Rapid7 Managed Services Help Australian Lender Minimize Risk and Maximize InHouse Resources

Financial institutions around the world have always been an attractive target for hackers keen to get their hands on sensitive customer data, launch online extortion attacks, and interfere in internal business processes to siphon away funds. Even in the United Kingdom, one of the most mature global financial services markets, breaches reported to the regulator soared by 480% in 2018 according to RPC. As part of its customer offerings, Resimac issues a credit card, which means that it is also bound by strict PCI compliance rules. This puts extra pressure on an in-house security team already tasked with keeping escalating threats at bay. With just a handful of staff, Mihalek and his team manage a footprint of approximately 600 assets for the 300+ employees across Australia, New Zealand, and Manila. Needing extra help to support its PCI compliance program—and drive best practices to improve security across the organization—Mihalek sought the help of an outside managed security services provider back in 2017. The decision was underlined by a security incident the firm suffered, an incident Smith claims would have been picked up by a managed security service if one had been in place. But there were also good financial reasons for outsourcing security, says Mihalek.

With a history that dates back to 1985, Resimac Group is one of Australia’s premier non-bank lenders. Serving 50,000 customers across Australia and New Zealand, the firm has over three decades of experience delivering home finance solutions. Head of IT Operations, Rob Mihalek, and Cybersecurity and Engineering Lead, Brad Smith, work with a small in-house team of three service desk staff and two engineers, plus a handful of contractors. Alongside Rapid7, the firm runs a variety of security tools including next-gen AV, web application firewalls, next-gen firewalls, and email security gateways from industry-leading vendors.