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Did you know that the global cybersecurity market in banking was valued at $74.3 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to $282 billion by 2032?
From online portals and third-party fintech integrations to ATMs and kiosks, the banking industry faces a wide range of threats. Each layer brings distinct security risks that demand real- time visibility and swift response. A SIEM solution centralizes and correlates security events across these touchpoints, enabling faster threat detection, streamlined incident response, and improved compliance. It serves as the hub for security operations, assisting banks in staying ahead of evolving online threats.
What are the various threats and threat vectors in ATM and kiosks
The following are the various types of threats in ATMs and kiosks:
| Threat | Description | Threat vectors | Vectors to be monitored |
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| Malware injection | Attackers inject malware to force ATMs to dispense cash or steal customer data. |
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| Physical tampering and skimming | Devices are physically tampered with to steal card data or PINs. |
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| Unauthorized remote access | Remote desktop tools are misused to take control of kiosks or ATMs. |
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| Operating system exploits | Exploits targeting outdated or unpatched ATM/kiosk operating systems. |
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| Network-based attacks | Network communications are intercepted or altered to steal data or credentials. |
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Real world incident: ATM jackpotting attacks in multiple US states
In early 2025, two individuals tied to the Tren de Aragua criminal group were indicted for orchestrating a series of ATM jackpotting attacks across multiple U.S. states. Leveraging stolen or replicated maintenance keys, the attackers physically accessed ATMs, replaced hard drives with malware-laden ones, and remotely forced the machines to dispense cash resulting in thefts totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The criminal operations began in late 2024 at credit unions and spread into early 2025. For example, a coordinated attack on a Radius Federal Credit Union ATM in Kenmore, New York involved installing malware that intercepted transaction signals between the ATM’s control unit and dispenser unit, effectively bypassing security controls and allowing illicit withdrawals.
Threat vectors:
- Physical compromise: Unauthorized access using master or replicated keys.
- Malware installation: Replacing hard drives or using USB devices to inject malicious code.
This case exemplifies the convergence of physical tampering and logical infiltration, where malware enables remote attackers to convert ATMs into dispensing machines disconnected from legitimate banking processes. It illustrates the urgent need for robust SIEM monitoring that correlates physical intrusion logs, system changes, and abnormal dispensing behavior in real time.
What are the various threats and threat indicators in online banking portals
The following are the various types of threats in online banking portals:
| Threat | Description | Threat vectors | Vectors to be monitored |
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| Credential theft and account takeover | Attackers steal user credentials to gain unauthorized access to banking accounts. |
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| Web application exploits | Vulnerabilities in banking applications are exploited to manipulate data or inject malicious scripts. |
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| Session hijacking | Attackers steal or manipulate session tokens to impersonate legitimate users. |
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| Manipulator-in-the-browser attack | Malware on a user’s browser modifies transactions or captures sensitive data silently. |
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| DDoS attack | Distributed denial-of-service attacks overwhelm banking portals, disrupting services and masking other malicious activities. |
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Real world incident: Phishing malware hits Australian banks
A sophisticated global cybercrime operation attacked Australian banks in December 2024, including major firms like Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac, and NAB. The operation used phishing to deceive users into downloading a fake CRM program, mostly through fraudulent recruiter messages. After being deployed, the Andidot Banker malware injected fake login overlays into legitimate banking apps on Android devices, capturing credentials and other sensitive data in real time.
Threat vectors
- Social engineering via phishing/messaging impersonating recruiters
- Malicious Android app installer disguising the malware
- Browser or app overlay injection to intercept login data
This attack didn’t breach the bank's infrastructure directly; instead, it compromised user devices, manipulating login interfaces to capture credentials. Even with strong backend security, these attacks highlight real risks in authentication visibility and endpoint integrity. It underscores the importance of device-level anomaly detection, mobile telemetry monitoring, and SIEM driven correlation between auth attempts and unusual app behavior to proactively detect and mitigate sophisticated fraud against online banking systems.
