Endpoint Security
Every device protected and proven — regardless of how it was set up before FCI.
Automated safeguard enforcement, endpoint detection and response, data exfiltration protection, and full device lifecycle management — applied consistently across every endpoint in your environment. No gaps. No non-approved exceptions. No dependence on a single vendor.
The Problem
Most endpoints are not as protected as firms believe.
Financial services firms operate in an environment where every computer, laptop, and mobile device is a regulatory surface and a potential attack vector. Most firms believe their devices are secured because an IT provider set them up. The reality is different. Registration was imperfect, defaults were never hardened, and there is no independent verification that controls are actually in place.
The result is a false sense of security — one that holds up until an examiner asks for proof or an incident forces a forensic investigation.
Most field offices use personal devices. Users buy a computer, sign in with a Microsoft Live account, and start working. No normalized setup. No standardized registration. The original configuration affects everything that follows — and Microsoft's registration process is flawed, creating disconnection issues and missed information about the endpoint.
Microsoft ships capability, not security. Defender exists but is not configured. Endpoint security features require licensing and manual activation. DLP and exfiltration protection are not enabled. Firms believe Microsoft is handling it, but the defaults are weak and the settings are not enforced.
If you only use Microsoft for endpoint security, Microsoft is grading its own homework. Microsoft says the device is encrypted — but is it actually? Microsoft says settings are applied — who independently confirms? Without a second layer of verification, there is no way to know.
Microsoft changes settings, features, and processes constantly — and does not retroactively fix old configurations. A device registered a year ago may be missing security controls that were not available at the time. Keeping up manually is nearly impossible for a small IT team.
What FCI Delivers
Eight capabilities — applied to every endpoint, enforced continuously.
FCI does not care how a device was registered, who set it up, or what shortcuts were taken. Live account, local account, corporate-enrolled, or BYOD — FCI normalizes everything to a secure, consistent, auditable state. Every capability below is enforced automatically through templates and automation, not configured once and hoped for.
Automated, tamper-protected cyber settings applied to every endpoint. FCI enforces Group Policies on all endpoints — corporate-owned and BYODs — without requiring physical access, remote access, or privileged (Admin) access to the computers. If a setting drifts from policy, it corrects automatically without a ticket.
AI-powered behavioral analysis for malicious activity, managed threat detection, and device isolation for forensics. FCI extends the native 90-day log limit to unlimited through centralized logging — so when an incident happens, the evidence is there regardless of when it occurred.
Protection at every exit point: USB drives, web uploads, unauthorized applications, and AI tools. FCI enforces USB encryption, blocks remote access tools that bad actors use (RATs), and controls which websites and applications can access data. This is endpoint DLP — not just a policy, but enforced controls.
FINRA and the SEC both expect firms to restrict and monitor data exfiltration across USB, email, web uploads, and cloud services — with documentation evidencing the monitoring. FCI enforces these controls at the endpoint and produces the evidence automatically. In the security assessments FCI performs for non-clients, this is the capability most frequently missing at the firm being assessed.
Continuous visibility into every endpoint. FCI's endpoint IT automation follows a structured process: receive the request, identify the device, strategize, develop the script, test, deploy, verify for consistency, and produce evidence. Nothing is done manually when automation can do it with proof.
Not just patch management — patch enforcement with evidence. Security OS patches and third-party supported software patches are deployed, verified, and documented. FCI can prove every device received the patch, when it was applied, and whether it is still in place.
Regulators require multi-factor authentication on information systems containing NPI. The most obvious system holding private data is the computer itself — client files, emails, browser sessions, cached credentials. Yet most firms only enforce MFA on cloud applications, not on the device login. FCI enforces MFA at the operating system level so the most fundamental access point is protected, not just the applications that sit on top of it.
FCI verifies encryption status independently of Microsoft, enforces 256-bit encryption (converting 128-bit seamlessly when needed), stores and manages encryption keys, and can refresh keys if they have been exposed. Encryption visibility and enforcement — not just a checkbox.
