Financial Services
Technology, cybersecurity, and compliance for wealth managers, investment firms, finance teams, and the merchants who take card payments every day.
Schedule a ConsultationTechnology Excellence for Financial Firms
DeBerry Contracts supports the firms that manage, invest, and account for money: registered investment advisers, wealth managers, investment firms, corporate finance teams, and merchants. We secure your client data, build the controls regulators and auditors expect, and give your team modern Microsoft tools that make them faster.
Security & Compliance First: Trust is your most valuable asset. Every solution we deliver is built to stand up to SEC examinations and SOX audits.
How We Help Financial Firms:
SEC Cybersecurity Compliance
Prepare for Form 8-K Item 1.05 incident disclosures, Form 10-K Item 106 governance reporting, and Regulation S-P safeguards with documented playbooks and evidence.
SOX IT Controls & Audit Readiness
Design and test the access, change management, logging, and retention controls auditors evaluate under Sections 302, 404, and 802.
Wire Fraud & Email Compromise Defense
Stop business email compromise and payment fraud with hardened Microsoft 365 security, verified payment workflows, and staff training.
Secure Client Portals & Document Handling
Deliver statements, tax documents, and sensitive files through encrypted, auditable channels clients trust.
Microsoft Copilot & Secure AI Adoption
Deploy Microsoft 365 Copilot with the data protections financial firms require, plus prompting training and Copilot Studio agents for client communication and reporting.
Cloud Security & Business Continuity
Move to Microsoft 365 and Azure securely, with backups and recovery plans that keep you serving clients during an outage.
Ready for Your Next Exam or Audit?
Let's review where your firm stands against SEC and SOX requirements and build a clear plan to close the gaps.
Why Financial Firms Choose Us
- •Practical command of SEC cybersecurity disclosure rules, Regulation S-P, SOX, and PCI DSS
- •Microsoft 365, Entra ID, and Azure security configured to produce audit-ready evidence
- •Proven defenses against wire fraud, email compromise, and account takeover
- •Clear documentation your examiners, auditors, and board can follow
- •Business continuity and disaster recovery for client-facing systems
Let's Connect
Discuss how we can support your firm's technology, security, and compliance needs.
Contact UsSales@deberrycontracts.comCompliance Focus
Find the Right Solution for Your Business
Each part of the financial world has its own rules and risks. Choose your sector to see the services, compliance requirements, and answers that apply to you.
Wealth Management & RIAs
Regulation S-P, client data, and advisor security
Protect client trust, satisfy the SEC, and give your advisors technology that keeps up.
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Investment Firms & Public Companies
SEC 8-K and 10-K cybersecurity disclosure
Four business days is not much time. Be ready before the clock starts.
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Finance & Accounting Teams
SOX IT controls and payment fraud prevention
Clean audits, secure payments, and controls your team can actually live with.
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Merchant Services & POS
Restaurants, bars, hotels, barbershops, and retail
Fast, secure payments for every swipe, tap, and online order.
Learn moreThe Compliance Specifics, Section by Section
Every requirement, what it means for your systems, and the quick win that gets you there faster. Select a framework, then open any section to see the details.
SEC Cybersecurity Disclosure Rules & Regulation S-P
The SEC expects firms to detect incidents fast, decide materiality without delay, and prove that cybersecurity is governed from the board down. We build the playbooks, controls, and evidence that make those deadlines achievable.
- Determine whether an incident is material without unreasonable delay after discovery.
- File an 8-K within four business days of a materiality determination.
- Describe the nature, scope, and timing of the incident and its material or reasonably likely impact.
- Amend the filing as information that was unavailable at the time becomes known.
Stand up a disclosure committee and a pre-approved materiality worksheet so the four-day clock never starts from zero.
- Describe processes for assessing, identifying, and managing material cybersecurity risks.
- Disclose whether third-party assessors, consultants, or auditors are engaged.
- Explain how risks from third-party service providers are overseen.
- Describe board oversight and the expertise of management responsible for cybersecurity.
Map your security program to NIST CSF 2.0 and document board briefings quarterly so the annual narrative writes itself.
- Maintain a written incident response program to detect, respond to, and recover from unauthorized access to customer information.
- Notify affected individuals as soon as practicable, and no later than 30 days after becoming aware of a breach of sensitive customer information.
- Oversee service providers, including requiring them to notify you within 72 hours of a breach.
- Keep records demonstrating compliance with safeguards and disposal requirements.
Add a 72-hour breach notice clause to every vendor contract and keep a ready-to-send customer notification template.
Sarbanes-Oxley IT Security Requirements by Section
Sarbanes-Oxley is a financial reporting law, but nearly every section depends on IT controls. Here is what each section means for your systems, and the fastest way to get audit-ready.
- Access controls so only authorized personnel can modify financial data.
- Logging and monitoring to track changes to financial reports and data.
- Data integrity checks such as checksums or hashing to prove data has not been altered.
Enable Microsoft Purview audit logging and restrict finance system admin rights to named individuals.
- Encrypted transmission for financial data shared with external parties.
- Data classification policies that identify and protect sensitive financial information.
- Regular review of security policies to keep pace with disclosure requirements.
Apply sensitivity labels to financial workbooks so encryption follows the file wherever it goes.
