- A new report has warned that cyber fraud driven by artificial intelligence is surging worldwide
- Fortinet found that fraud operations using deepfake technology rose by around 1300 per cent globally during 2024
- According to the report, criminals are increasingly targeting digital banking platforms and mobile banking services
A new report has warned that cyber fraud driven by artificial intelligence is surging worldwide, with financial institutions across the Middle East and Africa facing a complex threat landscape as digital banking continues to grow.
The study, titled “Cybersecurity for the Banking Sector in the Middle East and Africa 2026” and published by Fortinet, found that fraud operations using deepfake technology rose by around 1300 per cent globally during 2024.
According to the report, criminals are increasingly targeting digital banking platforms and mobile banking services, using phishing campaigns and AI-driven impersonation techniques to mimic customers’ identities and bypass security systems.
Researchers say the surge in attacks is closely linked to the rapid digital transformation taking place across the financial sector. As banks expand their use of cloud infrastructure, digital platforms and advanced technologies, their reliance on external service providers has also grown, increasing the number of potential entry points for cyber threats.
This dependence on third-party ecosystems has prompted regulators across the region to strengthen operational resilience requirements in an effort to maintain financial stability, protect consumer confidence and limit systemic risks tied to digital systems.
The report highlights that banks in Saudi Arabia have accelerated the digitisation of core services, including the adoption of Banking-as-a-Service models and cloud computing.
While these developments have improved efficiency and innovation, they have also expanded the cyber threat surface and led to stricter oversight by institutions such as the Saudi Central Bank and the National Cybersecurity Authority.
Artificial intelligence is described as playing a dual role within the financial sector. While it strengthens cyber defence capabilities and helps organisations detect attacks more quickly, it also enables increasingly sophisticated forms of cybercrime, including deepfake scams, automated phishing and digital identity theft.
The report also points to the rapid growth of sovereign cloud infrastructure across Gulf Cooperation Council countries and parts of Africa, driven by data localisation requirements and national security concerns. Analysts estimate the global sovereign cloud market will reach around USD $154.7 billion in 2025, with projections suggesting it could grow to USD $823.9 billion by 2032.
Saudi Arabia is emerging as a major regional hub in this area, with global cloud providers establishing new cloud regions and service centres in the Kingdom to comply with data localisation rules and strengthen national security protections.
In terms of cyber readiness, the report notes that Saudi Arabia achieved a perfect score of 20 out of 20 in the 2024 Global Cybersecurity Index issued by the International Telecommunication Union.
The ranking places the country among just 13 nations in the Middle East and Africa in the highest global tier.
Analysts say the result reflects significant national investment in cybersecurity governance, digital infrastructure and financial sector resilience as part of the country’s long-term economic strategy under Saudi Vision 2030.
AI-powered security tools are increasingly being deployed by financial institutions to detect fraud in real time, protect customer data and automate routine cybersecurity tasks.
These technologies are also seen as a way to ease pressure on security teams at a time when the global cybersecurity workforce shortage is estimated to exceed 4.7 million specialists.
However, the report also warns of future risks linked to post-quantum cryptography. A regional survey found that 61 per cent of organisations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa are not prepared for the post-quantum era, while only 12 per cent have begun implementing quantum-safe security technologies.
Experts say this could leave organisations vulnerable to so-called ‘harvest now, decrypt later’ attacks, where hackers collect encrypted data today with the intention of decrypting it in the future as quantum computing capabilities advance.
Looking ahead, the report identifies several priorities for the Saudi banking sector, including expanding cyber stress testing for banks, strengthening supply-chain security, increasing the use of sovereign cloud and secure networking technologies, investing in AI-driven threat detection and developing early roadmaps for post-quantum encryption.
