Cybersecurity and Software for Banks, Fintechs and Insurers
VAPT, 24/7 SOC, ISO 27001 and secure M-Pesa and payment integrations for banks, fintechs, payment providers and insurers in Kenya and East Africa.
Penetration testing, 24/7 monitoring, ISO 27001 and secure payment integrations for regulated financial institutions and the fintechs that serve them.
Financial services is where attackers go first, because that is where the money is. Kenyan banks, payment providers, digital lenders and insurers face the full range: credential stuffing against customer apps, abuse of payment APIs, insider fraud, business email compromise against finance teams, and ransomware aimed at the institutions least able to tolerate downtime.
The sector is also among the most regulated. The Central Bank of Kenya has issued cybersecurity guidance for the banks and payment service providers it supervises, insurers answer to the Insurance Regulatory Authority, and anyone handling card data meets PCI DSS. Regulators and enterprise partners increasingly ask for evidence rather than policy: test reports, monitoring coverage, incident records and certification.
Neurobyte gives financial institutions that evidence and the security behind it. We run manual penetration tests of customer apps, APIs and internal networks, provide 24/7 monitoring through our SOC, take teams through ISO 27001, and build the payment integrations that fintechs depend on with security designed in. For a fintech, that is often the difference between passing a bank partner's due diligence and waiting another quarter.
The rules you work under
Central Bank of Kenya cybersecurity guidance
CBK has issued cybersecurity guidance for the banks and payment service providers it supervises, setting expectations for governance, risk assessment, testing, monitoring and incident reporting. Check the current version that applies to your licence; our role is to help you evidence it.
Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019
Customer identity documents, transaction histories and credit data are personal data. Financial institutions are expected to apply strong safeguards and must notify the Data Protection Commissioner of a breach within 72 hours of becoming aware of it.
PCI DSS and partner due diligence
Anyone storing, processing or transmitting card data is subject to PCI DSS, and banks and payment partners run their own security due diligence on the fintechs they work with. Both expect recent, independent testing.
Where the risk sits
- APIs are the attack surface: Open banking, mobile money and partner integrations mean most of what an attacker can reach is an API. Broken object-level authorisation and weak token handling are the findings we see most.
- Account takeover at scale: Credential stuffing, SIM-swap and social engineering against customers and support staff are cheap for attackers and expensive for institutions. Detection matters as much as prevention.
- Evidence for regulators and partners: A policy document is not evidence. Regulators, auditors and bank partners want test reports, remediation records and monitoring that shows what happened and when.
- Moving fast without breaking trust: Fintechs ship weekly. Security has to fit that pace, through testing in the pipeline and focused retests, rather than an annual audit that is stale by the second release.
What we do for Banks, Fintech & Insurance
Our testers work from Nairobi in your timezone, and every engagement is scoped and priced up front against a rules-of-engagement document you approve.
- Penetration testing of apps and APIs: Manual testing of mobile banking apps, web platforms, payment APIs and internal networks, with proof of impact, prioritised fixes and a free retest. VAPT & Penetration Testing
- 24/7 SOC and managed EDR/MDR: Round-the-clock monitoring, endpoint detection and incident response, with the records regulators and auditors ask for. Managed Cybersecurity
- ISO 27001 implementation: An information security management system built around how your institution operates, through to the certification audit by an accredited body. ISO 27001 Implementation
- Secure payment integrations: M-Pesa, Pesalink, card gateways and core banking integrations built with signed callbacks, secrets management and full audit trails. Custom Software Development
- Customer data protection: Data mapping, impact assessments and breach response under the Kenya Data Protection Act, aligned with your existing risk framework. Data Protection & Privacy Compliance
Frequently asked questions
Do you test against CBK's cybersecurity expectations?
We scope testing and monitoring to the expectations in the CBK guidance that applies to your licence, and write reports that map findings to them so your compliance team can use the evidence directly. You remain responsible for your regulatory submissions; we provide the independent technical evidence.
A bank partner has sent us a security questionnaire. Can you help?
Yes, and this is common for fintechs. The questionnaire usually asks for a recent penetration test, access controls, monitoring and incident response. We close the gaps it exposes and give you a current test report to attach, which is what most partners actually want to see.
Can you test without disrupting production systems?
Yes. Testing runs under agreed rules of engagement, with destructive tests excluded from production and timing coordinated with your operations team. Where you have a staging environment that mirrors production, we test there first.
Is ISO 27001 worth it for a fintech?
Often, yes, when you sell to banks, enterprises or international partners, because it answers most of their due diligence in one certificate. We prepare you for the audit; the certificate itself is issued by an accredited certification body.
Do you work with institutions outside Kenya?
Yes. We work across East Africa and beyond, and most testing and monitoring is delivered remotely.