What are the various threats and threat indicators in third-party fintech integration?
The following are the various types of threats in third-party fintech integration:
| Threat | Description | Threat vectors | Vectors to be monitored |
|---|---|---|---|
| API exploitation | Weak or exposed APIs in fintech integrations can be exploited to access sensitive banking data. |
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| Third-party vendor compromise | A breach in a fintech partner can be leveraged to gain entry into the bank's systems. |
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| Data leakage and privacy violation | Sensitive customer data may be mishandled or exposed by third-party applications. |
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| Supply chain attacks | Attackers compromise fintech software updates or libraries to infiltrate banking systems. |
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| Inadequate access control | Poorly configured access controls in fintech integrations can allow unauthorized access to critical systems. |
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Real world incident: Ransomware breach exposes Evolve bank
In June 2024, Evolve Bank & Trust, a key banking‑as‑a‑service (BaaS) partner for fintechs like Affirm, Wise, Mercury, and others, suffered a ransomware breach attributed to LockBit, exposing personal data of around 7.6 million individuals including names, SSNs, DOBs, and account number. The initial compromise stemmed from a successful phishing attack targeting an Evolve employee, granting attackers network access and exfiltration capabilities.
Compounding the incident, Synapse Financial Technologies, Evolve’s fintech integration layer linking dozens of fintechs, declared bankruptcy in April 2024, freezing withdrawals for over 100,000 customers and culminating in up to $96 million of missing customer funds affecting fintech partners and their end user.
Threat vectors
- Phishing‑based ransomware via compromised employee credentials.
- Third‑party service collapse disrupting ledger integrity and fund tracking.
- Shared infrastructure risk inherent in BaaS and fintech partnerships.
While Synapse’s bankruptcy in April 2024 wasn’t responsible for the ransomware breach at Evolve Bank & Trust two months later, the two events together exposed critical weaknesses in the BaaS ecosystem. Synapse’s collapse disrupted fund access and ledger integrity for fintechs and their users. Then, Evolve’s breach compromised millions of records, compounding reputational and regulatory damage across the same network of fintech partnerships. This sequence underscores the critical importance of SIEM-driven oversight, comprehensive third‑party risk monitoring, and real‑time correlation across fintech and banking logs to proactively guard against chain‑reaction failures.
What are the major security policy recommendations for CISOs
The following are the security policy recommendations that can be followed to prevent cyberattacks in ATMs, kiosks, online banking portals, and third-party fintech integration:
- Access control: Enforce strict role-based access with least privilege for all systems and third-party vendors.
- Patch management: Ensure timely updates of software, firmware, and OS across all devices and platforms.
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA): Mandate MFA for user logins, admin consoles, and fintech integrations.
- API security: Secure APIs with authentication, rate limiting, encryption, and continuous monitoring.
- Endpoint hardening: Lock down ATMs and kiosks with device control, allow-listing, and secure configurations.
- Centralized logging and SIEM monitoring: Aggregate logs from all systems into a SIEM for real-time correlation and threat detection.
- Third-party risk management: Evaluate, onboard, and continuously monitor fintech partners with defined security SLAs.
- Incident response plan: Maintain a tailored incident response strategy for each asset type with clear escalation paths.
- Data encryption: Protect sensitive data both in transit and at rest using robust encryption protocols.
How can a SIEM solution help in preventing such threats?
SIEM for ATMs and kiosks:
- Detects malware and unauthorized executables: A SIEM solution monitors real-time process creation and executable launches.
- How it helps: Alerts when unknown or unauthorized software runs (e.g., ATM jackpotting malware like Ploutus or Cutlet Maker).
- Monitors physical access and device events: A SIEM solution analyzes Windows event logs and syslogs for physical tampering indicators.
- How it helps: Monitors device-level events by analyzing Windows event logs and syslogs to detect unauthorized USB activity or sudden shutdown/restart patterns. It triggers real-time alerts for suspicious device behavior, enabling swift action to protect ATM and kiosk endpoints from tampering or misuse.
