Financial Services · Compliance-Fluent Cybersecurity

Compliance-Fluent Cybersecurity for Broker-Dealers, RIAs & Wealth Managers

Stop advisors texting clients off-channel, close the AI-governance gap, and answer a Reg S-P 72-hour clock with a real playbook.

Book a Reg S-P Readiness Review Get the 72-Hour Breach-Response Playbook Template

Advisors texting off-channel AI governance gap Reg S-P 72-hour clock 60-vendor risk register FINRA exam pressure

The Problem

When a Reg S-P 72-hour clock starts, who's the first call and what's the second?

Every CCO and Operations Principal we talk to recognizes at least one of these before the first meeting is over.

Advisors go off-channel

iMessage and WhatsApp with clients feel harmless until a regulator asks for a text thread that was never archived — a $200M industry settlement made this a board-level conversation, not a compliance footnote.

AI governance is undefined

Advisors are already pasting client information into ChatGPT. The policy says don't; nothing in the stack actually stops it, and the gap between the two is where an exam finding starts.

Vendor risk lives in a spreadsheet

60 to 120 vendors, SOC 2 renewals scattered across inboxes, and Tier 1 reviews that are quietly overdue by the time anyone notices.

The 72-hour clock has no playbook

The 2024 Reg S-P amendments tightened breach-notification timelines; most MSPs have never heard of the rule, let alone built a coordinated response plan around it.

What's Included

Three services, one dedicated pod — not three relationships to manage

The same team that maps your 17a-4 archiving program is the team that answers the 2 a.m. alert.

Service	What it covers	SLA / Outcome
My Security — 24/7 MDR	SIEM + EDR across the stack, U.S.-analyst triage, advisor-level audit trails on key IT actions	15-min critical SLA
My Compliance — FINRA / Reg S-P modules	17a-4 records-program mapping, Reg S-P 72-hour playbook, fractional CCO technical support, tiered vendor-risk program	Exam-ready evidence
My Continuity — WORM archiving	Immutable retention integrated with your existing archiving platform (Smarsh, Global Relay, Proofpoint), documented RACI	100% audit trail

Evidence, Not Adjectives

What this looks like in practice

Described in aggregate, anonymized form — never a fabricated testimonial with a name attached.

230+ tkts
240+ hrs

Twelve months of infrastructure stability and compliance posture work for a financial services firm — VoIP/telephony operations, network security, patch discipline across the domain, file, SQL, and 3CX stack, and Microsoft 365 administration, every action logged for compliance review.

33 + 75 hrs

Dedicated network-security and wireless engagements for the same firm, closing firewall and coverage gaps that the everyday incident queue had been masking, with formal remediation and hardening records.

4.7★ · 87

Google rating and review count across Technijian's client base, alongside 150+ client companies served over 25+ years — the same trust metrics that appear throughout our full results record.

4.7★ Google Rating · 87 Reviews

150+ client companies served

25+ years in continuous operation

See the full review record →

FAQ

Questions CCOs and Operations Principals actually ask

What's the right WORM-compliant archiving solution for a mid-size RIA on Microsoft 365?

The right answer depends on what your clearing firm and current archiving platform already require, but the architecture needs to satisfy FINRA Rule 17a-4's write-once-read-many standard across email, texts, and social media — not just email. Technijian's My Continuity module builds WORM-compliant, immutable retention that integrates with your existing archiving tool (Smarsh, Global Relay, Proofpoint) rather than replacing it, with a documented RACI for who owns what.

My advisors use iMessage and WhatsApp with clients — how do I stop being the next $200M FINRA settlement?

Policy alone won't stop it — you need technical enforcement plus an easier compliant alternative, because advisors default to whatever's fastest. Pair a documented off-channel-communications policy with mobile-archiving tools that actually capture texts, and make the compliant channel as convenient as the personal phone. Enforcement without an alternative just pushes the behavior further underground.

How do I write an AI acceptable-use policy that actually stops advisors pasting client data into ChatGPT?

