NEWS
Akamai research finds the number of cyberattacks on European financial services more than doubled in 2023
Akamai Technologies , the cloud company that powers and protects life online , has released a new State of the Internet report that explores existing and emerging cyberattacks against the financial services industry . The new report , The High Stakes of Innovation : Attack Trends in Financial Services , finds that financial services is the third-most attacked vector in the Europe , Middle East and Africa ( EMEA ) region , with approximately 1 billion web application and API attacks , which represents a significant 119 % year-over-year increase .
In EMEA , insurance is by far the most attacked sub-vertical of financial services with 54.5 % of all web attacks , which represents a 68 % increase year over year . Insurance companies hold a huge amount of personally identifiable information , which makes them an attractive target for cybercriminals in contrast with other financial services organisations that hold mostly financial data . The report also finds that as a region , EMEA experienced the most DDoS attack events ( 63.5 % of attacks worldwide ). The United
Kingdom tops the list in EMEA at 29.2 % of DDoS attack events , followed by Germany at 15.1 %. Akamai surmises that the attacks on the European banks that are allies of Ukraine are financially and politically motivated by Russia ’ s continued war in Ukraine and are the primary reason for the increase in attack events in EMEA .
“ As cybercriminals continue to follow the money , financial services remain a hugely attractive target . At the same , this is one of the most regulated sectors and hence it is essential for companies to align their security strategy with emerging laws and regulations ,” said Richard Meeus , Akamai ’ s Director of Security Technology and Strategy , EMEA .
Cybersecurity breaches triple for financial services firms
A report from the international law firm RPC highlighted that the number of breaches reported to the Information Commissioners Office ( ICO ) has increased from 187 to 640 , with reports within the pensions sector increasing significantly from six to 246 .
Achi Lewis , Area VP EMEA for Absolute Software , said : “ For many sectors now , it is no longer a question of ‘ if ’, but ‘ when ’ an attack will occur . The financial sector is a crucial element within our global economy , handling vast amounts of sensitive data and financial transactions daily , making it a prime target for bad actors .
The number of cybersecurity breaches for UK financial services firms have tripled from the years 2021 – 2022 and 2022 – 2023 , with the highest number of breaches being reported within the pensions sector .
As such , cyber-resiliency has never been more pressing . This means not only having robust preventive measures in place , but also a proactive response mechanism that can swiftly adapt and recover in the face of an attack .
Self-healing technology can empower financial institutions to automatically detect and repair damaged applications and devices , effectively preventing re-infection and reducing downtime .” www . intelligentfin . tech
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