- Correlates events across devices: A SIEM solution uses correlation rules to link abnormal behaviors. E.g., Multiple failed login attempts + privilege escalation.
- How it helps: Detects suspicious multi-stage attacks by tying together events that otherwise appear benign in isolation.
- Tracks OS-level vulnerabilities: A SIEM solution audits unpatched systems or OS configurations via vulnerability data and log analytics.
- How it helps: Identifies ATMs and kiosks running outdated OS versions that may be vulnerable to exploits.
- Alerts on anomalous ATM communication: A SIEM solution helps inspect network traffic logs for abnormal communication patterns.
- How it helps: Detects malware callbacks or suspicious ATM-to-server communications that deviate from expected behavior.
SIEM for online banking portals:
- Web server log monitoring: A SIEM solution helps collect and analyze Apache/IIS logs and application logs from online portals.
- How it helps: Detects SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), or malformed requests targeting web applications.
- User entity behavior analytics (UEBA): A SIEM solution helps build baselines for user behavior, login times, transaction patterns, and device usage.
- How it helps: Flags anomalies like logins from unknown geographies or behavior inconsistent with the user’s profile.
- Credential attack detection: A SIEM solution identifies brute force, credential stuffing, or password spray attacks.
- How it helps: Raises alerts on repeated failed logins, especially from multiple IPs or automated tools.
- Session and token abuse monitoring: A SIEM solution helps track session creation, expiration, and anomalies across sessions.
- How it helps: Detects token reuse, hijacked sessions, or abnormal session lifespan indicating MitB attacks.
- File integrity monitoring: A SIEM solution helps monitor changes in critical files related to portal logic or payment processing.
- How it helps: Detects unauthorized web page/script modifications that may indicate a compromised banking portal.
SIEM for third-party fintech integration:
- API log auditing: A SIEM solution tracks API calls made to/from fintech integrations, including payloads and request origins.
- How it helps: Detects unauthorized or unusual API calls that might signal abuse or credential leakage.
- Vendor access monitoring: A SIEM solution monitors login activity, IP usage, and privilege access from external partner systems.
- How it helps: Flags suspicious access from fintech partners especially during off-hours or from foreign IPs.
- Cloud application monitoring (e.g., AWS, Azure): A SIEM solution integrates with cloud logs (CloudTrail, Azure AD, etc.) used by many fintech platforms.
- How it helps: Tracks cloud resource use and configuration drift to detect misconfigurations or breaches via third-party platforms.
- Third-party risk correlation rules: A SIEM solution uses customizable correlation rules for identifying chained risks (e.g., token misuse + sudden privilege escalation).
- How it helps: Detects complex attack patterns resulting from integration abuse or insider activity.
- Audit trail and compliance reporting: A SIEM solution generates audit-ready reports for third-party access, system changes, and data exposure events.
- How it helps: Supports compliance with frameworks like PCI-DSS, GLBA, and SOC 2, which are key for fintech collaborations.
How can a SIEM solution strengthen compliance across ATMs, online banking, and fintech integrations?
Compliance in the banking sector spans multiple domains, including PCI-DSS for ATM and kiosk transactions, GLBA and SOX for customer data privacy in online banking, and SOC 2, ISO 27001, and FFIEC for third-party fintech integrations. These frameworks mandate continuous monitoring, data integrity, access control, and breach reporting across various areas where SIEM solutions like ManageEngine Log360 play a pivotal role.
Log360 enables real-time log collection, automated audit trail generation, user activity tracking, and file integrity monitoring, all essential for passing compliance audits. It also offers prebuilt compliance reports, customizable alert rules, and behavioral anomaly detection, helping financial institutions stay audit-ready and proactively mitigate risks. By centralizing and correlating data across diverse systems, Log360 ensures full visibility and strengthens regulatory alignment across the entire financial ecosystem.
