Positioning
Attackers read a firm from outside. LeakTrace checks the same things first, proves every finding with evidence anyone can re-check and re-checks each one until it is closed. LeakTrace provides independent external cybersecurity assessments for firms of any size and for the advisers, brokers and insurers whose clients need an independent outside reading. We are not a software vendor. We do not sell tooling. We publish findings, not features.
Every engagement is the full outside watch on a firm, the proof for every finding and the fix: credential exposure, email and domain settings, vendor relationships and what public records put together about it. The work is drawn from monitored breach databases, DNS and certificate transparency records, corporate registry filings and public records. No engagement requires access to a client’s internal systems.
The question we answer for a client is what someone preparing a targeted approach against the firm and its principals would see. The question we answer for an adviser is whether the client’s answers on a standard cyber intake are complete.
Operating principles
Methodology
The External Cybersecurity Assessment runs thirty-six automated checks on what a firm exposes to the outside and every finding is human-verified before release. The groups below are examined in every engagement; more depth is added when a client’s sector or exposure calls for it.
| Group | What we examine |
|---|---|
| Credentials | Presence in monitored breach databases, the quality of recovered passwords and reuse across personal and business accounts |
| Domain | Registrar settings, DNS configuration, mail infrastructure, certificate transparency records and lookalike registrations |
| Public identity | Corporate registry filings, what is disclosed about principals, address aggregation and directorships |
| Portals | Publicly reachable client portals, sign-in baselines, metadata shown without signing in, session and rate-limit settings |
| Vendors | Vendor relationships visible through DNS and public disclosure and vendor breaches |
Every finding is delivered with its source, a severity and the exact fix, step by step and is re-checked from outside until it is closed. LeakTrace does not make the other changes. The one change LeakTrace can make itself is to the firm’s email records and only when the firm approves each step, where its DNS host allows it. The first month of monitoring is included: email settings checked every 5 minutes, new certificates for the domain and its look-alikes within minutes, new look-alike registrations hourly, the rest daily.
Perimeter is a separate offering for principals and the businesses, staff and advisers around them. It is not part of the External Cybersecurity Assessment.
The evidence every engagement leaves
Your evidence pack: an owner summary, the technical evidence with the fix for every finding, a rules and insurance briefing, plus a dated assessment record.
Regulatory anchors
Findings are mapped to the obligations that apply to the client’s sector and jurisdiction. This is not a legal opinion; it supports the client’s counsel through the fix and, where required, notification.
Research library and case files
The research library covers 21 sectors of firms of any size in 37 published pieces, under the LeakTrace name, on structural exposure patterns rather than single incidents. getleaktrace.com/research
The case files set out the shape of an exposure problem in one kind of firm: what an assessment covers, the findings that typically surface and what follows. They are composites built from patterns we observe, not accounts of engagements and no client is described. getleaktrace.com/case-studies
Working with advisers and brokers
LeakTrace is introduced by insurance brokers, wealth advisers, counsel and private-client consultants. The adviser keeps the relationship; LeakTrace is the technical work behind the introduction.
Insurance brokers. We assess a client before binding when an underwriter wants an independent reading of its cyber posture. The broker keeps the relationship; the findings support the binding process.
Wealth advisers. We assess the adviser’s firm and its principals, when a custodian’s enhanced due diligence asks for more than the firm’s own compliance program can verify.
Counsel. We assess as part of the file when a compliance review shows exposure nobody has measured. Findings are reviewed with counsel before any notification is drafted.
Private-client consultants. Perimeter, a separate offering, covers the principal and the businesses, staff and advisers around them.
Every finding carries a step-by-step fix. We re-check each one from outside until it is closed. Forged-email protection is switched on where we can reach the firm’s DNS host, one click per step; where we can’t, the firm gets the exact records to paste.
Firm details
Publication rules for this document. Every claim above can be checked against the sources referenced. Figures come from public sources or from LeakTrace’s own published measurements, with the number of firms stated. Client identities, engagement dates and detail below province or state are never disclosed in a public document and neither are introduction relationships. Published by LeakTrace.