4 posts
Financial services are facing an escalating threat landscape characterized by massive DDoS attacks, AI-empowered botnets, and targeted web attacks against API endpoints. Attackers are increasingly exploiting overlooked DNS misconfigurations and leveraging hyperscale IoT botnets to bypass traditional IP reputation defenses, necessitating a shift toward behavioral heuristics and adaptive security architectures.
Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers introduce a new attack surface akin to AI-native APIs, exposing organizations to protocol-level attacks, injection vulnerabilities, and authorization bypasses. Because MCP tools often use permissive validation to accommodate LLM inputs and proactively broadcast their capabilities via plain-English descriptions, attackers can easily map business logic and exploit downstream systems or trigger resource exhaustion.
A recent Akamai study reveals that API security incidents are escalating, exacerbated by the rapid adoption of AI technologies like LLMs. Organizations are struggling with API visibility and governance, leading to increased susceptibility to BOLA attacks, business logic abuse, and prompt injection, which bypass traditional WAFs and result in significant financial losses.
The Akamai 2026 SOTI report highlights the industrialization of cyberattacks, driven by automation and the convergence of API threats, web exploits, and DDoS campaigns. Key trends include a massive 104% surge in Layer 7 DDoS attacks powered by super botnets, increased risks from untested AI-generated code, and a 73% rise in web application attacks.