What are the financial benefits of implementing SIEM in such cases?
The following are the benefits:
| Financial benefit | What SIEM does | Example scenario |
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| Reduced financial loss from fraudulent transaction | Detects unauthorized withdrawals, session hijacks, or manipulated APIs in real time. |
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| Lower regulatory penalties and fines | Helps meet PCI-DSS, GLBA, and SOC 2 requirements by automating audit trails and compliance reports. |
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| Reduced damage control costs | Real-time correlation and alerts reduce mean time to detect (MTTD). |
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| Reduced downtime and service disruption | Proactively detects threats like DDoS or malware attacks before operations are impacted. |
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| Cost savings from consolidated security monitoring | Centralizes monitoring of ATMs, online apps, and partner APIs under one platform. |
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| Minimized legal and compensation costs per incident | Strong audit logs and forensic reports support rapid investigation and reduce liability. |
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| Preserved brand reputation | Preventing publicized breaches maintains customer trust and minimizes churn. |
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| Improved ROI on security teams and resources | Automates low-level monitoring and alerting, allowing teams to focus on high-value tasks. |
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What can CISOs present to the board to choose SIEM in such cases?
1." One breach, millions lost" – The cost of inaction is too high
Highlight: One overlooked misconfiguration. One compromised credential. That’s all it takes for a threat actor to bypass defenses, escalate privileges, and access sensitive systems undetected. Without real-time visibility from a SIEM like Log360, such breaches often go unnoticed until the damage is done, resulting in disrupted operations, lost trust, and long-term reputational harm.
Board takeaway: A single breach could cost us more than a year’s security budget; this is prevention, not just detection.
2. "Audit-ready, all year round” – Automate compliance, avoid penalties
Highlight: SIEM offers prebuilt compliance reports for PCI-DSS, GLBA, and SOC 2, with real-time audit trails across ATMs, banking portals, and fintech APIs—eliminating the manual grind and human error in audit cycles.
Board takeaway: We’ll stop scrambling during audits and start proving compliance by default.
3. “From blind spots to command center” – See everything, miss nothing
Highlight: Without SIEM, ATM logs, API traffic, and online banking sessions live in silos. SIEM centralizes and correlates these, giving security teams one clear view of threats across every endpoint, user, and system.
Board takeaway: Visibility isn’t a luxury; it’s the foundation of proactive defense.
4. "From downtime to real-time" – Every second counts in breach response
Highlight: The average breach detection time is 204 days. SIEM’s real-time correlation engine and UEBA cut that drastically by detecting anomalies like privilege escalation or injection attacks before damage is done.
Board takeaway: Faster detection means faster containment; every hour we save, we save thousands.
5. “Outages hurt more than hackers” – Downtime prevention pays off
Highlight: Gartner highlights that downtime costs for Fortune 500 companies typically range between $500,000 and $1 million per hour, with critical industries such as finance and healthcare seeing losses that can surpass $5 million per hour.
Board takeaway: Avoiding even one major outage justifies the entire SIEM investment.
6. “One platform, fewer resources” – Do more with the team you have
Highlight: SIEM automates repetitive tasks like log analysis, threat triage, and alerting, freeing up your security team to focus on strategy instead of daily firefighting.
Board takeaway: Operational efficiency is how we scale without growing headcount.
Related solutions
ManageEngine Log360 is a unified SIEM solution with UEBA, DLP, CASB, and dark web monitoring capabilities. Detect compromised credentials, reduce breach impact, and lower compliance risk exposure with Log360.
Sign up for a personalized demoManageEngine AD360 is a unified IAM solution that provides SSO, adaptive MFA, UBA-driven analytics, and RBAC. Manage employees' digital identities and implement Zero Trust and the principles of least privilege with AD360.
Sign up for a personalized demoThis content has been reviewed and approved by Ram Vaidyanathan, IT security and technology consultant at ManageEngine.