Service Pillar 06 of 06

Zero-trust architecture, audited compliance, security that doesn't slow shipping.

Cybersecurity, network security, identity, secrets, audit logging — built so engineers can ship faster, not slower. HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2 — audited and shipped, not just documented. We've taken regulated workloads through audit four years running with zero material findings.

What we do

Security as engineering practice — not a separate team that says no.

Zero-trust architecture

Identity-aware proxy, short-lived credentials, workload identity, network microsegmentation. The default-deny posture that the perimeter model can't deliver. BeyondCorp-style for cloud, Zscaler / Cloudflare for hybrid.

Cloud security posture

CSPM tooling integrated with deploy pipelines. Misconfigurations caught at PR time, not at audit time. Wiz / Prisma / native cloud controls — chosen for fit, not because of vendor relationships.

Application security

SAST + DAST + SCA in pipelines without false-positive fatigue. Threat modeling on new services. Bug-bounty programs sized for your real surface area. OWASP ASVS as the spec, not the wishlist.

Identity & access

SSO via Okta, Azure AD, Auth0. Just-in-time access via Teleport / SSM Session Manager. PAM solutions where they earn their keep. SCIM-driven user lifecycle so leavers actually leave.

Compliance engineering

HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001. Continuous compliance via Drata / Vanta where it fits. Evidence collection automated. Audit week becomes a sprint, not a quarter.

SIEM & detection engineering

Detection-as-code in Splunk / Sumo / Panther / Elastic. Threat-model-driven rule design. Detection coverage measured against MITRE ATT&CK matrix. SOAR for the runbooks that humans don't need to run.

How an engagement runs

Four phases. Compliance is a side effect of doing security right, not the goal.

PHASE 01

Assess

Threat model, control gap analysis, audit readiness review. We tell you where you actually are — not where the dashboard says you are.

PHASE 02

Design

Reference architecture document, control map to relevant frameworks, prioritized remediation plan with engineering cost estimates. Reviewed by your CISO before kickoff.

PHASE 03

Implement

Embedded security engineering. We work in your repos and your deploy pipelines. Controls are code; evidence is automatic.

PHASE 04

Sustain

30/60/90-day sustain phase. Detection-engineering practice in place, SIEM rules versioned and tested, audit evidence collected continuously. By day 91 your team owns the discipline.

Tools & frameworks we use daily

The kit we ship to regulated production every week.

HIPAA
PCI DSS 4.0
SOC 2
ISO 27001
NIST 800-53
CIS Benchmarks
MITRE ATT&CK
Okta
Auth0
Azure AD
Vault
Teleport
SSM Session Manager
Wiz
Prisma Cloud
Lacework
Splunk
Sumo Logic
Panther
Elastic SIEM
Drata
Vanta
Snyk
Semgrep
CodeQL
Cloudflare Zero Trust
Zscaler

Selected work

Three representative engagements. Names anonymized.

HealthcareHIPAAHITRUST

HITRUST CSF certification — digital health platform

Problem
Series-C digital health company needed HITRUST certification for enterprise sales. Existing security posture was strong-but-undocumented. Internal team estimate: 14 months and a hire of 3 GRC specialists.
Approach
Embedded compliance engineering team. Drata for continuous evidence collection. Code-based control implementations (audit logging, encryption-at-rest, access reviews). Pre-audit dry-run with a Big Four firm before formal audit.
Outcome
HITRUST CSF r2 certification achieved in 9 months. Two enterprise contracts unblocked, ~$8M ARR. Continuous evidence collection means renewal audits now take 2 weeks instead of 8.
FinancePCI DSS 4.0Zero Trust

PCI scope reduction — Tier-1 payments processor

Problem
Cardholder Data Environment (CDE) had grown to encompass 60% of the engineering estate. Audit findings repeated three years running. PCI DSS 4.0 deadline approaching with new requirements (multi-factor auth at every CDE boundary).
Approach
Tokenization at the front edge — actual PANs replaced with surrogate tokens before any internal service sees them. CDE re-scoped to 4 services. Zero-trust controls at the CDE boundary. Detection rules tuned to the new threat surface.
Outcome
CDE scope: 60% → 8% of estate. PCI DSS 4.0 audit cleared with zero findings. Engineering velocity outside the CDE doubled — most teams no longer touch PCI scope at all.
TelecomSIEMDetection eng

SIEM migration + detection-engineering rebuild — Tier-1 carrier SOC

Problem
Legacy SIEM (Arcsight) past EOL. SOC drowning in 80,000 alerts/day. Detection rules undocumented, tribal-knowledge-managed. Two analysts left in the past quarter citing "ticket fatigue."
Approach
Migration to Splunk Enterprise Security with detection-as-code in Git. Rules mapped to MITRE ATT&CK techniques. Coverage gaps explicitly tracked. SOAR playbooks for the routine alerts. SOC analyst input drove rule prioritization, not vendor templates.
Outcome
Alerts/day 80k → 1.4k, all actionable. Mean time to detect dropped 71%. Two real APT-class incidents detected in the first quarter post-migration that the legacy SIEM had been missing for months.

Audit coming up?

30-minute call with a senior security engineer. We'll tell you on the first call whether you're going to clear it — and what to fix if not.

info@core923group.com → See other services