Key AI-enabled cyber attack trends to watch out for

TrendAI, a business unit of Trend Micro (with European headquarters in Cork), publishes an in-depth report on the current state of AI-powered cyberattacks hitting financial institutions.

Drawing on a survey of 48 CISOs from global firms, the report reveals the extent to which attackers are weaponising AI to undermine defenders during live engagements, regularly target confidential market information and compromise financial institutions’ infrastructure – turning it against its customers.

Cyber attack trends to watch out for

Survey callouts include (all stats year-on-year):

67% of CISOs say their firm experienced counter incident response (where attackers actively work to undermine defenders during live engagements)
55% of CISOs report increased API-based attacks
37% of CISOs confirm being targeted by Island-hopping (where adversaries compromise an institution’s infrastructure to pivot against its customers)

The report also features contemporary analysis from Trend’s Forward Threat Research team:

The five Remote Access Trojans (RATs) that pose the greatest threat to financial institutions

A warning on the rise of Steganography to target financial institutions
An apt security architecture response to the new normal: attackers chaining together specialised AI agents under a central orchestrator to run end-to-end campaigns — phishing, fraud, exploitation – at machine speed

TrendAI research reveals cybercriminals are using

AI to outpace financial institutions

Nearly nine in ten organisations report a surge in AI-enabled attacks as cybercrime cartels industrialise operations

Financial institutions are facing an unprecedented wave of AI-powered cyberattacks as cybercrime groups increasingly automate fraud, ransomware and intrusion campaigns, according to new research from TrendAI.

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.

“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.” – Bharat Mistry, Field CTO at TrendAI

Additional recommendations from TrendAI

To counter increasingly autonomous attacks, TrendAI recommends financial institutions:
Adopt an intrusion suppression strategy that combines virtual patching, proactive threat hunting and managed detection and response.
Build AI-enabled security operations capable of responding at machine speed.
Strengthen protection against prompt injection, deepfake-enabled fraud and business email compromise.

Elevate CISOs to independent executive leadership with direct responsibility for organisational cyber resilience

About the research

TrendAI surveyed 48 CISOs from financial institutions in June 2026 to better understand how AI, organised cybercrime and evolving attacker techniques are reshaping the threat landscape for the financial sector. Findings are published in the Modern Bank Heists in 2026?report.

See more breaking stories here.