How a fintech security team significantly reduced threat remediation time with NordStellar

The case #1

Industry: Fintech

Challenge: Lack of visibility into external threats and dark web exposures

Solution: NordStellar threat exposure management platform

Results (within 60 days):

• Significant reduction in threat detection and remediation times
• Exposed employee credentials detected
• 1 phishing and 2 affiliate fraud domains identified
• DORA-aligned incident response workflows improved

Challenge

As the fintech company scaled, securing its expanding digital surface became increasingly complex. Rising dark web exposures made the lack of external visibility an urgent risk. Proactive threat intelligence became essential — not just for compliance with DORA, but to protect customer trust and reputation.

Existing tools focused only on internal assets, but there was no robust mechanism to detect:

• Leaked employee credentials
• Phishing domains or affiliate fraud targeting the brand

The risk became real when a third-party HR software vendor was breached, and employee credentials exposed on dark web forums. The breach went unnoticed until they were discovered in a dark web post, too late to prevent phishing and credential stuffing attempts.

Solution

After evaluating multiple vendors, including a POC with another threat intelligence provider, the company chose NordStellar based on:

• Access to one of the largest dark and deep web data pools
• High-quality alerts without the noise
• Real-time coverage across deep and dark web sources
• Usable, analyst-friendly interface

NordStellar also stood out for its ability to match leaked data from deep and dark web sources with employee credentials, delivering actionable insights rather than raw alerts. During the evaluation, the platform detected 2x more relevant exposures than the competing solution — accelerating investigation and response. Moreover, it delivered immediate visibility into active threats through:

• Leaked data management and dark web monitoring
• Automated alerts on credential leaks and brand abuse
• Domain squatting and affiliate fraud detection
• Real-time insights with actionable context

Impact

After onboarding NordStellar, the security team gained immediate visibility into external exposures and began responding to high-priority alerts:

• Reset exposed credentials and launched employee awareness sessions
• Issued takedown requests for phishing domains, reducing customer risk
• Updated vendor risk policies to include external exposure monitoring

In just 60 days, NordStellar enabled the fintech to:

• Detect exposed credentials, including admin accounts
• Identify 1 phishing domain and 2 affiliate fraud redirect domains
• Surface leaked internal HR documents on unauthorized forums
• Significantly reduce threat remediation time
• Strengthen DORA-compliant incident response workflows