Modernizing Cybersecurity to Protect Member Trust and $9B in Assets

Industry Descriptor: A Premier Northeast Financial Services Enterprise

The Challenge

With a century-long history and more than $9 billion in assets, this prominent Federal Credit Union faced the dual challenge of protecting more than 400,000 members while maintaining an agile posture in a fast-moving financial landscape. Their existing vulnerability management relied on legacy reporting that offered limited real-time visibility, making risk-based decision-making difficult. The organization needed to move beyond manual processes to a “system of action” that could automate prioritization and assignment, reducing the administrative burden on its security and IT teams.

The Solution

The organization implemented a comprehensive ServiceNow Security Operations (SecOps) foundation, specifically focusing on Vulnerability Response (VR). The project was designed to be a “consolidated tower” for security management, integrating disparate data sources into a single, proactive platform.

Key Implementation Highlights Included:

• Vulnerability Scanner Integration: Seamlessly integrated existing scanners with the platform, reconciling scanner data with the CMDB to ensure a high-fidelity view of assets.
• Risk-Based Prioritization: Developed custom vulnerability calculators and risk-based assignment rules, ensuring that remediation efforts were automatically directed to the threats posing the highest risk
• Automated Workflows & SLAs: Created structured, end-to-end workflows for vulnerability remediation, complete with SLA tracking to hold teams accountable and improve Mean Time to Remediate (MTTR).
• Automated Exception Management: Established a digitized request and approval process for security exceptions, including automated reminders for expiry dates to ensure no risk was left unmanaged.
• Training and Adoption: Facilitated comprehensive training sessions and provided detailed documentation to empower the internal team to independently sustain and grow the platform.

The Impact

• Consolidated Visibility: Replaced fragmented legacy reports with real-time management dashboards, providing leadership with a single, clear view of the organization’s vulnerability posture.
  
• Accelerated Remediation: Automation of the prioritization and assignment process significantly reduced the time from vulnerability discovery to resolution.
  
• Strategic Maturity: The project established a foundation that allows for easy expansion into advanced modules like Application Vulnerability Management and Security Incident Response.
  
• Audit-Ready Governance: The automated tracking of every vulnerability, exception, and remediation action ensures the institution is always prepared for rigorous financial audits.