The financial sector remains one of the most targeted industries in the global cyberthreat landscape. According to the IMF’s Global Financial Stability Report, close to 20% of all cyberattacks recorded over the past two decades have struck financial institutions, with banks representing the single most exposed segment. The Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025 reported that 42% of organisations experienced a phishing or social engineering attempt during 2024.
Pressure on the sector has continued to grow. Industry monitoring suggests that weekly attack volumes in 2025 were significantly higher than in 2023, a trend often attributed to the increasing use of AI-based tools by threat actors.
The cost of a data breach
The financial sector consistently records some of the highest data breach costs across industries. According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report, the global average cost of a data breach has remained in the range of several million dollars per incident, with financial services typically above the cross-industry average and U.S.-based incidents among the most expensive globally. (Specific dollar figures should be aligned with the latest available edition of the report at the time of publication.)
These costs are not limited to direct financial losses. They typically include operational disruption, incident response and forensic investigation, legal expenses, regulatory penalties, customer notification and remediation, and longer-term reputational impact. For smaller fintech firms and individual professionals, even a single incident can have material consequences.
Common attack vectors
Several attack patterns are particularly relevant to financial services. Phishing and social engineering remain the most common entry points, often used to harvest credentials or deliver malware. Ransomware continues to grow in both frequency and severity; the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has repeatedly highlighted the trend, noting how threat actors exploit vulnerabilities in network configurations and access points. Credential theft and account takeover are recurring risks, especially where multi-factor authentication is weak or absent. Supply-chain and third-party compromises affect fintechs that rely on external providers for payments, KYC, cloud infrastructure or analytics.
Explore NordVPN plans and discover the current offer →
The risk of public and untrusted networks
Accessing financial accounts from public Wi-Fi networks, such as those in cafés, airports or hotels, can expose users to additional risks. Man-in-the-middle attacks and packet inspection on poorly secured networks can, in principle, allow attackers to intercept session data or credentials, particularly when traffic is not properly encrypted end-to-end.
It is worth noting that the practical risk has been reduced over the years by the widespread adoption of HTTPS and TLS, which encrypt most banking and trading traffic by default. However, untrusted networks remain a concern in combination with other factors, such as outdated devices, malicious hotspots, or compromised DNS resolvers.
Defensive measures
Effective protection in fintech relies on layered defenses rather than a single tool. The most commonly recommended measures include:
- Strong authentication. Multi-factor authentication, ideally based on hardware security keys or authenticator apps rather than SMS, is among the most effective controls against credential theft.
- Device hygiene. Keeping operating systems, browsers and applications up to date significantly reduces exposure to known vulnerabilities.
- Endpoint protection. Reputable anti-malware and endpoint detection tools help mitigate phishing payloads and ransomware.
- Encryption in transit. Verifying that connections use HTTPS and avoiding sensitive operations on unknown networks reduces interception risk.
- VPNs. A reputable virtual private network can add a layer of encryption when using untrusted networks and can mask the user’s IP address. VPNs are not a substitute for the controls above, and their effectiveness depends on the provider’s security practices, jurisdiction and logging policies. Independent audits and transparency reports are useful indicators when evaluating providers.
- Backups and incident response planning. Regular, tested backups and a defined response procedure are critical for limiting the impact of ransomware and operational disruptions.
- Awareness and training. For professionals handling client data, ongoing training on phishing, social engineering and data handling is consistently shown to reduce incident rates.
Specific scenarios
Crypto users face heightened risks because exchanges and individual wallets are recurring targets. Best practices include using hardware wallets for significant holdings, enabling all available account-level security features, and being cautious with browser extensions and clipboard managers.
Fintech professionals working with client data, financial models or proprietary strategies need to align personal security practices with the regulatory framework that applies to them, such as GDPR in the European Union or sector-specific guidance from financial supervisors.
Retail investors managing their own portfolios benefit from the same baseline measures: strong authentication, updated devices, careful network choices, and skepticism toward unsolicited communications, especially those creating urgency around money movement.
Prevention versus remediation
The economics of cybersecurity tend to favour prevention. The cost of basic protective measures, both for organisations and individuals, is typically a fraction of the cost of responding to a breach, which extends well beyond the initial financial loss to include legal, regulatory and reputational consequences.
This does not mean that any single tool, including a VPN, can eliminate risk. Rather, the goal is to reduce the probability and impact of incidents through a combination of controls appropriate to the user’s profile and threat model.
Cybersecurity is no longer a peripheral concern in financial services. As digital channels expand and attackers adopt more sophisticated techniques, both institutions and individual users need to treat security as an ongoing practice rather than a one-time setup. Understanding the main risks, the realistic capabilities of the tools available, and the basic measures that apply across devices and networks is the most reliable way to reduce exposure.
Looking for an extra layer of protection on public networks? NordVPN offers strong encryption, a verified no-log policy and a 30-day money-back guarantee. 👉 Discover NordVPN’s plans here
To discover NordVPN’s complete offering, click here.
Disclaimer. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal or cybersecurity advice. Specific protective measures should be evaluated in light of individual circumstances, applicable regulations and, where relevant, professional consultation. Statistics cited from third-party reports refer to the editions available at the time of writing and may be updated by the original publishers.
The Fintech Mirror does not provide personalized investment recommendations. This article contains affiliate links. If you choose to purchase a service through these links, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Editorial content remains independent and based on our own analysis.
