The Modern Bank Heists in 2026 report, based on a survey of 48 Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) from financial institutions worldwide, reveals that attackers are no longer simply stealing data. Instead, they are actively disrupting defenders during live incidents, using artificial intelligence to increase the speed, scale and sophistication of attacks.
Among the report’s key findings:
89% of organisations reported a year-on-year increase in AI-enabled attacks.
67% experienced “counter incident response”, where attackers actively interfered with security teams during live investigations.
41% suffered destructive cyberattacks over the past year.
55% reported an increase in API-based attacks.
46% experienced attempts to steal non-public market intelligence or investment strategies.
More than half (54%) saw no increase in cybersecurity budgets despite the worsening threat landscape.
The report also highlights how cybercrime groups are rapidly adopting agentic AI to automate phishing, fraud and exploitation at machine speed. Rather than relying on individual operators, attackers are increasingly orchestrating specialised AI agents capable of running multiple stages of an attack simultaneously.
TrendAI researchers also identified growing use of advanced techniques including steganography, where malicious commands are hidden inside seemingly harmless images, allowing malware to evade traditional security controls. At the same time, commercially available Remote Access Trojans (RATs) continue to evolve, offering cybercriminals sophisticated capabilities once reserved for nation-state actors.
The report concludes that financial institutions must shift from reactive cybersecurity to proactive intrusion suppression by combining AI-powered detection, threat intelligence, virtual patching, managed detection and response, and executive-level security leadership.
Bharat Mistry, Field CTO at TrendAI said:
“Cybercrime has entered its industrial age. Criminal organisations are chaining together AI agents that can conduct reconnaissance, launch phishing campaigns, evade detection and exploit vulnerabilities with minimal human intervention. Financial institutions are no longer facing isolated attacks, they are confronting highly automated adversaries operating at machine speed.”
Elevate CISOs to independent executive leadership with direct responsibility for organisational cyber resilience.