INDUSTRY FACT FILE · FINTECH

Threat Landscape: Top Cyber Threats Facing Fintech Companies

The 18 most relevant cyber threats, attacks and industry challenges for fintech and digital financial services companies in India, and their impact.

Fintechs concentrate large volumes of sensitive financial and identity data in API-driven, cloud-hosted platforms connected to many partners. Reports based on Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) data put cyber-fraud losses across all channels at about ₹19,813 crore in 2025, and fraud rings increasingly use synthetic identities, deepfakes and mule accounts against digital onboarding.

The most damaging fintech incidents in recent years worldwide have rarely required sophisticated exploits: they typically involved a broken API authorisation check, an exposed storage bucket, a leaked credential or a compromised third-party component.

The list below is a practical assessment framework, not a statistical ranking. Priority varies by business model, technology exposure and existing controls.

The matrix is a qualitative guide for prioritising the first round of security reviews.

Figure 5: Qualitative threat relevance by fintech segment (Codec Networks assessment).

4.1 Broken API authorisation and data exposure

Object-level authorisation failures top the OWASP API Security Top 10 for good reason: they let an authenticated user access any record by changing an identifier. Combined with responses that return full records, a single flaw can expose an entire customer base.

• Questions to test: Is every endpoint tested for object- and function-level authorisation in each release? Do responses return only the fields required? Are partner APIs inventoried with clear owners?
• Relevant services: API security testing, secure code review, API gateway assessment, DevSecOps integration.

4.2 Secrets and cloud misconfiguration

Cloud keys committed to code, tokens embedded in mobile apps and public storage buckets are among the most common causes of fintech exposure. Automated scanners find leaked credentials within hours.

• Questions to test: Is secrets scanning enforced in CI/CD and repositories? Are credentials short-lived and vaulted? Is public exposure monitored continuously?
• Relevant services: cloud posture assessment, secrets management review, continuous cloud assurance, SOC monitoring of cloud audit logs.

4.3 Synthetic identity and deepfake onboarding

AI-generated faces and video-injection attacks can defeat weak liveness checks, enabling fraud rings to open many accounts or take many loans quickly. Regulated lender partners expect fintechs to prove onboarding controls work.

• Questions to test: Is liveness resistant to injected video? Are device attestation and velocity checks applied? Has onboarding been tested with realistic deepfakes?
• Relevant services: AI-powered deepfake testing, onboarding fraud simulation, device-linkage analytics, AI security review.

4.4 Consent and data misuse

Account Aggregator flows and DPDP obligations both centre on purpose-bound consent. Over-broad consents, long retention and wide internal or vendor access turn useful data into a liability.

• Questions to test: Are consent purposes and durations minimised? Is AA data deleted when the purpose ends? Who—including vendors—can access raw financial data?
• Relevant services: DPDPA programme, consent-flow review, data discovery and retention review, DLP.

4.5 Third-party SDKs and the software supply chain

Fintech apps and platforms depend on hundreds of open-source libraries and SDKs. A compromised or vulnerable component can steal tokens or data from inside the app.

• Questions to test: Is there an SBOM? Are SDKs reviewed and versions pinned? Is outbound traffic from apps and servers monitored?
• Relevant services: software composition analysis, SDK and supply-chain review, CI/CD security, runtime monitoring.

• CERT-In: specified incidents—including data breaches and leaks—reported within six hours; ICT logs retained for 180 days in India.
• Licensed entities: NBFC-AAs and NBFC-P2Ps report cyber incidents to RBI on DAKSH within six hours under the 2026 NBFC Directions.
• Partners: banks and NBFCs must report incidents affecting them and will invoke contractual audit rights over fintech partners.
• Privacy: once DPDP breach provisions commence in May 2027, breaches must be intimated to the Data Protection Board, with a detailed report within 72 hours.
• Funding: investors and acquirers routinely review incidents and remediation in due diligence.

• Would every customer-facing API pass an object-level authorisation test today?
• Do we know every secret, key and token in our code, apps and pipelines?
• Could we prove to a bank partner, with evidence, that our onboarding resists deepfakes?
• Is consented financial data deleted when its purpose ends?
• Which SDKs and libraries run inside our app, and who reviews them?
• Could we report a data leak to CERT-In within six hours?

Note: Threat descriptions and relevance ratings are general guidance, not findings about any specific company. I4C figures cover all channels. Confirm regulatory obligations against official instruments.