Two in three financial institutions faced cyberattacks in 2024, and that trend shows little sign of letting up. Because of their valuable data – hooked conveniently to direct financial information – FinServ organizations are perennial targets for hungry attackers.
But this isn’t news to anybody. Financial institutions understand the threats, and for the most part, they are some of the most prepared where cybersecurity is concerned.
But as the nature of the threat landscape has dramatically changed over the past few years, are these companies – especially the large, slow-moving enterprises – still on the cutting edge?
The Financial Sector’s Cybersecurity Challenge
Today’s threat landscape looks very different from the landscape of planning meetings even three years ago. Since the unveiling (unleashing?) of generative AI models, cybercriminals have had a field day, capitalizing on new and increasingly powerful techniques.
RaaS, already quick and powerful, became even easier to create and scale with AI, while polymorphic malware also “improved” exponentially with its help. And those are just the threats with signatures, albeit changing ones. Attackers have leaned heavily into social engineering ploys in the past 36 months, duping us with better-written, more ubiquitous phishing and BEC scams, increased customization, and highly convincing deepfakes and text-based attacks.
Add to that credential theft (also made easier by AI) and you have a pretty good picture of the kinds of powerful threats being levelled at all sectors – and highly-targeted financial institutions in particular.
Why Fortra?
Fortra offers advanced offensive and defensive security solutions tailored to the financial sector specifically. Both are needed to be able to defend against attacks when they strike (defensive), and to find and repair weaknesses before they come (offensive).
By addressing threats at every stage of the attack chain, Fortra is prepared to enhance resilience while ensuring compliance with standards like PCI DSS, GLBA, and SOX.
For financial institutions, compliance is a non-negotiable, and Fortra supports a host of international financial cybersecurity requirements - “from the US to the U.A.E.” These include:
PCI DSS
SWIFT
FFIEC
SOX
UAE IE
GLBA
And more. Most importantly, Fortra solutions recognize the capabilities of advanced adversaries today and empower you to combat those with automated, AI-driven solutions that protect your entire data lifecycle, prioritize security tasks, and secure more with the SOC and cycles you have.
Key Outcomes for Customers
By partnering with Fortra for financial services cybersecurity, FinServ organizations can go from a reactive, defense-only approach to a proactive one that sees threats coming. And one that defends against the increasingly complex attacks of today.
Social Engineering: According to the ENISA Threat Landscape: Finance Sector report, social engineering attacks were the third-most prevalent among financial institutions. It was also third according to the latest Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. Thanks to AI, these attacks are becoming more personalized and harder to detect.
Credential Harvesting: Recent research cited in Forbes shows that valid credentials, not malicious software, are now responsible for 75% of all breaches. These have an invariably human edge: “While it can be difficult to prove, most compromised credentials came from infostealers and credential harvesting campaigns, of which an increasing amount comes in through phishing,” notes IBM.
System Intrusion: The Verizon 2025 DBIR Financial Snapshot lists system intrusion as the number one cause of data breaches for the financial sector. These “complex attacks that leverage malware and/or hacking to achieve their objectives, including deploying Ransomware.” Even these attacks lead back to more human-based weak points: according to KnowBe4, the presence of ransomware payloads in phishing emails increased by 58% between November 2024 and February of this year.
Fortra defends against FinServ-targeted attacks, breaking the cyber kill chain no matter how early or late in the game and helping companies meet financial industry compliance standards. These attack chain-focused solutions disrupt the path from Reconnaissance to Actions on Objectives, whether it be for polymorphic malware, BEC scams, or stolen credentials.
Core Solutions Overview
Fortra’s advanced cybersecurity solutions for today’s financial services organizations include these core offerings bespoke to today’s complex cybersecurity problems.
Brand Protection: Fortra Brand Protection shields against phishing, impersonation, and takeover attempts. By continuously collecting data from across surface web, deep web, dark web, mobile app stores, external threat feeds, and other sources (DMARC, SSL certs, URLs, email, SMS, malware and more), it gives FinServ companies comprehensive visibility and automated takedown capabilities to protect the credibility of their financial institution.
Email Security: Fortra Email Security blocks fraud and executive impersonation attempts. Unlike traditional email security solutions, Fortra’s Cloud Email Security solution inspects on-premises and cloud-based emails for emerging threats (most catch signature-based threats alone), keeping employees safe from malicious BEC scams and account takeovers that result in convincing internal phishing scams.
DLP (Data Loss Prevention) & Data Classification: Prevent sensitive data theft and unauthorized access. With Fortra DLP for financial services, companies can accurately get insight into both structured (PII) and unstructured data (deal management documents), and build policies based on facts, not speculation. Understand when your financial data is at risk, implement behavior-based rules that automatically block suspicious actions, and warn employees when risky behaviors are going to put customer financial data in jeopardy.
File Integrity Monitoring & System Hardening: Fortra Integrity and Compliance Monitoring ensures compliance and prevents audit failure. As banks seek to safeguard crucial financial information and meet international privacy requirements, the ability to audit file changes and verify the effectiveness of critical security controls becomes imperative, especially over time.
Vulnerability Management & Pen Testing: Offensive security techniques identify and mitigate risks from malicious software and help meet annual scanning requirements. Fortra VM and Core Impact – along with Cobalt Strike, the industry-standard red teaming tool - help financial institutions stay one step ahead of attackers by exploiting (and fixing) their own weaknesses first.
Cybersecurity threats to financial services are striking harder and faster than ever thanks to new technologies. Companies that don’t upgrade their security systems to combat those changes won’t be able to respond in time to many emerging attacks. Protecting both defensively and offensively is now necessary to maintain a cybersecurity posture that is both compliant and secure.
Learn how Fortra can help you secure your sensitive financial assets.
Schedule a consultation to assess your current risk posture with one of our Fortra experts.
