The Never-Ending War Versus Hackers

It’s no big surprise that banks and other financial institutions are among the most targeted businesses by hackers. Along with government databases, financial data is a frequent target for cybercriminals due to the valuable information contained therein. In fact, a cybersecurity consultant once told us that the American public would panic if they knew the frequency and sophistication with which banks were attacked daily. Many of these attacks also originate on the part of antagonist nation-states (you can probably guess which ones).

Banks are currently facing an even greater level of attack. American Banker reports that ransomware attacks rose 37% in the third quarter of this year, compared with the previous three months. In October, the FBI also released a warning about the rise in ransomware attacks, saying, “Ransomware attacks are becoming more targeted, sophisticated, and costly.”

Especially as we move into another election in 2020, we would expect the number of cyberattacks in all areas to continue to rise.