Network Penetration Testing for Financial Services in Charlotte

 

Financial institutions in Charlotte and across North Carolina operate in one of the most heavily targeted sectors for cybercrime. Banks, credit unions, wealth managers, payment processors, and insurance companies hold high-value data: customer identities, payment information, trading systems, and confidential deal flow. Threat actors know this, and they focus their efforts accordingly.

Common attacks against financial services firms include malware, phishing, credential theft, business email compromise, SQL injection, and ransomware. All of them share a single objective: obtain unauthorized access to sensitive financial data or systems, disrupt operations, or both. According to industry studies, the average cost of a reported data breach reached $4.24M in 2021, and this figure only reflects breaches that are publicly disclosed. The real financial and reputational impact to a Charlotte-based institution can be significantly higher, especially when you factor in regulatory scrutiny from the FDIC, OCC, Federal Reserve, NCUA, FINRA, and state banking regulators.

To keep pace with evolving threats, financial services organizations must regularly assess, test, and strengthen their cybersecurity controls. A one-time security review is not enough. Continuous testing helps ensure that firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, endpoint controls, and identity management solutions are actually working as intended—before an attacker proves otherwise.

 

What Is Network Penetration Testing?

 

Network penetration testing (often called a net-pen test or simply a pentest) is a controlled, ethical hacking exercise where security professionals simulate real-world cyberattacks against your IT environment. For financial services, this typically includes:

• Internal networks supporting core banking, trading, loan origination, and underwriting platforms
• External-facing systems such as online banking portals, APIs, and customer web applications
• Remote access and branch connectivity, including VPNs and secure links to Charlotte-area branches and data centers

The objective is straightforward: identify vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and process weaknesses before attackers do, then provide clear steps to remediate them. For executives and boards, the results of a penetration test provide:

• Visibility into actual cyber risk rather than theoretical threats
• Validation of existing security investments and IT security controls
• Support for regulatory and compliance requirements such as FFIEC guidance, GLBA, SOX, and PCI DSS
• Evidence of due diligence for regulators, customers, and business partners

 

Network Penetration Testing Experience in North Carolina

 

OCD Tech provides network penetration testing services for financial services companies in Charlotte and throughout North Carolina. Our clients include regional and community banks, credit unions, asset management firms, insurance providers, and fintech organizations that must protect critical infrastructure while meeting strict compliance expectations.

Our team combines hands-on penetration testing expertise with deep knowledge of financial services IT environments. We understand the realities of segmented networks, legacy core systems, third-party integrations, and complex vendor ecosystems that are common in Charlotte’s banking and finance sector.

The outcome is more than just a vulnerability list. We deliver a practical, prioritized remediation roadmap that helps leadership, security teams, and IT operations work together to reduce risk. Findings are mapped to business impact—such as potential exposure of customer data, wire fraud risk, or disruption to online banking—so decision makers can allocate resources where they matter most.

 

Our Network Penetration Testing Methodology

 

OCD Tech follows a structured, repeatable penetration testing methodology aligned with industry best practices. For financial services clients, this approach is tailored to reflect regulatory expectations and the high sensitivity of financial data. Key phases include:

• Passive Reconnaissance – Quietly gathering information about your organization, systems, and external footprint without directly engaging targets. This mirrors how attackers profile a Charlotte-based bank or credit union before choosing their entry points.
• Active Reconnaissance – Safely interacting with systems to discover open ports, exposed services, and potential weaknesses in network boundaries and internet-facing assets.
• Social Engineering – Where in scope, testing employee awareness through controlled phishing or pretexting scenarios. For financial institutions, this often focuses on staff with access to payment systems, treasury functions, or sensitive customer records.
• Exploitation – Attempting to exploit identified vulnerabilities to obtain unauthorized access, just as a real attacker would—but in a controlled, documented manner.
• Post-Exploitation – Assessing what an attacker could do after gaining a foothold: access to financial applications, sensitive databases, or internal management tools.
• Privilege Escalation – Testing whether limited user access can be elevated to administrative rights, including domain admin or high-value service accounts used in banking and trading systems.
• Lateral Movement – Evaluating how easily an intruder could move across your environment from less critical segments (e.g., user workstations) into high-value systems (e.g., core banking, card processing, or loan servicing platforms).
• Maintain Access – Demonstrating ways an attacker could persist in your environment, highlighting gaps in monitoring, endpoint protection, and identity controls.
• Covering Tracks – Showing how an attacker might evade detection or tamper with logs, underscoring the importance of robust logging, SIEM, and incident response capabilities.
• Reporting – Delivering a clear, actionable report that includes an executive summary, technical details, risk ratings, and remediation guidance tailored to both security teams and non-technical leadership.

This methodology supports traditional IT security assessments as well as more advanced activities such as Red Team and assumed-compromise exercises, where the goal is to test your detection and response capabilities (your Blue Team) and encourage collaboration in a Purple Team model.

 

National Reach, Local Focus

 

While we maintain a strong presence in Charlotte and the broader North Carolina financial services community, OCD Tech delivers network penetration testing and cybersecurity consulting services across the U.S., including:

• Boston (MA)
• Chicago (IL)
• New York City (NY)
• Los Angeles (CA)
• Dallas (TX)
• Philadelphia (PA)
• Detroit (MI)
• Memphis (TN)

This national experience allows us to bring best practices from major financial hubs back to Charlotte, helping local institutions benchmark their defenses against peers in other key markets.

 

Contact Our Charlotte Network Penetration Testing Consultants

 

OCD Tech provides network penetration testing, IT security assessments, and cybersecurity consulting to financial services organizations in Charlotte and across North Carolina. If you would like to discuss how a targeted penetration test can help reduce cyber risk, support regulatory expectations, and protect your customers’ financial data, please complete the form below. A member of our team will follow up with you shortly to discuss your environment, your objectives, and the most effective scope for your assessment.