CREST-Accredited PTaaS: Enabling Continuous Security Assurance for SaaS and Fintech

DevOps teams in SaaS and fintech organisations move fast, releasing code continuously, updating infrastructure frequently, and relying on automated delivery pipelines. To keep pace, many are turning to CREST-accredited Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) as a way to maintain security assurance without slowing delivery.

Traditional point-in-time penetration tests struggle to reflect the reality of modern software development, quickly becoming outdated as applications evolve. This creates assurance gaps that matter deeply in regulated environments. 

CREST-accredited PTaaS offers a credible path towards continuous security assurance that’s aligned with how SaaS and fintech teams actually build and deploy software.

The security reality for SaaS and fintech teams

SaaS and fintech teams operate under a unique mix of pressure. Rapid release cycles are expected, outages are highly visible, and security failures can have immediate financial and regulatory consequences. At the same time, attack surfaces continue to expand in terms of APIs, cloud infrastructure, third-party services, and software supply chains.

In this environment, security testing is often forced into uncomfortable trade-offs. Annual or biannual penetration tests may satisfy a checkbox, but they rarely reflect the true state of a system that changes weekly or even daily. Security teams are left managing risk with partial visibility, while development teams see testing as something that arrives too late to be useful.

The consequence is not just a lack of testing, but a lack of assurance that security remains intact as systems evolve.

Read More: How a SaaS EdTech Platform Simplified Security with Blacklock

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How PTaaS works in modern SaaS and fintech environments

PTaaS transforms security testing from a scheduled, consultant-led exercise to an operating model aligned with modern software delivery. Instead of waiting weeks for consultant availability and a corresponding report, DevOps teams can initiate testing through a platform whenever needed. 

This approach is more aligned with releases, changes, and security events in SaaS and fintech environments. 

PTaaS typically combines automated testing with expert manual validation, delivering prioritised findings in near real time. The value goes beyond speed alone. It’s the ability to make security testing repeatable, predictable, and relevant as systems change, thereby supporting assurance as an ongoing activity rather than a periodic milestone.

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Continuous security assurance as an evidence-driven capability

Continuous security assurance changes how organisations tackle risk. Instead of relying on a snapshot in time, teams build an evidence trail that shows how vulnerabilities are identified, addressed, and revalidated as systems evolve.

Over time, this creates visibility that point-in-time testing cannot provide. Patterns emerge across recurring issues, remediation effectiveness becomes measurable, and risk discussions shift from assumptions to observed behaviour. 

This ongoing evidence is more suitable for supporting audits, internal reviews, and board-level reporting, as it demonstrates how security risks are actively managed instead of just being periodically assessed.

Assurance is no longer limited to a report produced after an engagement, but reflected in the current and historical state of the environment. SaaS and fintech organisations find this evidence-based view more capable of enabling clearer risk ownership and defensible security decisions.

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The role of CREST accreditation in continuous assurance

As security testing shifts towards a continuous model, credibility becomes even more important. That’s why CREST accreditation plays a critical role. CREST sets internationally recognised standards for penetration testing organisations and practitioners. It covers methodology, competence, ethics, and governance. 

CREST provides SaaS and fintech organisations, particularly those operating in regulated environments, with confidence that testing is conducted rigorously and consistently, even when delivered through a platform-based model.

In a continuous assurance context, CREST accreditation helps bridge the gap between automation and trust. It signals that automated testing and on-demand workflows are underpinned by proven methodologies and qualified human expertise. 

Moreover, it also provides customers, auditors, and regulators with a defensible basis for relying on the integrity of security assurance as systems evolve.

Read More: Blacklock Security Achieves CREST Accreditation

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How CREST-accredited PTaaS fits modern DevSecOps

In mature SaaS and fintech organisations, security is increasingly expected to integrate into delivery workflows rather than operate independently. CREST-accredited PTaaS supports this shift by enabling assurance to align with how teams already build, deploy, and remediate software.

Testing and validation can be triggered in response to releases or meaningful changes, while findings are structured so they can flow directly into existing remediation processes. This reduces friction between security and engineering teams and shortens the duration between detection and resolution.

Security leaders get stronger governance without slowing delivery, while engineers receive timely, usable security feedback. The result is assurance built into the delivery lifecycle, not bolted on at the end.

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What SaaS and fintech leaders should look for

When evaluating PTaaS for continuous security assurance, SaaS and fintech leaders should focus on more than testing frequency or tooling. The underlying model is also crucial.

A credible PTaaS offering should be CREST-accredited, combine automation with qualified human testing, and produce evidence that stands up to audit and regulatory scrutiny. It should also integrate cleanly into existing delivery and remediation workflows, rather than forcing teams to adapt to security processes that end up slowing delivery.

Platforms such as Blacklock are designed around these principles. Blacklock is a CREST-accredited PTaaS and vulnerability management platform that supports continuous scanning across web applications (DAST and SAST), APIs, infrastructure, and software supply chains via SBOM scanning. Findings are managed through a single dashboard and retained as historical evidence for assurance and compliance.

Blacklock fits into existing workflows by integrating with tools such as Jira and DevOps platforms, alongside Slack and Microsoft Teams. This keeps remediation in developers’ day-to-day systems. It also enables Automated Security Validation, so fixes are retested and verified without waiting for manual consultant retests, keeping assurance evidence current and audit-ready.

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Conclusion

For SaaS and fintech organisations, security assurance can no longer be treated as a periodic exercise detached from how software is built and deployed. Continuous delivery demands continuous assurance, supported by a testing model that produces defensible evidence, integrates with DevSecOps workflows, and maintains trust as systems evolve.

CREST-accredited PTaaS provides a practical way to meet these expectations. Platforms such as Blacklock.io show how continuous assurance can be delivered without sacrificing rigour, governance, or delivery velocity, helping regulated organisations keep security aligned with change.