In 2024, the average breach cost hit $4.88 million, but financial industry organizations face even greater impact, averaging $6.08 million, 22% above the global average. 

Infostealers represented nearly a quarter (24%) of all observed incidents, highlighting attackers’ focus on harvesting credentials, financial information, and sensitive data.

—Huntress Cyber Threat Report, 2025

Effective financial security measures give you the tools to protect sensitive data, prevent fraud, and maintain customer trust. These include incident response plans, encryption standards, access controls, and monitoring systems, all of which are your first line of defense against cyber threats.

Cybersecurity compliance means following laws and frameworks that define how your organization safeguards customer data and prevents fraud. Federal and state regulators actively enforce these requirements, imposing penalties of up to the millions, while also ensuring the integrity of the broader financial system.

Every regulation out there today was built around a hard lesson from the past: a breach, a ransomware attack, or perhaps a case of customer data exposure. These experiences are why the compliance landscape is what it is today, and they’re the reason why you need to set a strong security baseline against evolving threats.

Each time a financial firm boosts its security and compliance posture, it protects something more valuable than data. It protects trust.

Security and compliance programs help you detect and remediate threats quickly, minimize downtime, avoid catastrophic fines, and show customers and partners that security is a priority. For financial firms, trust is everything, and a single breach can erase years of goodwill.

Organizations with strong compliance programs experience fewer successful attacks, recover faster, and often gain competitive advantages when seeking partnerships with larger institutions.

Let’s review the main financial services cybersecurity regulations as they’re affecting how financial institutions manage cybersecurity today.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)

This is one of the main US federal laws. It requires financial institutions to disclose how they share and protect their customers’ personal data. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Safeguards Rule under GLBA requires encryption, access control, and multi-factor authentication. In case of non-compliance, it’s high financial penalties and even possible criminal charges. Organizations face up to $100,000 per violation, while individual officers can be fined $10,000 per violation and potentially face criminal charges.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)

Congress created SOX for corporate transparency after the Enron scandal, yet now it directly affects cybersecurity. If a cybersecurity incident influences the accuracy of financial reporting, SOX applies. So if you’re a publicly traded financial company, SOX compliance is mandatory.

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)

If your organization is involved in card payment processing, PCI DSS applies. This international standard protects cardholder data, maintains secure networks, performs regular vulnerability testing, implements strong access controls, and monitors network activity. Beyond penalties ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 monthly, non-compliance can suspend your payment processing privileges entirely. That means you can't take credit cards anymore.

The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) 

While multiple acts play a role, the BSA deserves attention. Originally designed to combat money laundering, it now includes cybersecurity measures that prevent criminals from exploiting system vulnerabilities. Financial institutions must report suspicious transactions and maintain records to deter cyber-facilitated financial crimes.

Meeting financial sector cybersecurity regulations requires strategic planning, layered defenses, and a culture of security awareness. Here’s how to get started:

Start with a risk assessment

Map out your most valuable assets, data flows, third-party risks, and pinpoint vulnerabilities across your network. Many data breaches occur through vendor systems, not your own, so keep that in mind when assessing risk.

Implement layered security controls

Defense in depth is a best practice. Implement multiple layers of protection, such as firewalls, intrusion detection, server and endpoint protection, email filtering, and regular patch management. 

A critical piece of your security architecture is a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platform. Huntress Managed SIEM ingests and Smart-Filters logs from endpoints, firewalls, VPNs, identity, and other systems so you get actionable detections, audit-ready search, and long-term retention to satisfy demanding financial regulators. This is done without the noise, complexity, and unpredictable costs of traditional SIEMs.

Establish strong access controls

Enforce least privilege, role-based access, and multi-factor authentication. Regularly review permissions when roles change or employees leave.

Create an incident response plan

Define roles for communication, containment, and recovery, and test your plan regularly with exercises or simulations. Most financial regulators require documented incident response plans for compliance certification.

Train your team continuously

Audits help identify weak spots before attackers do.

Maintain up-to-date documentation, including policies, procedures, and evidence of compliance activities. For example:

• SOX mandates annual audits of IT controls.

• PCI DSS requires quarterly vulnerability scans.

• GLBA requires regular risk assessments.

Use each audit to strengthen your security posture. Audits should not be thought of as hurdles.

Compliance can feel like a hassle, but it’s also a differentiator. Strong cybersecurity compliance builds confidence, minimizes risk, and positions your organization as forward-thinking. It also allows you to partner with larger institutions that require proof of compliance.

Cybersecurity compliance in the financial sector is about being prepared. Know which frameworks apply to your organization, create layered controls that enforce and monitor security policies, and automate where possible to improve visibility and detection. Don’t forget to pair your technical controls with Huntress Managed SAT and well-documented security procedures so auditors can see both human and technical safeguards in place. Compliance is an ongoing commitment to your customers, your organization, and the broader financial ecosystem.