- Regular risk assessments of IT systems that handle financial data.
- Multi-factor authentication on every system that accesses financial data.
- Documented IT controls, including formal change management.
- Periodic testing of control effectiveness with documented results.
Enforce MFA through Entra ID Conditional Access and keep a single control matrix your auditor can test against.
- Real-time monitoring to detect unauthorized access or changes to financial data.
- Secure, redundant disclosure systems that prevent downtime.
- Secure communication channels for urgent disclosures.
Route finance-system alerts into a monitored queue with a defined escalation owner.
- Data retention policies that define how long financial records are kept.
- Data loss prevention to stop unauthorized deletion or alteration.
- Backups that can recover from accidental or malicious deletion.
Configure Microsoft 365 retention policies and immutable backups for finance mailboxes and SharePoint sites.
- Secure, anonymous reporting channels that protect the reporter’s identity.
- Access to whistleblower reports restricted to authorized personnel.
- Regular audits of the reporting process for effectiveness and security.
Use a dedicated third-party hotline and lock its admin access to the audit committee.
- Controls that prevent unauthorized access to audit data and documents.
- Secure audit trails tracking access and changes to financial records.
- Secure, read-only auditor access that preserves data integrity.
Provision auditors as time-limited guest accounts with read-only access to a dedicated evidence site.
- Controls ensuring the accuracy and completeness of financial reports.
- Encryption of sensitive financial data at rest and in transit.
- Security policies updated as reporting requirements change.
Pair BitLocker device encryption with TLS-only mail flow to cover data at rest and in transit.
SOX Internal Control Maturity Model (ICMM) IT Security Measures
The ICMM organizes SOX IT controls into domains you can measure and mature over time. These are the controls auditors look for first.
- Role-based access control restricting financial systems by job role.
- Strong authentication such as MFA to verify identities.
Run quarterly access reviews with Entra ID Access Reviews and keep the sign-offs.
- Encrypt sensitive financial data at rest and in transit.
- Use secure protocols such as HTTPS and TLS for all transmission.
Turn on device encryption policies in Intune and block legacy, unencrypted protocols.
- Formal process ensuring changes are authorized, tested, and documented.
- Logs of all changes made to financial systems and data.
Require a ticket number on every production change and keep approvals in one system.
- A plan addressing breaches that could impact financial reporting.
- Procedures for identifying, reporting, and mitigating incidents.
Run one tabletop exercise per year and file the after-action report as audit evidence.
- Track access to financial systems and detect unauthorized activity.
- Review logs regularly for suspicious activity and anomalies.
Centralize logs in Microsoft Sentinel or Defender and schedule a weekly review.
- Regular backups so financial data can be restored after loss or corruption.
- Periodic testing of backup and recovery processes.
Document one successful restore test per quarter. Auditors want proof, not policy.
- Regular assessments of IT systems that handle financial data.
- Evaluation of how cyber threats could affect financial reporting.
Maintain a living risk register tied directly to your control matrix.
- Ongoing training on IT security and safeguarding financial data.
- A culture of security awareness across the organization.
Run monthly phishing simulations with finance-specific lures like invoice and wire fraud.
- Protect infrastructure and data centers hosting financial systems.
- Control physical access to sensitive areas and equipment.
Collect SOC 2 reports from your hosting providers to cover data center controls.
- Assess the security of vendors with access to financial data or systems.
- Include security requirements and compliance obligations in vendor contracts.
Tier vendors by data access and request SOC 1 or SOC 2 reports from the top tier annually.
- Thorough documentation of IT security policies, procedures, and controls.
- Regular updates reflecting regulatory changes and best practices.
Version every policy with an owner and annual review date.
- Regular internal and external audits of financial reporting IT controls.
- Timely remediation of identified deficiencies.
Track every audit finding to closure with an owner and due date.
PCI DSS for Merchants, POS & Card Payments
If you take card payments, your merchant agreement requires PCI DSS compliance. Most small merchants can dramatically shrink their scope with the right POS setup.
- Identify the correct Self-Assessment Questionnaire for how you accept cards.
- Complete it annually and submit it to your acquiring bank or processor.
Validated P2PE terminals can qualify you for the shortest questionnaire.
- Keep POS systems on a network separate from guest and staff Wi-Fi.
- Restrict traffic into and out of the payment environment.
A properly configured business firewall with a separate guest Wi-Fi network is the single biggest risk reducer for hospitality.
- Change all vendor default passwords on POS systems and routers.
- Give every employee a unique login and remove access when they leave.
No shared “manager” logins. Unique PINs make every refund and void traceable.
- Never store full card numbers, CVV codes, or magnetic stripe data.
- Encrypt cardholder data whenever it travels across networks.
Use tokenization from your processor so card numbers never touch your systems.
- Keep an inventory of card readers and terminals.
- Inspect devices regularly for skimmers and tampering, and train staff to spot them.
Add a 30-second terminal check to your opening checklist.
- Run quarterly external vulnerability scans by an Approved Scanning Vendor when required.
- Remediate findings and rescan until passing.
Many processors include ASV scanning at no extra cost. Make sure it is turned on.
Protect Your Clients, Your Payments, and Your Reputation
Partner with DeBerry Contracts for secure technology, audit-ready compliance, and payment systems that just work.