How a financial leader used the power of the Sysdig platform

In the cloud, security is a true balancing act.

We have written about the challenge of making both on-prem and Kubernetes work together. However, with enterprise companies, the issue is much different. These organizations are often the first to adopt new technologies, taking the biggest risks and making the most significant investments. 

For them, the issue is not taking the leap, but grappling with the complexity of all the different systems they use – and that complexity grows every day.

One global financial enterprise found themselves at this point: their existing tools left them vulnerable, overwhelmed, and struggling to achieve their ambitious security goals. In this story, Sysdig partnered with them to turn their vision into reality – empowering their teams with clarity, efficiency, and resilience.

The need for true visibility

This financial enterprise, a giant in its sector, was grappling with the growing complexity of its infrastructure. With legacy tools scattered across teams, they lacked a unified view of their vulnerabilities, runtime threats, and compliance statuses. The challenge was exacerbated by an air-gapped environment and the need to forward security data to a custom SIEM solution—issues their existing solutions couldn’t handle efficiently.

Their fragmented systems slowed incident response and compliance reporting, leaving the organization exposed. As they prepared for stricter regulations like the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the risk of non-compliance threatened financial penalties and reputational harm.

Faced with these mounting challenges, the organization recognized they needed a partner capable of not only addressing their immediate pain points, but also supporting their long-term vision of a unified, secure, and compliant infrastructure. This realization set the stage for their collaboration with Sysdig—a partnership focused on transforming their fragmented systems into a cohesive security solution tailored to their unique needs and ambitious goals.

A collaborative approach to security transformation

Sysdig’s partnership with the customer began with a deep dive into their unique environment and requirements. Our Account Executive (AE) and Solutions Engineer (SE) facilitated the initial touchpoints, engaging with key stakeholders to map out short, mid, and long-term goals. These included:

• Consolidating security tools to create a single source of truth
• Enhancing visibility across their runtime and Kubernetes environments
• Simplifying compliance reporting to meet DORA’s rigorous standards

The cornerstone of our strategy was active listening. Through multiple discovery sessions, we uncovered critical pain points: a lack of visibility into their runtime environment, challenges with vulnerability management (VM), and reliance on cumbersome compliance processes.

With these insights, our roadmap became clear: tailor Sysdig’s solutions to address their needs while partnering closely with their teams to ensure a smooth and seamless adoption.

Implementation and collaboration

True transformation requires more than just tools—it demands partnership. Sysdig brought together a village of expertise, engaging Customer Success, Professional Services, engineering teams, and the customer themselves to address the complexities of their infrastructure. We focussed on: 

1. Action-oriented onboarding:

Professional Services played a critical role in navigating the technical hurdles of their air-gapped environment. From backend deployment redesigns to customized installation methods, we ensured a smooth technical onboarding.

2. Tailored training:

To empower their teams, Sysdig conducted in-depth workshops, training sessions, and collaborative on-site meetings. This hands-on approach not only enhanced their understanding of Sysdig’s capabilities but also built trust in our solutions.

3. Driving innovation:

The challenges posed by their infrastructure pushed us to innovate. Our team developed new features, including a vulnerability management scanning engine and automation-based backend installation, which directly addressed their issues. These improvements didn’t just benefit this customer—they set new standards for other on-premise users as well.

From pain to progress

The results of our collaboration were transformative. We are still waiting on full outcomes, but initial results are in:

• Streamlined operations: Sysdig replaced multiple legacy tools with a centralized security platform, simplifying their processes and boosting efficiency.
• Enhanced visibility: The customer gained real-time insights into vulnerabilities and threats across their cloud and Kubernetes environments, reducing blind spots.
• Simplified compliance: Sysdig’s solutions significantly reduced the effort required to generate compliance reports, aligning with DORA’s stringent requirements.

The customer highlighted the value of Sysdig’s human-driven approach. 

They appreciated our flexibility, proactive communication, and commitment to solving their challenges, even when the road was bumpy.

Driving success

For this customer, the air-gapped infrastructure presented a significant challenge. It required Sysdig to rethink deployment strategies, from base-image redesigns to dependency management.

By tackling these obstacles head-on, we not only delivered a workable solution but also created new frameworks that benefit other customers with similar needs.

This experience reinforced the importance of adaptability and collaboration. By staying agile and aligned with the customer’s evolving requirements, we ensured their goals were met—and exceeded.

Sustaining success: What’s next?

The first year was just the beginning. Our collaboration is now focused on building a proactive security posture:

• Event-driven automation: Enhancing threat detection and response capabilities.
• Improved compliance models: Streamlining processes to keep pace with regulatory demands.
• Resilience against emerging threats: Ensuring their systems remain robust in an ever-changing landscape.

The trust we’ve built forms a strong foundation for innovation and long-term success.

This customer’s story is a testament to the power of true vendor-customer partnership. By collaborating to overcome challenges, we transformed their vision into reality—equipping their teams with the tools, knowledge, and confidence needed to navigate the complexities of modern cloud security.

Other stories in the series:

Visibility is key: Strengthening security with Sysdig

On-Prem and Kubernetes: A delicate relationship

How to securely onboard customers during a cloud security solution migration

Sysdig customer care chronicles – security is a team sport