Dossier
Cybersecurity
Our goal: Strengthening cyber resilience and combating fraud
Digitalisation is fundamentally transforming the economy and society. It is opening up new opportunities for innovation and growth. At the same time, cyber threats are increasing, posing new challenges for businesses, governments and consumers in terms of security and resilience. As a result, cyber resilience has become one of Europe’s key strategic priorities. The Association advocates embedding cybersecurity as a shared responsibility and combating fraud more effectively.
Key points at a glance
- Cybercrime causes more than just financial harm. Every successful attack undermines trust in digital services and, in doing so, affects the entire digital economy.
- Cybersecurity and effective fraud prevention strengthen competitiveness and the attractiveness of Europe as a place to do business. They also safeguard Europe’s digital sovereignty.
- Consumers must be better protected against fraud and deception, with every effort made to prevent harm.
- This requires prevention, personal responsibility, technological safeguards, effective law enforcement and coordinated action across sectors and national borders to work hand in hand.
01
Where do we stand?
Artificial intelligence is being used for both attacks and defence
Next-generation AI models such as Anthropic’s Claude Mythos can automatically identify software vulnerabilities and exploit them in a short period of time. As a result, would-be attackers need less expertise and fewer resources to launch cyberattacks. At the same time, organisations have less time to respond. This marks a fundamental shift in cybersecurity: AI is making attacks easier, but it can also significantly strengthen cyber defence.
DORA strengthens the financial sector’s digital resilience
Against this backdrop, the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is becoming increasingly important. This harmonised regulatory framework strengthens the digital resilience of the financial sector and establishes clear requirements across Europe. Financial institutions must step up their preparations for potential disruptions, actively manage risks, respond rapidly to security incidents and regularly test their operational resilience.
Technological dependencies are a risk factor
Particularly when it comes to critical digital infrastructures and cloud services, organisations need to reduce concentration risk and identify vulnerabilities at an early stage. To achieve this, they need strategies that support the use of multiple providers, make it easier to switch service providers and ensure continuous access to data.
Online fraud is a challenge for society as a whole
However, digital resilience is about more than defending systems against cyberattacks. It also includes protection against online fraud. Criminals are increasingly targeting people directly through manipulation and deception, a tactic known as social engineering. They send phishing emails and messages, create convincing fake websites, impersonate bank employees and use social media as an entry point. Their aim is to obtain sensitive information and persuade victims to make payments to criminals.
The financial losses are substantial. According to figures published by the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Central Bank (ECB), fraudulent payments amounted to around €4 billion in 2024. Banks’ security measures already prevent significantly higher losses. Banks are continuously enhancing their protection mechanisms. One example is Verification of Payee, the recipient verification service introduced across Europe in 2025. It helps customers identify manipulated or incorrect payee details before making a payment.
02
Where do we want to go?
A resilient financial sector
The financial sector must remain resilient and operational even in the face of new and evolving threats. DORA already provides a comprehensive framework for achieving this. Today, cyber risks are no longer confined to individual organisations but extend across entire value chains and supply chains. That is why banks, cloud providers, technology partners and other critical service providers must be viewed as part of the same ecosystem. The focus is shifting. The priority is no longer just the resilience of individual systems, but of the financial system as a whole.
Cybersecurity as a strategic priority
Companies must embed cyber resilience firmly in their business strategies, governance structures and risk management frameworks. AI can help identify attacks more quickly, analyse suspicious activity faster and automatically close security gaps. Protective measures must continually adapt to the new techniques used by attackers and, ideally, stay one step ahead of them.
Balancing prevention and responsibility
Online fraud affects society as a whole. No single sector can prevent it on its own. Effective prevention requires clear liability rules, strong public awareness and a coordinated approach involving all stakeholders. Consumers also have a role to play. They need to take warnings seriously, make use of available information and carefully review payment decisions.
Combating online fraud requires a collective effort
The new EU rules on combating payment fraud (the EU Payment Services Regulation) are an important step forward. However, implementation will be challenging. Over the longer term, these measures will only be effective if banks, law enforcement authorities, telecommunications providers, platform operators and consumer organisations coordinate their efforts.
03
What the Association is calling for
Strengthen cyber resilience
Embed cybersecurity as a shared responsibility of government, industry and supervisory authorities.
Digital sovereignty: assess dependencies and preserve technological diversity
Promote the responsible use of AI
Make fraud prevention more effective
Recognise fraud prevention as a responsibility shared by society as a whole
Promote consumer awareness and personal responsibility
Improve information-sharing between banks and other sectors
Prevent spoofing
04
FAQ
Cyber resilience refers to the ability of businesses and organisations to prevent, detect, respond to and recover from cyberattacks and other digital disruptions. The goal is to remain operational even during an attack and to restore critical business processes as quickly as possible. Cyber resilience is therefore a key pillar of stability and security for the financial sector.
Digitalisation is advancing rapidly, and with it the demands placed on cybersecurity. Banks are continuously investing in modern security measures to protect systems, data and customers. Artificial intelligence is creating new challenges, but it also offers new opportunities to identify and respond to threats more quickly. Cybersecurity is therefore an ongoing priority for banks and an integral part of their day-to-day business.
Artificial intelligence can be used both to carry out cyberattacks and to defend against them. Attackers can use AI to identify vulnerabilities more quickly and automate attacks. Banks, on the other hand, can use AI to detect suspicious activity, anomalies and cyberattacks more quickly and to close security vulnerabilities more efficiently. It is therefore essential that defensive capabilities keep pace with the technological advances available to attackers.
AI models such as “Claude Mythos” can accelerate cyberattacks by automatically identifying and exploiting software vulnerabilities, for example. As a result, would-be attackers need less expertise and fewer resources to launch cyberattacks, leaving organisations with less time to respond to emerging threats. At the same time, AI can also strengthen cyber defence, for example by detecting suspicious activity more quickly and automatically closing security vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity must therefore keep pace with the development of increasingly powerful AI.
The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is a harmonised European regulatory framework for the digital operational resilience of the financial sector. Among other things, it requires financial institutions to manage digital risks systematically, respond to security incidents and regularly test their resilience. DORA extends its focus beyond individual banks to include critical technology and cloud service providers. Its objective is to strengthen the resilience of the financial system as a whole.
Online fraud is a challenge for society as a whole because criminals increasingly target people directly through deception and manipulation. In social engineering attacks, criminals may impersonate bank employees, send fraudulent messages or create convincing fake websites in an attempt to obtain sensitive information or induce victims to make payments. Banks use extensive technical safeguards and prevent a large proportion of fraudulent payments. But no security system can prevent social engineering on its own. That is why effective protection depends not only on modern security technologies, but also on awareness and cooperation among all those involved.
Online fraud can be tackled most effectively through a combination of technical safeguards, consumer awareness and careful payment decisions. Banks use measures such as Verification of Payee to alert customers to manipulated or incorrect payee details. Consumers can protect themselves by taking warnings seriously and checking payment instructions carefully. Rapid information-sharing between banks, authorities, telecommunications providers and other stakeholders is also essential. This makes it possible to identify new types of fraud more quickly and combat them effectively.
Cybersecurity and fraud protection need to be addressed together. The Association is therefore calling for close cooperation between government, supervisory authorities and industry to combat cyber threats effectively, limit technological dependencies and enable the responsible use of AI. Tackling online fraud also requires effective technical safeguards, greater consumer awareness and a legally secure framework for sharing information between banks, authorities, telecommunications providers and other stakeholders. Spoofing must also be consistently curbed through technical and legal measures.
André Nash
Head of Banking Technology and Security
Dr. Ingo Beyritz
Head of Payments