Digital vault came under siege in 2025 as the global financial sector faced a staggering 115 per cent surge in cyberattacks, where sophisticated threat actors traded traditional heists for AI-driven warfare.

While African banks are warned, cyber incidents targeting banks and financial platforms more than doubled over the last year, surging from 864 cases in 2024 to 1,858 in 2025.

According to Check Point’s 2025 Financial Threat Landscape Report, which detailed a dramatic shift in the digital battlefield, moving from purely profit-driven crimes to highly organised, ideologically motivated disruptions and sophisticated “Cybercrime-as-a-Service” (CaaS) models.

The surge was defined by three aggressive trends that have strained the defensive capabilities of even the most mature institutions. These include Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which were up by 105 per cent. The report observed that the attacks became a geopolitical tool, stressing that instead of stealing money, “hacktivists” aimed to deny citizens access to banking portals and payment interfaces.

It revealed that Israel, the United States, and the UAE were the primary targets, reflecting a strategic focus on nations that symbolised global financial influence.

The second form of attack was data breaches and leaks, which were up 73 per cent. Check Point noted that stealthy intrusion campaigns exposed systemic weaknesses in cloud security and identity governance.

While the U.S. remained the top target, the report claimed that India and Indonesia have emerged as hotspots due to their rapidly expanding digital transaction volumes.