NBFCs | Cyber Attacks | State Sponsored Cyber Threats | Cyber Attack Threats | NBFC Cyber Threats | Cyber Security | Cyber Attack

I’m three coffees in, and I’ve been losing sleep over this topic lately. It feels like the floodgates have opened up when it comes to attacks on NBFCs (Non-Banking Financial Companies): not traditional file-and-done cybercriminals gunning for your bank account, but persistent, state-sponsored threat actors targeting long access, corporate spying, and plain old disruption. And I have been witnessing that firsthand.

A few months back, I assisted with the deployment of a stronger zero-trust architecture in three banks. In audits, we had direct evidence of long-term reconnaissance — something you would expect from nation-state actors, not ransomware groups. And although banks attract most of the cybersecurity spotlight, the NBFC目标中也不遥远。 They handle huge volumes of sensitive financial data, often with weaker cybersecurity postures than traditional banks.

If you are operating an NBFC, please consider this your reality check: The threats are no longer theoretical.

Quick Take

• The state-backed hackers are getting smarter — no more smash and grab, their approach is now infiltrate and endure.
• Data showdown for Financial organisations, this is the major concern, especially for Financial organisations like NBFC.
• Not every attack is for financial theft; it’s also about long-term spying and destabilization.
• Traditional firewalls just don’t cut it anymore — this is a zero-trust, layered security, harden endpoints world.
• Don’t think you can ignore hardware security with impunity — firmware-level attacks are finally becoming a reality, and I’m still catching my breath from everything I saw at DefCon.

Trends In State-Sponsored Attacks

This is not your average ransomware mess. Nation-state hackers tend to be more patient — and often, their ultimate goal is not direct financial theft. They want:

1. Espionage – Tracking financial transfers, corporate mergers, and trade secrets.
2. Strategic Disruption – Targeting NBFC infrastructure to bring whole sectors to their knees.
3. Attack the Supply Chain – Breaking into bigger financial ecosystems by compromising third-party vendors. (source: Zhang, Y.)
4. Credential Harvesting – The quiet collection of information to be leveraged later, including a few years later.

The attacks follow distinct patterns. They usually start with:

• Phishing attacks designed for privileged access employees. (Yes, even top executives are still being duped by fake invoices.)
• Zero-day exploits for applications within the financial sector (patching cycles are never quick enough).
• Firmware & hardware compromise — this one’s getting a lot of traction, and there were some terrifying demos at DefCon.
• Man-in-the-middle on institutions counting on old-school networking (if you’re running unpatched routers, you’re just begging for this stuff).

What terrifies me most? Some NBFCs may already be compromised; they just don’t know it yet.

Notable Incidents

Most state-sponsored attacks go under the radar (banks and NBFCs would rather hush it up), but there are a few notable ones we’ve seen:

• 2016 – Bangladesh Bank Heist: Hackers breached SWIFT banking systems to siphon out $81 million. While it was not directly aiming at NBFCs, it was a wake-up call to financial firms everywhere.
• 2020 – Mapping India’s Financial Sector: APT groups affiliated with China were reported to be tracing contacts in the country’s financial ecosystem. Vital firms — including NBFCs — were scoped for vulnerabilities.
• 2023 – Advanced Persistent Threats in Southeast Asia: Several central banks and NBFCs were alerted by indicators of covert intrusion — attackers lingered for months, sucking sensitive data.

The scary part? There are probably dozens — hundreds, maybe — of incidents that never reach the public.

Strategic Consequences

These attacks are far more than data breaches.

• Regulatory Challenges – A breach puts NBFCs at risk of crippling fines and compliance headaches. Regulators don’t care how you were hacked — they care that you were hacked.
• Damage to Business Credibility — A financial institution that fails to secure data? That’s a death sentence for customer confidence.
• Competitive Espionage – Every time an NBFC shares sensitive financial data with you, if its competitors (or worse, foreign governments) already know their financial strategy, they lose market competitiveness in one shot.
• Infrastructure Sabotage – Not all campaigns are for data theft — some aim to degrade financial stability. When an NBFC suddenly cuts all access to its backend systems — loans, payments, everything — the stakes are high.

We have already left behind the time of hoping these attacks won’t happen.

Defense Strategies

That’s where I roll my sleeves up and start shouting at the screen since not enough companies still do the basics. I know, zero-trust is a buzzword, but it works. And if you take only a few takeaways from today, make them these:

1. Authentication from Everywhere: Real Zero-Trust, Not a Buzzword
   • Treat everything as compromised—always validate, even internally.
   • Microsegment your network so that attackers can’t pivot at will.
   • Implement behavioral anomaly detection (not just signature antivirus).
2. Make Sure Hardware & Network Are Secured
   • Replace unpatched routers, and segment your IoT devices.
3. Patch Relentlessly (And Then Again)

   If an NBFC has a publicly facing service, they better be patching like their life depends on it. Because it does.

4. Focus on Adaptive Authentication
   • Default now should be hardware-backed authentication tokens.
   • Biometric MFA is fine—as long as it’s encrypted in the client.
5. User Awareness Training That Doesn’t Suck
   • Conduct just-in-time simulated continuous phishing tests.
   • Educate employees to confirm before clicking or downloading.
   • Provide incentives for good security behavior.
6. Threat Intelligence & Preparation for Incident Response
   • Create actual threat-hunting capabilities.
   • Do live fire drills—simulate advanced attacks and see who dies first.

Final Thoughts

State-sponsored threats aren’t disappearing. And NBFCs are no longer collateral damage, they are prime targets.

If you are an NBFC head reading this, please take the threat seriously before it is too late. Most organizations do not take action until after a breach. Don’t be one of them.

And if anyone comes to sell you a shiny AI-powered security solution without explaining the basics — kick them out of your office. Hype later, fundamentals first.

That’s it for today — perhaps I now need a fourth coffee.