Kovack Securities Strengthens Compliance and Streamlines IT with Falcon for IT

When Roberto Galdamez joined Kovack Securities as the company’s first CISO, he inherited a complex IT and security environment. The broker-dealer’s 80-person back office supports 500 independent financial advisors across the U.S. and Puerto Rico — each with their own networks, devices, and IT practices. Some had in-house cybersecurity support. Most did not.

“We pride ourselves on letting financial advisors run their businesses the way they want,” Galdamez said. “But from a compliance standpoint, that created challenges. We’re responsible to regulators like FINRA and the SEC, and we had no consistent way to verify if everyone was meeting requirements.”

To solve this, Kovack deployed CrowdStrike Falcon® for IT, a lightweight, cloud-delivered solution that extends the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform into IT operations. Because the company was already a CrowdStrike customer and had the single Falcon sensor in place, rollout was fast and seamless. Within days, the team could see, query, and manage hundreds of advisor environments through one console.

Falcon for IT gave Kovack the visibility it needed to manage a sprawling network of independent users while maintaining strict regulatory compliance.

“Our advisors are essentially running their own businesses,” Galdamez explained. “One might be a one-person shop on a Mac, another might have 20 people on Windows. They’re all on different systems."

Using live queries, Kovack can instantly and consistently check for details that auditors demand — such as hard drive encryption, Windows firewall status, and operating system versions — without manual reporting or site-by-site validation.

“What used to be a manual, time-consuming process is now a few clicks,” Galdamez said. “We can check compliance at scale, across every endpoint, no matter where it lives.”

Since deployment, Kovack has seen measurable improvements in audit readiness and consistency, with compliance verification efforts expected to drop by 69%, and 83% fewer audit findings or compliance issues projected in the next review cycle.

Beyond compliance, Falcon for IT transformed how Kovack’s small help desk team supports hundreds of advisors nationwide.

“Our help desk can push commands and queries directly through Falcon,” said Galdamez. “If an advisor needs help, we can see what’s going on in real time and fix it without relying on guesswork.”

Previously, troubleshooting often required hours of back-and-forth and manual investigation. Now, the team resolves most issues within an hour — cutting mean-time-to-resolve by approximately 81% and reducing overall ticket volume by about 75% as more fixes are handled automatically or preemptively.

“Most things get done within the hour, which is nice,” Galdamez added. “That’s our SLA now, and Falcon for IT makes it possible.”

Kovack’s decision to deploy Falcon for IT has also paid financial dividends. The company covers CrowdStrike licensing upfront and recoups part of the cost through a monthly tech fee shared across its advisor network.

“When compared to the legacy system, they’re paying less for more,” said Galdamez. “The switch to Falcon for IT cut costs by about 27% per user while delivering far greater functionality … a big win for both our advisors and our business.”

The savings came from consolidating multiple tools into a single platform that combines endpoint visibility, secure baseline enforcement, and compliance reporting — all managed through one lightweight sensor.

Smaller advisor offices without dedicated IT staff have benefitted the most. “For the smaller offices that don’t have the necessary budget, this has definitely been a big help,” Galdamez said. “They’re getting enterprise-level support at a fraction of what they’d pay on their own.”

The benefits of Falcon for IT go beyond operational efficiency. Kovack’s modernization efforts have strengthened its reputation across the financial industry.

“I’ve gotten a lot of compliments from people saying Kovack is in a much better state than before CrowdStrike,” said Galdamez. “Third-party consultants, other security vendors, and even regulators all recognize the improvement. We’ve strengthened our reputation for being secure and resilient.”

The enhanced visibility and faster remediation capabilities have helped Kovack withstand attempted cyberattacks and maintain continuous compliance across its distributed network without slowing down the advisors who serve clients daily.

“As we grow, Falcon for IT will keep helping us see and manage everything, everywhere,” Galdamez concluded. “It’s the foundation that lets us scale securely and efficiently.”