Southern First is a community bank headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, operating across three states in the southeastern United States. Its product stack - checking and savings accounts, mortgages, business loans, and a digital banking platform with Zelle integration and remote deposit capture - means it holds sensitive financial data at rest and in transit across consumer and commercial channels alike. For a security team, that's a broad attack surface: phishing campaigns targeting retail customers, account takeover attempts against mobile banking sessions, third-party risk from payment integrations, and the compliance obligations that come with holding PII and transaction records in a regulated financial environment.
The bank positions itself on a relationship-first model - core values of caring, serving, and loving others - with a stated mission to positively impact the communities it serves. In practice, that means cybersecurity here isn't just about protecting infrastructure; it's about maintaining the trust that a community bank depends on in a way a megabank's brand equity might buffer. The threat model is less nation-state espionage and more credential stuffing, business email compromise, and ensuring the online and mobile banking stack stays available and uncompromised for customers who chose a local institution over a national one.
Specific tooling, team size, and technical domains aren't publicly detailed, so candidates should dig into those conversations directly. What's clear is the scope: a multi-state financial services operation with retail, commercial, and digital channels - all of which need defenders who understand both the regulatory landscape and the practical realities of securing community banking infrastructure.
