Probably no surprise to anyone, cybercrime continued its rapid rise in 2025, with the financial services sector experiencing more data breaches than any other industry. This is according to findings from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). The 2025 Data Breach Report highlights how quickly the threat landscape is evolving, driven in part by the growing use of artificial intelligence and increasingly sophisticated attack strategies, always keeping us on our toes.
While attacks against financial services organizations are not new in the least, the speed and scale of attacks against them are accelerating dramatically. What might have changed slowly over several years in the past can now shift in just months, making it harder for organizations and consumers to keep up. There were 3,322 publicly reported data breaches in the U.S., per the report, affecting 278,827,933 victims. This is the third year in a row the number of breaches surpassed 3,000 and this year was a new record.
Financial institutions remain attractive targets because they hold large volumes of sensitive personal and financial information. When attackers gain access to this data, it can be used for identity theft, account takeovers, fraud, and convincing phishing campaigns. Even when financial institutions themselves are not directly breached, third-party vendors and service providers can become entry points for criminals. We’ve seen this happen a lot over the years.
Consumers may not always realize they are affected until suspicious transactions appear, accounts are locked, or breach notification letters arrive weeks or months later.
Security experts recommend monitoring financial statements regularly, enabling multi-factor authentication on all accounts where available (especially financial accounts), and responding quickly to breach notifications. Be sure to change any breached password right away. Include letters, numbers, and special symbols when creating those passwords. If creating a passkey is available, take advantage of that.
While companies continue improving defenses, awareness remains one of the strongest tools consumers have to protect themselves. Cybercrime is evolving quickly, but informed users remain harder targets.
For banks and credit unions
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