All security breaches are damaging, but very few breaches hit as hard as those affecting financial institutions.

Financial institutions hold extremely sensitive — and therefore valuable — information for millions of people, and though they are willing to pay to protect it, these breaches still happen. In a recent Integris report, 86% of surveyed bank executives said that “cybersecurity was a top concern and their biggest area of budget increases.” Given that 88% of those same executives also plan to increase their IT spending by at least 10%, this should help cybersecurity professionals feel a little better about their 2025 prospects. 

There’s just one problem though. Even as these banks increase their spendings on cybersecurity, they are also increasingly adopting artificial intelligence (AI). 72% of banks have already incorporated AI, and according to IBM, “60% of banking CEOs surveyed acknowledge they must accept some level of risk to harness automation advantages and enhance competitiveness.” As a cybersecurity professional, any executive willing to “accept the risks” of such a powerful – and relatively new – technology has me right back to worrying. 

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