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The recent breach of Standard Bank’s systems backs the argument for the unified, industry-led approach against fraud and other cybercrimes that the sector’s watchdog has called for.
The attack bears testament to the high-stakes game financial institutions must play to protect customer information, most importantly, their finances.
Cyberattacks are a common feature of doing business in 2026, with digital security specialists reporting thousands of attacks on the systems of organisations in both the public and private sectors each day.
In March, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) called for a centralised antifraud hub aimed at shifting the fight against financial crime from individual institutional efforts to a unified, cross-sector intelligence network.
In the same month, Standard Bank — Africa’s largest lender, which spent more than R22bn last year on technology — warned customers that their personal information had been accessed after a recent data breach.
The breach was first reported on March 23, the same day Standard Bank’s subsidiary Liberty said it had “detected unauthorised third-party access to select data systems”.
Business Day understands that Standard Bank issued an update to customers this week, seeking to reassure them that its transactional systems were not accessed in the breach and remain secure.
“We continue to strengthen controls and enhance monitoring in line with industry best practice to safeguard client information. We have reported this incident to the relevant regulatory and law enforcement authorities, and we continue to co-operate with their processes,” the bank said in a statement sent to the publication.
Globally, the time between an intrusion and theft of data from a network has dropped to around 72 minutes, from 285 minutes in 2024, according to cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks.
We continue to strengthen controls and enhance monitoring in line with industry best practice to safeguard client information.
— Standard Bank
For South African companies, which recorded a 60% rise in data breaches in the first half of 2025 alone, “that shrinking window is fast becoming an impossible one to close”.
The cybercrime has come under the spotlight, with MyBroadBand and TechCentral reporting that a “Rootboy” had claimed responsibility on a dark web forum for a breach of Standard Bank’s internal systems and those of Liberty in February.
Some credit card data was reportedly published online, with the person demanding payment of one bitcoin in exchange for not releasing more information.
Bradley Elliott, the CEO of anti-money laundering platform RelyComply, supports the FSCA’s position.
“A siloed approach where each institution relies solely on its own intelligence, detection systems and response protocols will not keep pace with financial criminals who are becoming more agile, sophisticated and AI-driven with each passing day,” he argued.
“In isolation, even well-resourced institutions are structurally outmatched by adversaries who collaborate, automate and iterate at machine speed.”
Although South Africa’s banks are under constant attack, only major breaches are reported publicly.
Standard Bank’s rival FNB has not reported a core system breach since 2023. The bank has, however, issued warnings to customers about a recent spike in AI-generated phishing and social engineering attacks targeting digital wallets.
Absa’s most recent reported major security incident occurred in May 2025, involving internal information leaks that led to disciplinary action against staff members.
Nedbank’s most recent report of a major security compromise originated from a system error discovered in May 2024, which unintentionally exposed client data to an unauthorised third party. In March 2025, a security vulnerability was disclosed involving Nedbank’s free credit-checking service.
Capitec has not reported a direct breach of its core banking systems in recent years. However, the bank has encountered various security-related incidents involving technical glitches, third-party outages and internal compliance.
Standard Bank said: “To protect customers in the limited cases involving card details, affected clients are being contacted directly, and their cards are being replaced.”
Transactions are being monitored using enhanced fraud models and card schemes, it added.
Liberty said in its own security breach the affected data was mostly “limited to names and ID numbers, but for some clients this may also include contact details, address, tax number, bank account number and/or policy details”.
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