Cybersecurity company Carbon Black recently issued a report of the results of a survey of chief information security officers (CISOs) of financial organizations, which showed that the financial industry is getting hammered by more frequent and sophisticated cyber-attacks. Carbon Black partnered with Optiv to survey banks and financial institutions around the world.

According to the survey, two-thirds of the CISOs in the financial sector who responded to the survey said there has been an increase in cyberattacks against their organizations in the last year, and 80 percent said the attackers are more sophisticated in how they are targeting and launching attacks on organizations, particularly through social engineering and targeted phishing campaigns.

Consistent with our other reporting, 26 percent of those replying to the survey said they had been hit with a destructive attack meant to destroy rather than steal data. According to the survey, this is a 160 percent increase from last year.

Seventy percent of those surveyed said they were most concerned about attackers seeking financial gain, while 30 percent were most concerned about nation-state attacks. Both concerns are realistic and concerning, as banks have been pegged by Moody’s as one of the top four industries most vulnerable to cyber-attacks (along with securities exchanges, investment firms and hospitals), where the disruption and economic effect from a successful attack could be devastating.