Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP)Third-Party & Consultant GovernanceHard 4–8 Hour Ephemeral Leases

Vendor & Contractor Time-Bounded Access

Eliminate standing VPN access and shared accounts for external third parties. Govern software vendors, outsourced engineering contractors, and compliance auditors using AuthHub B2B federation, mandatory internal FTE sponsorship, caveated SpiceDB ephemeral tuples, identity-aware bastion isolation, automated 30-day sponsor recertifications, and SHA-256 Merkle audit trails compliant with SOC 2, SOX 404, FINRA Rule 3110, and SEC Rule 17a-4.

1Architecture Overview & Threat Matrix

In financial institutions, third-party consultants and external vendors are routinely engaged to optimize quantitative algorithms, manage trading clusters, or audit database architectures. Traditional contractor access models introduce severe systemic exposure: forgotten 24/7 VPN accounts that persist indefinitely, unmonitored shared administrative logins, lack of internal managerial accountability, and absence of granular keystroke capture.

AuthHub enforces a Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP) model. Contractors receive zero permanent network credentials. All access is granted on-demand through an internal FTE sponsor, gated by dual-control approval, strictly time-bounded (4–8 hour maximum TTLs), isolated through an identity-aware proxy, and recorded continuously in compliance with FINRA Rule 3110 and SEC Rule 17a-4.

Third-Party Access Model ComparisonFINRA Rule 3110 & SOX 404

Dimension	Legacy Vendor VPN Access	AuthHub Time-Bounded ZSP Governance
Privilege Duration	Persistent 24/7 access accounts	Ephemeral (4–8 hour session TTL)
Sponsor Accountability	Orphaned users; no active internal owner	Mandatory FTE sponsor linked via SCIM
Network Scope	Entire subnet / VPC subnet access	Target host reverse proxy only (no VPN)
Audit & DLP	Encrypted tunnels with zero keystroke logs	Full TTY keystroke replay & in-flight DLP
Deprovisioning	Manual IT helpdesk ticket	Automated SOW contract termination sweeps

2External B2B Federation & SCIM 2.0 Ingestion

AuthHub ingests contractor identities through B2B SAML / OIDC federation (Azure Entra External ID, Okta Org2Org) or automated SCIM 2.0 directory synchronizations. Contractor records are explicitly tagged with the external vendor organization, Statement of Work (SOW) identifiers, and contract end dates.

SCIM 2.0 Ingestion Request

curl -X POST https://fga.authhub.cloud/scim/v2/conn-vendor-apex/Users \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AUTHHUB_SCIM_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User", "urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:enterprise:2.0:User"],
    "userName": "j.smith@apex-trading.com",
    "name": { "familyName": "Smith", "givenName": "John" },
    "emails": [{ "value": "j.smith@apex-trading.com", "primary": true }],
    "userType": "Contractor",
    "urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:enterprise:2.0:User": {
      "employeeNumber": "CONT-7821",
      "organization": "Apex Trading Systems LLC",
      "manager": { "value": "usr-fte-sarah-chen" }
    },
    "urn:authhub:params:scim:schemas:contractor:1.0": {
      "contract_end_date": "2026-12-31T23:59:59Z",
      "sow_id": "SOW-2026-QUANT-09",
      "internal_sponsor_id": "usr-fte-sarah-chen",
      "security_clearance": "level_2_infrastructure"
    }
  }'

3Mandatory Internal FTE Sponsorship & Dual Control

To comply with FINRA Rule 3110 (Supervision of Outsourced Functions), every external contractor must be sponsored by an active internal Full-Time Employee (FTE). The sponsor must explicitly sign a supervisory undertaking before any access request can be considered.

Sponsor Assignment & AcceptancePOST /api/v1/contractors/:id/sponsor

# 1. Assign Internal Sponsor (Head of Algo Trading Infrastructure)
curl -X POST https://fga.authhub.cloud/api/v1/contractors/usr-cont-7821/sponsor \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AUTHHUB_ADMIN_TOKEN}" \
  -d '{
    "sponsor_user_id": "usr-fte-sarah-chen",
    "escalation_contact_id": "usr-fte-marcus-vance",
    "attestation_cadence_days": 30
  }'

# 2. Sponsor signs the Supervisory Responsibility Undertaking
curl -X POST https://fga.authhub.cloud/api/v1/contractors/usr-cont-7821/sponsor/accept \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${SPONSOR_SESSION_TOKEN}" \
  -d '{
    "attestation_confirmed": true,
    "regulatory_undertaking": "FINRA_RULE_3110_SUPERVISORY_ACK"
  }'

4SpiceDB Caveated ReBAC Schema for Contractors

AuthHub evaluates contractor permissions using Zanzibar relationships constrained by runtime caveats. Access is valid only during authorized maintenance windows, requires active sponsorship, and is subject to a hard 8-hour maximum session ceiling.

