Industries
Banking Cybersecurity Advisory
Banking cybersecurity operates under the most demanding regulatory and threat profile in financial services — FFIEC examination expectations, FRB and OCC oversight, BSA-AML cyber overlap, and industrialized ransomware targeting. Virtual CISO advisory led by the former 15-year Chief Security Officer of Silicon Valley Bank — an operator who actually held the chair during the most consequential cyber events of the past decade.
Book a 30-minute intro callWhy banking cybersecurity is uniquely demanding
Banks operate at the convergence of high-value attack targets, intense regulatory oversight, and systemic importance. Generic cybersecurity advisory misses the operational realities banks face daily.
FFIEC examination expectations
Banks face FFIEC Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (CAT) reviews, IT examinations, and CSF-aligned cybersecurity oversight from FRB, OCC, FDIC, and state regulators. Examination findings affect the bank\'s composite rating, regulatory standing, and cost of capital. Bank-grade vCISO experience translates directly into examination-ready posture.
BSA-AML cyber overlap
Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering programs increasingly intersect with cybersecurity — fraud monitoring depends on cyber controls; sanctions screening depends on identity verification integrity; suspicious activity reporting depends on data quality. The overlap requires a vCISO who understands both compliance domains.
Industrialized ransomware targeting
Banks are top-tier ransomware targets. The attacker economics favor banks specifically — high willingness to pay, regulatory pressure to restore operations quickly, public-trust implications that constrain disclosure timing. Defensive posture has to assume targeted, persistent, well-resourced adversaries.
Third-party and core-system risk
Banks depend on core providers (FIS, Fiserv, Jack Henry), payment networks, and dozens of fintech and SaaS vendors. Each represents inherited cybersecurity exposure subject to regulator scrutiny under FFIEC third-party guidance. The vCISO owns the third-party risk program — including the bank-grade documentation regulators expect.
Why vCSO.ai for banking cybersecurity
vCSO.ai is led by Nick Shevelyov — 15 years as Chief Security Officer at Silicon Valley Bank. That\'s rare bench depth: most cybersecurity advisors haven\'t held the chair at a bank with $200B+ in assets, regulatory scrutiny from FRB and FDIC, and the threat profile of the bank to the innovation economy.
- 15 years as a bank CSO. Direct experience with FRB, FDIC, and OCC examinations, FFIEC CAT assessments, and the BSA-AML cyber overlap.
- Nation-state-grade defense experience. SVB\'s response to nation-state cyber campaigns was cited by the Federal Reserve as the textbook approach.
- Network across the banking ecosystem. Direct relationships with peer bank CSOs, banking-cyber regulators, and the security vendor community serving banks.
- Examination-ready posture. Bank-grade documentation standards, regulator-fluent communication, and the operational discipline regulators expect.