Cybersecurity threats targeting financial institutions have once again attracted international attention. From a sharp increase in detected cyberattack attempts in Indonesia to a major financial theft involving a French bank, recent incidents demonstrate how exposed even highly regulated organizations can be.
Although these events are not confirmed to be part of one coordinated campaign, they highlight a common concern: attackers are continuously looking for weaknesses in digital infrastructure, access controls and relationships with external service providers.
For businesses outside the financial sector, these incidents offer important lessons about protecting their own IT environments.
A Wave of Cyber Threats Across Different Countries
In November 2026, Indonesian financial institutions came under increased scrutiny following reports of a significant rise in detected cyberattack attempts.
According to reporting by The Jakarta Post on 9 November, FortiGuard Labs data showed more than 1.2 million detected attack attempts targeting Indonesia’s banking, finance and insurance sectors over a 24-hour period. The figure represented a substantial increase compared with the approximately 657,000 attempts recorded over the preceding weekend.
In response, Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) urged banks to strengthen their security measures. Recommendations included monitoring significant financial transactions, temporarily suspending unusual transactions for verification, and maintaining regular penetration testing, cyberattack simulations and IT audits.
Importantly, these figures represent detected attack activity, not confirmed successful intrusions into 1.2 million banking systems. Nevertheless, the scale of the activity illustrates the pressure that financial institutions face in defending their digital infrastructure.
Indonesia was not the only country dealing with cybersecurity concerns.
In France, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa reported a cyberattack involving approximately €100 million in fraudulent transfers. According to Reuters, attackers used an account belonging to the bank to move funds through fraudulent transactions. The incident involved access through a third-party service provider, highlighting the potential risks associated with external platforms and supplier access.
The bank stated that customer assets were not affected. Investigations and recovery efforts followed the incident.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Financial Security Institute was reported to have detected a cyberattack involving the theft of personal information belonging to local banking personnel, according to Reuters on 10 November.
These incidents differ in their methods and impact. However, together they demonstrate why cybersecurity remains a critical concern for financial institutions and businesses worldwide.
Why Are Financial Institutions Attractive Targets?
Banks manage valuable financial assets, sensitive personal information, and extensive digital infrastructure. This makes them attractive targets for cybercriminals seeking financial gain, access to confidential information or opportunities to disrupt essential services.
However, attackers do not always need to compromise a bank’s central systems directly.
Modern organizations depend on interconnected networks, external service providers, cloud platforms, employee devices and remote access solutions. Each connection introduces additional security considerations.
A compromised third-party provider, for example, may create an indirect route into an organization’s environment. Similarly, stolen credentials or an infected employee device can provide attackers with an opportunity to access systems beyond the original point of compromise.
Any leaked personal information, even the most basic data can serve as a clue for cybercriminals to craft increasingly sophisticated and hard-to-detect scam scenarios.
For organizations in particular, a data breach not only results in financial losses and damage to their reputation and customer trust, but can also lead to severe legal consequences, including substantial fines.
This is why cybersecurity cannot rely on a single protective measure. Organizations need visibility across their IT infrastructure, appropriate access controls and the ability to identify suspicious activity before it develops into a larger incident.
Three Cybersecurity Lessons Businesses Should Take Seriously
The French bank incident highlights the importance of understanding the security risks associated with external service providers.
Businesses often grant suppliers, contractors and technology partners access to internal systems or sensitive information. If these external parties have inadequate security controls, their vulnerabilities can potentially become your organization’s vulnerabilities.
Companies should regularly review supplier access permissions, evaluate third-party security practices and ensure that external access is limited to what is genuinely necessary.
Cyberattacks do not always begin with an obvious system failure. Suspicious behaviour may appear as unusual login attempts, unexpected changes to system configurations, unauthorized access or abnormal activity across employee devices.
Without appropriate monitoring, these warning signs may go unnoticed.
Organizations should have the ability to monitor endpoints, investigate suspicious behaviour and respond to potential threats quickly. Early detection can help limit the potential impact of an attack.
Security controls can become outdated as businesses introduce new technologies, expand their networks and change how employees access company systems.
An IT environment that was adequately protected a few years ago may contain vulnerabilities today.
Regular IT assessments help organizations understand their current security posture, identify weaknesses in infrastructure and access management, and determine which improvements should receive priority.
Identifying these issues before an incident occurs is an important part of building long-term cyber resilience.
How ITM Helps Businesses Strengthen Their Cybersecurity
At ITM, we believe effective cybersecurity starts with understanding your organization’s risks and implementing appropriate protection.
Two services are particularly relevant to the challenges highlighted by these recent incidents.
IT Audits
An IT Audit provides a structured assessment of your organization’s IT infrastructure and security controls. It helps identify potential vulnerabilities, review access permissions, uncover system weaknesses and evaluate whether existing safeguards are appropriate.
By identifying areas that require improvement, businesses can make more informed decisions about their IT investments and security priorities.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
Employee computers and other connected devices can become entry points for cyberattacks. EDR helps organizations monitor endpoint activity, identify suspicious behaviour and detect potential threats.
By providing greater visibility into activity across company devices, EDR supports faster investigation and response when suspicious activity occurs.
Together, IT Audits and EDR address different but complementary aspects of cybersecurity: understanding where weaknesses exist and improving visibility into potential threats on endpoints.
Cybersecurity Is Continuous Responsibility
Recent incidents involving financial institutions in Indonesia, France and South Korea show that cyber threats take different forms and can affect organizations in different ways.
The important lesson for businesses is not to assume that their industry, size or existing security measures make them immune.
Understanding your IT environment, reviewing external access, monitoring connected devices and regularly assessing security controls can help reduce exposure to potential threats.
At ITM, we help businesses take a proactive approach to IT security through infrastructure assessments and endpoint protection. Because protecting your business starts with knowing where your risks are.
Contact ITM to learn how we can help strengthen your organization’s cybersecurity.