A policy nobody enforces is just a memo. Scope which AI tools are approved, what data classification is allowed near them, and pair the written policy with technical controls — DLP rules or a governed AI platform — that make the unapproved path harder than the approved one. Technijian pairs an AI-governance policy with monitoring, not just a one-time email telling advisors to stop.

What does a Reg S-P 72-hour breach response playbook look like for an RIA?

It names, in advance, who makes the notification call (usually your CCO with outside counsel), what triggers the 72-hour clock under the 2024 Reg S-P amendments, and the exact sequence of internal, client, and regulatory notifications — tested at least once a year in a tabletop exercise, not written once and filed away. Technijian builds this playbook alongside your incident-response retainer so the clock and the response are coordinated, not improvised.

How do I pass a FINRA cybersecurity exam without rebuilding my whole stack?

Most exam findings trace back to documentation gaps, not technology gaps — a current risk assessment, evidence of vendor due diligence, and a tested incident-response plan close more findings than new tooling does. Start with a gap assessment against the actual exam module in play, then remediate the highest-risk documentation and control gaps first.

What should a FINRA-fluent MSP be able to explain that most MSPs can't?

They should be able to explain 17a-4 WORM retention, the Reg S-P 72-hour notification clock, and how their controls map to FINRA Rules 3110 and 4511 — without you having to translate compliance language into IT language for them. If a prospective partner asks you what 17a-4 means, that's your answer.

What's the right way to handle vendor due diligence for a 60-vendor RIA?

Tier your vendors by data access and criticality, then apply a review cadence that matches the tier — annual for Tier 1 vendors touching client data or trading systems, lighter-touch for the rest — and track SOC 2 renewals in a single system instead of scattered inboxes. A spreadsheet with dates isn't a program; a program has an owner, a cadence, and an escalation path when a renewal lapses.

How do I prove 17a-4 archiving compliance to an SEC examiner with evidence, not trust?

Show the examiner your archiving platform's WORM configuration, a sample retrieval demonstrating you can produce a specific record on request, and documentation of your review cadence — "we have an archiving tool" isn't evidence, a demonstrated retrieval is. Technijian's My Continuity engagements build that evidence trail continuously so it's ready before the examiner asks.

Should an RIA use a generic MSP or a specialized financial services MSP?

A specialized partner who can speak FINRA, SEC, and Reg S-P fluently closes exam findings faster and doesn't need your compliance team to translate every requirement into IT language. A generalist MSP can keep the lights on; it's the FINRA-specific incident-response and archiving fluency that's harder to find and matters most when an examiner or an incident shows up.

What AI governance controls does a wealth manager actually need in 2026?

At minimum: an approved-tools list, a data-classification policy for what can and can't go near an AI tool, audit trails for every AI interaction touching client data, and WORM-compliant retention of those interactions consistent with your existing archiving obligations. Treat AI governance as an extension of your existing supervision program, not a separate new problem.

Why Technijian

Frameworks we navigate, technology we actually run

Frameworks We Navigate

FINRA Rules 3110 & 4511

17a-4 (WORM)

SEC Rule 206(4)-7

Reg S-P

AML / BSA

SOC 2

Technology We Run

CrowdStrike

Microsoft Sentinel

Proofpoint / Mimecast

Smarsh / Global Relay integration

Veeam

Where We Work

Serving broker-dealers, RIAs & wealth managers across Southern California

Newport Beach

Irvine

Costa Mesa

San Diego

Hyper-local focus

Our heaviest concentration of wealth-management clients sits in the Newport Beach and Irvine corridor, with additional coverage in Costa Mesa and San Diego — the same wealth-management hubs represented at NSCP Annual and Schwab IMPACT.

See where your compliance posture actually stands.

A readiness review maps your Reg S-P and FINRA exposure against real controls — no obligation, no generic checklist.

Book a Reg S-P Readiness Review Get the 72-Hour Breach-Response Playbook Template