Keep financial reporting on track, with evidence auditors can test.
SOX compliance rests on financial data that is accurate, available and backed by controls that work. Ransomware threatens all three, often at the worst moment in the reporting cycle, and a material incident must be disclosed within days. Helm contains ransomware at the data layer, verifies recovery and records every step, giving executives and auditors evidence of how your controls performed.
SOX is not a cybersecurity law, but ransomware goes straight for the systems SOX depends on. The general ledger, the ERP, consolidation files and the shares where the close is prepared all hold data that ransomware can lock in minutes, and an attack in the last week of a quarter can push filings and audit work off schedule.
Disclosure adds a clock. Since December 2023, US public companies must report a material cybersecurity incident on Form 8-K within four business days of determining it is material, and describe their cyber risk management and governance in their annual report.
That puts SOX ransomware readiness on the CFO’s desk as much as the CISO’s. With Helm, the systems behind your numbers stay available, recovery starts from verified-clean systems, and the facts for your materiality assessment are ready when you need them.
The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 applies to companies that file reports with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and many private companies adopt its controls ahead of an IPO or acquisition.
Three sections matter most here. Section 302 has the CEO and CFO certify each periodic report and the controls behind it. Section 404 requires management to assess internal control over financial reporting (ICFR), with the auditor attesting for larger companies. Section 409 calls for prompt disclosure of material changes.
Auditors test ICFR partly through IT general controls (ITGCs), the controls over the systems that produce the numbers. They cover access to programs and data, changes to systems, and computer operations, including backup, recovery and incident handling. Many teams map these controls to frameworks such as NIST CSF.
A ransomware attack tests several ITGCs in one go. What auditors then want to see is evidence, showing what happened, what was done and how fast. Helm supplies exactly that.
When ransomware reaches your financial systems, Helm acts and records at the same time, giving the IT general controls around them the evidence auditors look for.
Detection comes first. Helm spots unauthorised encryption of files in financial systems in under a second, and its behaviour-based monitoring can also flag tampering and privilege misuse, evidence that supports both change management and access controls. [TBC]
Containment follows. Helm isolates the compromised accounts and devices on fixed, readable rules your team sets, with no AI in containment. Alerts go to your SIEM and every action is timestamped, the incident-handling record auditors test.
Recovery closes the loop. Helm verifies systems are clean before they return and helps keep ransomware from reaching backup systems and archive stores. [TBC]
For your executives, the same record answers the questions behind each Section 302 certification and gives the disclosure committee the facts for its materiality assessment, with your team in control of what is filed.
SOX asks leaders to stand behind their numbers and the controls that produce them. Helm keeps the systems behind those numbers running through an attack, brings them back clean and documents every step, so the quarter closes on schedule and the evidence is there when auditors ask.
See how Helm supports banks, insurers and payment firms, or talk to us about your financial systems.
