The Financial Sector's Cybersecurity Crisis
With attacks up 238% and nearly half of all security vulnerabilities going unpatched, financial institutions face a perfect storm of cyber risk.
The numbers paint a stark picture: over 90% of all successful cyberattacks start with a phishing attack, and 65% of financial services organizations were hit by ransomware in 2024. With the average cost of a data breach in the financial sector in 2021 at $5.72 million, the stakes have never been higher.
As digital transformation accelerates and threat actors leverage AI and automation, financial institutions face an increasingly complex threat landscape. From state-sponsored APTs to ransomware-as-a-service operations, the variety and sophistication of attacks demand a comprehensive security strategy.
The Attack Vectors That Testing Can Actually Prevent
Verizon's 2024 DBIR reveals that vulnerability exploitation surged 180% while it takes 55 days for organizations to remediate 50% of critical vulnerabilities. This gap is where offensive testing makes the difference.
1. Unpatched Vulnerabilities
180% surge in exploitationExploitation of vulnerability was an initial point of entry in 14% of breaches, with only about 54% of vulnerabilities in edge and VPN devices fully remediated. Zero-day attacks on MOVEit and similar platforms devastated financial services.
How Testing Helps: Penetration testing identifies exploitable vulnerabilities before attackers do, prioritizing patches based on real-world exploitability.
2. Supply Chain Weaknesses
68% annual increaseSupply chain partners account for 15% of all breaches today, a 68% annual increase. Third-party compromises doubled from 15% to 30% in recent reports, with 81% of third-party breaches involving the compromise of the victim's systems.
How Testing Helps: Third-party security assessments and continuous monitoring validate vendor security postures and integration points.
3. Social Engineering & BEC
25% of financial attacksPretexting is now seen in about 25% of attacks aimed at separating an organization from its money. Business Email Compromise schemes increasingly use deepfakes and AI-enhanced tactics.
How Testing Helps: Red team exercises test employee resistance to sophisticated social engineering, identifying weaknesses in verification procedures.
4. Edge Device Exposure
22% of exploits target edgeZero-day exploits to gain access to edge and VPN devices accounted for 22% of all vulnerability exploitation. Financial institutions struggle with a 32-day median time for remediation of edge vulnerabilities.
How Testing Helps: External attack surface assessments identify exposed services and misconfigurations before they're weaponized.
5. Credential & Access Abuse
Top breach vectorCredential abuse remains the leading breach vector at 22%, with the median time to remediate leaked secrets discovered in a GitHub repository was 94 days. Stolen credentials enable everything from ransomware to data theft.
How Testing Helps: Password audits, privilege escalation tests, and access reviews identify weak authentication and excessive permissions.
6. Rapid Exploit Development
< 24hrs to weaponizeThe challenge is the sheer speed with which threat actors are often able to spring into action once a vulnerability has been published. New vulnerabilities are weaponized within hours, not days.
How Testing Helps: Continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) provides real-time visibility into emerging vulnerabilities affecting your specific environment.
68% of breaches involved some sort of "non-malicious human element" - but the real problem is that network defenders are often slow to respond to known vulnerabilities. Proactive testing changes this dynamic by finding issues before they become breaches.
Major Financial Breaches: The Real Cost of Unpatched Systems
These high-profile attacks demonstrate what happens when vulnerabilities go untested and unpatched. Each could have been prevented with proactive security testing.
EquiLend Securities Lending Disruption
Attack Vector: Unpatched vulnerability exploited by LockBit ransomware
Impact: Trading operations halted for nearly two weeks, disrupting institutional securities lending globally
Prevention: Regular penetration testing would have identified the exploitable vulnerability before attackers
Record $75 Million Ransomware Payment
Attack Vector: Supply chain compromise through third-party software
Impact: March 2024 record victim payment of USD 75 million set dangerous precedent
Prevention: Third-party risk assessments and continuous monitoring of vendor access
Patelco Credit Union Total Shutdown
Attack Vector: Social engineering followed by privilege escalation
Impact: 1 million members locked out of digital banking, SSNs and financial data exposed
Prevention: Red team exercises to test social engineering defenses and access controls
MOVEit Supply Chain Catastrophe
Attack Vector: Zero-day vulnerability in file transfer software
Impact: Hundreds of financial institutions compromised through single vendor vulnerability
Prevention: External attack surface monitoring and rapid vulnerability assessment capabilities
The Common Thread: Preventable Vulnerabilities
Every major breach in 2024 exploited vulnerabilities that offensive security testing could have identified. The average cost of these breaches far exceeded the investment in proactive testing programs.
- EquiLend: Estimated $100M+ in business disruption
- Record Ransom: $75M paid, plus recovery costs
- Patelco: Class action lawsuits and regulatory fines pending
- MOVEit: Billions in aggregate damages across victims
Test Your Way to Security: 5 Essential Programs for 2025
Targeted Penetration Testing of Critical Assets
Red Team Exercises Against Financial Crime Scenarios
Incenter CTEM for Continuous Perimeter & Application Testing
Purple Team
Third-Party Security Validation Programs
Why It Matters: With vulnerability exploitation up 180% and patches taking 55 days to deploy, focused testing of your most valuable assets catches exploitable vulnerabilities before attackers do.
Focus Areas: Core banking platforms, payment processing systems, customer databases, treasury management systems, and mobile banking applications.
ROI: Protect revenue-generating systems and customer trust.
Protect Your Institution Before It's Too Late
With 65% of financial organizations experiencing rttacks, proactive security testing is no longer optional—it's essential for survival.