SpiceDB Schema Definition

definition identity/contractor {
    relation sponsor: identity/user
    relation vendor_org: organization/vendor
}

definition resource/infrastructure_node {
    relation tenant: tenant/organization
    relation active_contractor: identity/contractor
    relation emergency_freeze: system/kill_switch

    permission access = (active_contractor & active_contractor->sponsor) 
        with valid_contractor_session 
        - emergency_freeze->frozen
}

caveat valid_contractor_session(
    current_time timestamp,
    session_start timestamp,
    session_end timestamp,
    sow_expiration timestamp,
    allowed_day_of_week string
) {
    current_time >= session_start && current_time < session_end &&
    session_end <= sow_expiration &&
    (session_end - session_start) <= 28800
}

5Identity-Aware Bastion Isolation & FIDO2 Hardware MFA

Contractors are never placed directly on internal corporate VPC subnets. All sessions are brokered via Teleport / AuthHub Bastion Proxies using ephemeral, short-lived x509 and SSH user certificates (4 hours max) requiring mandatory hardware FIDO2 WebAuthn authentication.

Contractor Connection FlowTeleport / AuthHub Proxy

# 1. Contractor initiates login with FIDO2 WebAuthn token
tsh login --proxy=bastion.fga.authhub.cloud:443 \
  --auth=authhub-b2b \
  --user=j.smith@apex-trading.com

# 2. AuthHub validates SpiceDB tuple and issues 4-hour certificate:
# - Valid TTL: 4 Hours
# - Principals: ["contractor-sandbox"]
# - Extensions: {"teleport-session-recording": "strict", "dlp-filter": "active"}

# 3. Connect to approved target node without VPN
tsh ssh algo-node-04.prod.authhub.internal

6Real-Time Keystroke Recording & In-Flight DLP Masking

Every keystroke, terminal output, and SQL query generated by a third party is captured in an append-only playback stream. Inline DLP filters redact proprietary algorithmic trading logic, customer account identifiers, and financial data in real time.

1. Full TTY Recording

Every terminal frame is captured for forensic review satisfying SEC Rule 17a-4 and FINRA Rule 3110.

2. In-Flight DLP Masking

Proprietary trading parameters and sensitive PII are dynamically replaced with cryptographic hashes.

3. Live Anomaly Alarms

Attempts to execute unauthorized binaries or dump tables immediately alert the internal FTE sponsor.

7Recurring Sponsor Recertification & SOW Offboarding

AuthHub automatically initiates recurring 30-day recertification tasks to internal sponsors. If a sponsor departs the firm or fails to attest within 5 business days, the contractor's access is suspended automatically. When the Statement of Work (SOW) end-date passes, tuples are purged immediately.

Launch Sponsor Recertification Campaign

curl -X POST https://fga.authhub.cloud/api/v1/campaigns \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AUTHHUB_ADMIN_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "campaign_type": "contractor_sponsor_recertification",
    "target_organization": "Apex Trading Systems LLC",
    "deadline_hours": 120,
    "escalate_to_manager_on_timeout": true
  }'

8Emergency Vendor Kill-Switch & Hardware Root-of-Trust

If an external vendor experiences a security breach, security operators can sever all active sessions and invalidate all certificates for that entire vendor organization in under 50ms across all hosts.

Trigger Vendor Kill-SwitchPOST /api/v1/governance/kill-switch

curl -X POST https://fga.authhub.cloud/api/v1/governance/kill-switch \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${SECOPS_EMERGENCY_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "scope": "organization/vendor:apex-trading-systems",
    "reason": "Upstream security advisory reported by vendor CISO",
    "terminate_active_sessions": true,
    "revoke_issued_certificates": true
  }'

Thales Luna Cloud HSM Hardware Root-of-TrustOptional Paid Enterprise Add-On

Every contractor session request, sponsor attestation, keystroke stream digest, and kill-switch revocation is committed to an immutable SHA-256 Merkle tree ledger. For tier-1 quantitative trading firms, hourly root hashes are signed inside customer-dedicated Thales Luna Cloud HSM hardware partitions via PKCS#11, establishing non-repudiation for FINRA Rule 3110 and SEC Rule 17a-4 regulatory inspections.