Control for banking

Path governance for transaction networks and trading floors.

Financial institutions operate networks where milliseconds matter and a single breach can move billions. Payment systems, trading infrastructure and SWIFT connections need physical path governance.

• SWIFT and payment risks
• Trading floor exposure
• Third-party connectivity

The scenario

Scenario: SWIFT infrastructure compromise.

Payment message submission should need more than one person, and a path that opens only for the job. Step through it, or play it through.

1. 01The attack path
2. 02With Control

Step 1 of 2

The attack path

Attackers compromise an employee workstation through a targeted phishing campaign and move laterally over four weeks until they reach the SWIFT Alliance Lite2 server.

They install custom malware that intercepts and modifies SWIFT messages, submitting fraudulent payment instructions during a bank holiday weekend.

The path

Always there

What the attacker needs

A foothold and time

Play it through

An illustrative scenario.

Layer 1

Separation of payments and SWIFT

Dual control

Access to payment and trading infrastructure

Windowed

Vendor and fintech access

Logged

Evidence for DORA and PCI DSS

Where each Control module is deployed across customers, core banking, payments and vendors.

Banks layer the estate around the cardholder data environment: an internet edge, a perimeter, an identity tier, applications, and the core ledger and payments environments. Control puts a real boundary at every change of trust.

1. B0 to B1 link and vendor linkFirebreakA physical cut on the public and vendor boundaries, with vendor connectivity opened only for named work.
2. B0 to B1, B1 to B2 and B3 to B4 linksValidateRequests crossing into trusted estates are checked for origin, integrity and authority before they reach an account or a ledger.
3. B1 to B2, B3 to B4 and B4 to B5 linksIsolateIdentity, core and payments sit on their own physical fabrics, in line with PCI segmentation expectations.
4. B2 to B3 and B4 to B5 linksLockPrivileged access ties to named identities with the right entitlement. Standing access is the exception.
5. B2 to B3 and B4 to B5 linksExecuteCross-system actions require approval in line, and Execute holds the action until that approval is in place.
6. Vendor linkRelayVendor and fintech access opens for the window of work and not a minute more.
7. Vendor linkUnlinkWhen a vendor relationship ends, Unlink removes the persistent connection and the inherited trust.

Explore the Control Blueprints

From first boundary to routine operation.

Four steps, piloted on one site before it extends across the estate.

1. 1

   Financial network assessment

   Map all network paths between corporate IT, payment systems, trading infrastructure, SWIFT and third-party connections.

2. 2

   Transaction zone design

   Design physically separated zones for each financial system category, with Control modules governing every inter-zone boundary.

3. 3

   Non-production pilot

   Deploy in a test environment mirroring your transaction infrastructure, with zone separation, dual-control authorisation and compliance logging.

4. 4

   Production deployment

   Phased deployment across financial infrastructure, with verified configuration baselines and independent management communications.

Explore more

Where to go next.

• OSS for banking
• Supply chain risk
• DORA
• Control Blueprints
• Control by industry

• Firebreak
• Validate
• Isolate
• Lock
• Execute

Speak to the team to organise a PoC.

Walk through your blueprint with the Firevault team and scope a proof of concept on your estate. 30 minutes, no sales pitch.