With digitalisation having been the industry’s mandate for over a decade, it follows logically that cybercrime takes precedence when safeguarding banking infrastructure and operations. After all, the crippling of Iran’s central bank in August, which threw the country’s financial system into disarray, stands testament to the incredibly concerning potential for impact. But while cybercrime deservedly dominates headlines, physical security remains crucially important as well.

Banks are high-value targets for terrorism and organised crime and remain susceptible to physical threats. Recent data underscore the urgency of blast-resistant infrastructure and advanced perimeter security systems that combine robust physical measures with sophisticated detection technologies. Innovations such as motion sensors, AI-driven analytics, and drone surveillance now play a crucial role in identifying and countering potential threats.

In today’s complex banking environments, the relationship between physical and digital defences is no longer linear; instead, it operates as an interconnected ecosystem where one vulnerability can expose another. For instance, a breach through a compromised security camera could enable attackers to survey physical operations, collect insider information, or even disrupt critical digital services. Or a vulnerability in an IoT device—such as weak default passwords or unpatched firmware—can serve as an entry point for cybercriminals to access sensitive banking systems.