Every device moves through a managed lifecycle: Active (under management, enforced, monitored), Lock (encryption key locks the device), Destroy (remote encryption key revocation), Release (confirmation from the firm that the disk has been reviewed for NPI before releasing), and Decommissioned (stored in the FCI Portal with full history). FCI achieves a 90% reduction in decommissioning time through the FCI Portal.
Asset Inventory
Accurate, up-to-date, with full history.
FCI maintains an accurate endpoint asset inventory that Microsoft cannot provide on its own. Microsoft preserves all devices forever — active, decommissioned, or abandoned — making it unusable as a reliable inventory. FCI tracks the real state: which devices are active, who uses them, where they are, which team they belong to, and what their security status is today and was at any point in the past.
| Device | Full Disk Encryption | Complex Password | OS MFA | EDR Active | Patches Current | Tamper Protected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAPTOP-JM-4821 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| DESKTOP-RS-1107 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| LAPTOP-AK-3390 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| MACBOOK-DL-2254 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| LAPTOP-TP-0672 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| DESKTOP-MN-8843 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| LAPTOP-BW-5519 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
The table above shows only a handful of core controls. In practice, FCI tracks and reports on dozens of endpoint settings — covering authentication, encryption, antivirus posture, OS state, firewall behavior, logging, and more. Every item below is collected continuously and time-stamped, so current state and historical state are both provable.
Mobile Devices
What about smartphones and tablets?
Modern mobile operating systems — iOS and Android — are fundamentally different from legacy desktop platforms like Windows and macOS. Applications run in sandboxed environments, permissions are granular, and the OS itself enforces strict separation between apps and system resources. Traditional antivirus software is no longer necessary — and Apple and Google have removed most of it from their app stores for exactly this reason. The device's own operating system is the security layer.
The real question is not whether to install an agent on every phone. It is how to ensure that the device meets the firm's security standards before it accesses firm data — without turning a personal device into a managed corporate asset.
Solutions like Microsoft Intune work well in corporate environments with company-owned devices. But in a BYOD environment — which is the reality for most financial services field offices — traditional MDM creates friction that firms cannot afford. Users report that MDM agents consume storage and battery life, that the experience feels like surveillance rather than security, and that having a management tool with visibility into their personal photos, messages, and private data is simply not acceptable. It is their phone, with their personal life on it. Beyond the user experience, MDM platforms are costly to license, complex to configure, and require ongoing administration that most small firms cannot sustain.
Instead of installing a management agent on every personal device, FCI enforces security at the point of access. Before a smartphone or tablet can reach the firm's cloud environment — email, files, applications — the device must meet defined security conditions: OS version current, screen lock enabled, no jailbreak or root detected. If the device does not comply, the user is told exactly what to fix and access is blocked until they do. The user remediates on their own device, on their own terms. No agent. No surveillance. No corporate control over personal data. The firm gets the security posture it needs, and the user keeps the privacy they expect.
How FCI Is Different
Four reasons the same tools produce different results.
Every managed service provider can install endpoint protection software. The difference between FCI and everyone else is not the tools — it is mastery, automation, consistency, and persistent proof applied to every endpoint, every day, across every environment FCI manages.
"FCI does not care how it was configured before. Whatever the starting state — Live account, local account, misconfigured, or never configured at all — FCI normalizes it to a secure, consistent, provable state."
Interconnection
Endpoint security does not stand alone — it strengthens every other domain.
A secured endpoint is not just a protected device. It becomes an authentication factor, a network enforcement point, and a data protection layer. Every domain protects every other domain — and endpoint security is the foundation that makes the rest possible.
What You Can Prove
Evidence that builds itself — every day, not just on audit day.
Regulators, home offices, and cyber insurance carriers all ask the same question: can you prove it? FCI produces continuous evidence as a byproduct of how it operates. There is no scramble before an exam. The proof already exists.
Ready to see what endpoint security looks like when nothing is left to hope?
FCI works with broker-dealers and branch offices, insurance carriers and agencies, and RIAs. Start with a gap analysis — it is free, takes 30 minutes, and commits you to nothing.