Financial institutions continue to be big targets for organised attacks and face multi-channel threats from the same location or simultaneous attacks on a single access point from multiple locations across the globe.

This is the result of the new ThreatMetrix report on Cyber Crime which identify more than 100 million cyber attacks made on transactions in the final three months of 2015, up 80% on levels recorded for the corresponding period the previous year.

The biggest emerging threat for financial institutions is bot attacks, which increased 10 times in the last three months of 2015 compared with the previous quarter.

Bots and other sophisticated attacks, such as malware, have determined strategies to mimic the behaviour of authentic customers to bypass traditional security defences. This has serious implications for businesses across industries and geographies, as bots are difficult to detect and can cost billions in losses.

In addition to bot attacks, other trends in the financial services industry include increased mobile usage which makes mobile an attractive target for cyber criminals, who use stolen identities and compromised devices from major data breaches to their advantage for financial gain.

Source: www.computerweekly.com/news/4500272926/Financial-institutions-on-high-alert-for-major-cyber-attack