Check Point report flags APAC financial sector cyber threats

A new global financial sector threat report from Check Point Exposure Management Research indicates a significant escalation in APAC financial sector cyber threats, as cyberattacks worldwide more than doubled between 2024 and 2025.

According to the report, global attacks rose from 864 incidents in 2024 to 1,858 in 2025. Asia Pacific emerged as one of the most strategically targeted regions, with sustained activity across India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

Financial institutions under sustained pressure

The report shows that APAC financial institutions are facing a wide range of attack types, including data breaches, distributed denial-of-service attacks, ransomware, website defacement, mobile banking trojans and emerging AI-powered fraud schemes.

India and Indonesia ranked among the most affected countries globally for data breach and leak incidents. India recorded 31 such attacks, placing it second worldwide, while Indonesia followed closely with 24 incidents.

Ransomware and DDoS activity increases

Ransomware activity remains a major concern across the region. South Korea emerged as the second most targeted country globally, reporting 31 ransomware incidents. Japan recorded nine attacks, while India and Malaysia each reported ten.

DDoS activity also intensified, with India recording 31 incidents. The report notes that attackers increasingly targeted digital banking platforms and government-linked financial ecosystems, reflecting the expanding digital footprint of financial services.

Defacement and opportunistic attacks

Website defacement continued alongside other attack vectors. India reported 36 defacement incidents, ranking second globally behind the United States. Indonesia, Japan and other Southeast Asian markets also experienced ongoing opportunistic defacement attacks.

The report highlights a combination of hacktivism-driven activity, financially motivated ransomware campaigns and expanding phishing infrastructure affecting the region simultaneously.

Mobile threats and AI-driven fraud

Regions with large digital populations and mobile-first financial ecosystems were found to be particularly exposed. The report points to mobile banking trojans such as Herodotus targeting users across Japan, South Korea, India and Indonesia.

In parallel, AI-driven investment scams and phishing-as-a-service campaigns scaled rapidly across multilingual APAC communities, amplifying the impact of credential theft and fraud.

Defensive priorities for institutions

Check Point Exposure Management Research stated that organisations must strengthen identity governance, mobile banking defences and fraud detection capabilities. The report also emphasised the role of exposure management in unifying threat intelligence, attack-surface visibility, exploitability context and automated remediation.

Shir Atzil, Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst at Check Point Exposure Management Research, said that APAC’s rapid digital expansion has placed the region at the intersection of hacktivism, financial crime and AI-driven fraud. He added that intelligence-led defences are critical to preventing cross-border attack campaigns from scaling.

The findings underline how APAC financial sector cyber threats are evolving in volume and complexity as the region becomes a testing ground for high-velocity cybercrime.

Read More:

AMD Kintex UltraScale+ Gen 2 FPGAs introduced

Infor APJ leadership appointment to drive regional growth