate. It simulates sophisticated attacks (APTs) to test your true resilience, and is seen as the gold standard for financial pentesting.
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In the event of a significant breach, the FCA requires prompt and transparent notification. Our IR team includes breach coaches who, alongside your legal counsel, manage the technical investigation to quickly determine the scope and impact. This provides the clear, factual information you need to make accurate and timely reports to the FCA, PRA, and ICO, demonstrating control and managing regulatory exposure.
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Traditional AV relies on signatures of known viruses and cannot stop new (zero-day) attacks. EDR uses behavioral analysis and AI to detect suspicious activity (e.g., a Word doc trying to encrypt files). This allows it to stop modern ransomware and Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) that AVs would miss entirely.
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Yes. This is our specialty. Financial firms rarely have a 100% cloud estate. Our 24/7 SOC is expert at ingesting security logs from all sources—on-premise servers, firewalls, Microsoft 365, and hyperscale clouds like AWS (GuardDuty, CloudTrail) and Azure (Sentinel, Defender for Cloud). We correlate all this data to find complex threats that span your entire hybrid environment.