Fortifying the Vault: Inside HUB Security's Landmark European Bank Deal

TEL AVIV, Israel – December 11, 2025 – In a move that speaks volumes about the shifting priorities of global finance, Israeli-based HUB Cyber Security has announced a significant expansion of its long-standing relationship with a Tier-1 European financial institution. While the bank’s identity remains confidential—a common practice in the high-stakes world of cybersecurity—the nature of the deal itself is revealing. HUB will now provide advanced application security testing, mobile-application penetration testing, and code-review services, signaling a critical pivot from perimeter defense to fortifying the very code that runs modern banking.

This isn't just another contract win; it's a barometer for a much larger storm brewing at the intersection of finance, technology, and regulation. For business leaders and investors, it highlights a non-negotiable truth of the digital age: trust is now built on the resilience of software, and the battle for that trust is being fought line by line, inside the applications themselves.

The New Regulatory Gauntlet and a Rising Tide of Threats

The decision by a major European bank to double down on application-level security is no coincidence. It is a direct response to a pincer movement of escalating cyber threats and an increasingly stringent regulatory environment. The financial sector has long been a prime target for malicious actors, but recent data paints a stark picture. According to the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), malware families targeting banking applications surged by 200% between early 2023 and mid-2024, with European banks accounting for a staggering 46% of all reported incidents.

This volatile threat landscape is now overlaid with powerful new regulations. The EU's Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which came into full effect this year, has fundamentally reshaped ICT risk management for financial entities. DORA mandates rigorous and regular security testing, including threat-led penetration testing for critical systems, with non-compliance penalties reaching up to 2% of a firm's global annual turnover. Similarly, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Germany’s BaFin have reinforced their own stringent requirements for operational resilience and IT security, placing immense pressure on institutions to prove their digital defenses are not just present, but provably effective.

This new reality forces banks to move beyond traditional firewalls and antivirus software. The focus is now on the integrity of the applications that customers interact with daily—the mobile banking apps, online payment portals, and internal transaction systems. Securing these assets requires a deeper, more intrusive level of scrutiny, precisely the kind of mobile penetration testing and source-code review services that HUB is now providing.

A Calculated Conquest: HUB's European Strategy Pays Off

For HUB Cyber Security, this expanded engagement is a significant validation of a meticulously executed European expansion strategy. The company has been methodically laying the groundwork to position itself as the go-to partner for regulated industries navigating complex compliance challenges. This deal serves as a powerful case study in strategic growth, demonstrating how specialized expertise can create an indispensable role within a client’s security framework.

“When a Tier-1 European financial institution chooses to deepen a multi-year relationship with our Company, it sends a clear message,” noted Noah Hershcoviz, CEO of HUB Cyber Security, in the company's official announcement. “HUB is becoming a trusted player in the security stack of some of the world’s most demanding environments - not by marketing, but by actual performance.”

This performance is built on a series of strategic moves. In 2022, HUB acquired the assets of a European cyber distribution firm to broaden its sales reach across the EMEA region. More recently, in April 2025, it secured a €20 million contract to lead a comprehensive digital modernization for San Marino's Cassa di Risparmio. These milestones, coupled with multi-million dollar data-fabric deployments for other European banks, illustrate a clear pattern: HUB is successfully targeting the continent's financial core with its unique blend of confidential computing and secured data fabric technologies. Its HUB Compliance™ platform, which uses AI to automate the creation of evidence trails for regulators, directly addresses the "show, don't tell" demands of frameworks like DORA, turning a regulatory burden into a streamlined, verifiable process.

Beyond the Firewall: The Criticality of Application-Level Defense

The specific services added to this engagement—application security testing, mobile penetration testing, and code review—highlight a fundamental shift in cybersecurity philosophy. For decades, the dominant paradigm was perimeter defense: building a strong wall around the corporate network. Today, with the proliferation of mobile devices, cloud services, and complex APIs, the perimeter has all but dissolved. The application itself is the new front line.

• Application Security Testing (AST) involves a suite of tests to find vulnerabilities within web and mobile applications before they can be exploited. This is a proactive hunt for flaws in the software's logic and design.
• Mobile-Application Penetration Testing simulates a real-world attack on a bank's mobile app. Testers attempt to bypass security controls, access sensitive data, and compromise user accounts, revealing weaknesses that automated scanners might miss. Given that mobile is the primary banking channel for millions, securing this vector is paramount.
• Code Review is the most granular of these services. Security experts manually or automatically inspect the application's source code to identify vulnerabilities, insecure coding practices, and hidden backdoors. It is akin to inspecting the blueprints of a bank vault rather than just testing its door.

By investing in this trifecta of services, the European financial institution is acknowledging that its greatest risks may not come from external network attacks, but from subtle flaws buried deep within the software that powers its customer-facing services. This proactive, in-depth approach is becoming the new standard for digital resilience in the financial industry.

Navigating a Complex and Competitive Arena

HUB Cyber Security's success does not exist in a vacuum. The European cybersecurity market, valued at over $63 billion in 2025, is a fiercely competitive space populated by global giants like Thales and Atos (now Eviden) as well as a host of specialized local vendors. HUB differentiates itself with its deep focus on confidential computing—a technology that protects data even while it is being processed—and its hardware-rooted security solutions, which provide a higher level of assurance.

However, the company also navigates challenges beyond market competition. As an Israeli-based firm with significant operations in the country, HUB’s own public filings acknowledge the potential business and economic risks associated with the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. The war introduces uncertainties related to manpower, due to military reserve call-ups, and an intensified regional cyber warfare landscape. Despite these geopolitical headwinds, the company's ability to secure and expand major international contracts demonstrates operational resilience and sustained global demand for its specialized expertise. This recent expansion with a key European partner proves that in the world of high-finance cybersecurity, performance and trust can transcend even the most challenging of geopolitical backdrops.