Intrusions, AI‑driven attacks, and mortgage fraud probes are reshaping risk for banks and lenders globally.
CrowdStrike’s 2026 Threat Hunting Report has revealed a sharp escalation in cyber and AI‑enabled attacks against financial services institutions, as Australian regulators and investigators warn that the same trends are surfacing in mortgage origination.
The latest CrowdStrike data indicates that intrusion activity against financial institutions worldwide rose 11 per cent over the past year.
In its analysis, CrowdStrike described the global financial system as especially attractive due to the mix of assets and information concentrated in one place.
“The financial sector represents a dual-value target because these institutions hold significant financial assets, including cryptocurrency holdings, alongside high-value data such as business intelligence and customers’ personally identifiable information (PII),” the report said.
“For eCrime adversaries, the high availability requirements of financial operations make the sector a target for ransomware attacks, where operational disruption carries immediate and severe consequences.”
Nation‑state groups are stepping up as well, with the report stating that nation‑state intrusion volume targeting financial services surged by 29 per cent, the largest sector increase in the report.
That shift is mirrored in motivation metrics, with 57 per cent of intrusions targeting financial services organisations originating from e-crime adversaries and 43 per cent from state-sponsored threat actors.
AI accelerates attacks
Alongside intrusion volumes, CrowdStrike highlighted how artificial intelligence is reshaping attacker behaviour.
The report noted that AI tools are now being used to streamline social engineering, reconnaissance, and technical execution, compressing the time between finding and exploiting weaknesses.
“Frontier AI is collapsing the window between vulnerability discovery and exploitation, helping adversaries identify vulnerabilities, generate proof-of-concept (PoC) exploits, and map attack paths at increasing speed and scale,” the report said.
“AI-enabled adversary activity surged 89 per cent in 2025 as attackers used AI to scale operations, accelerate tradecraft, and directly target AI infrastructure.”
Australian mortgage fraud probes highlight fallout
Police, lenders, and regulators have launched probes into criminals allegedly using AI‑generated documents to secure mortgages, raising alarms about both fraud and money laundering exposure.
The emerging picture is that organised crime networks may be ‘washing’ illicit funds – from activities such as drug trafficking or exploitation schemes – by obtaining loans with doctored documentation, in some cases created using generative AI tools.
It is believed the current mortgage fraud probe covers around $4 billion in home purchases, with exposures sitting on the books of major institutions including National Australia Bank (NAB) and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).
Australia’s financial intelligence unit AUSTRAC has recently warned that artificial intelligence is amplifying existing money laundering and terrorism financing risks, describing the threat landscape as more complex and interconnected.
Peak industry bodies have written to Treasurer Jim Chalmers seeking changes to the Consumer Data Right regime, with these groups saying that the CDR should be expanded to include Australian Taxation Office income data and ASIC registry information.
The associations said this would help banks and lenders spot AI‑generated payslips and forged financial statements and track fast‑changing corporate structures.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has also warned that institutions’ controls around AI have not kept pace with rapid rollouts of new tools.
APRA has called for a major uplift in how AI‑related risks are governed and managed.
[Related: NAB calls for National Economic Crime Strategy amid growing mortgage fraud]
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