US businesses face deepening cyber threat
Writer: Mirella Franzese
June 2025 — A national surge in cyber fraud activity is costing U.S. corporations millions as executives remain confident in their ability to detect and protect against cyber attacks.
Nearly 90% of U.S. companies were targeted by cyber fraud in 2024, with just under half suffering losses in excess of $10 million from payment fraud, according to a report by Trustpair, a global fraud prevention platform.
“The threat is constant,” said Ross Mynatt, president & CEO of Craft Bank in a recent interview with Invest:. “We’ve continued to see increasing attacks on our platform … primarily an uptick in fraud, including various types of cyberfraud and cybersecurity threats.”
“Trust can be exploited,” said Mynatt about cyber attack perpetrators. “That has kept me up at night.”
The looming threat of tariffs and rising interest rates — coupled with worsening geopolitical tensions — have forced many corporations to change trusted suppliers, creating new and expanded gateways for fraudulent cyber activity.
Yet, U.S. companies are not just facing a rise in the number of cyber attacks — there is a growing financial toll too. Financial losses from cybersecurity threats increased by 136% from 2023 to 2024, rising to unprecedented levels as 86% of companies targeted experienced some form of monetary expense.
From hacking and deep-fakes to voice cloning and complex phishing scams, cyber fraud rose by 14% in 2024 year over year. Payment fraud was also among one of the most common threats, with 38% of U.S. businesses targeted at least 10 times or more in 2024.
Whitewashing schemes, fake notifications from “trusted” stakeholders — such as vendors and customers — and simple text requests can all be a major point of vulnerability for banks.
“What started as a trend is now an inescapable reality: cyber fraud has taken over and is here to stay,” the Trustpair report stated.
The rapid adoption of AI technologies has been a primary driver of the recent spike in cyber attacks.
“While we’re helping businesses leverage AI for innovation, unfortunately, bad actors are doing the same,” said PCH Technologies President and CEO Timothy Guim to Invest:. “We’ve seen an uptick in AI-generated phishing emails that are more convincing and sent at much greater speed. Cybercriminals are also using AI to mutate malware, making it harder to detect.”
“The most alarming trend, however, is the rise of deepfakes. For example, someone could replicate my voice and image to create a fake video of me,” said Guim.
Beyond video, fraudsters are leveraging AI to fake receipts and expense reports, and clone voices in order to bypass voice-authentication systems.
“While banks now have tools to detect AI-generated audio, the rise of such attacks means deepfake detection technology is going to become increasingly essential and more widespread in the near future,” added Guim.
Despite the emerging uses of technology and AI in cyber assaults, American corporations express confidence in their ability to identify and prevent cyber fraud, according to Trustpair. But less than seven in 10 companies (69%) employ manual verification methods, such as human callbacks or emails, to handle bank account validations — and 39% of employees don’t adhere to fraud prevention practices in place.
The Trustpair study also highlighted that the percentage of leaders expressing high confidence in stopping fraud (90%) was roughly the same as the percentage of companies which faced successful attacks in 2024, further underscoring misplaced optimism.
Despite executive overconfidence across the board, executives are increasingly aware of the growing threat of cyber fraud. “Even unregulated businesses like construction and manufacturing are starting to realize that a baseline level of cybersecurity is no longer optional,” said Guim.
“For regulated industries like healthcare and finance, the requirements are more extensive, but now, even smaller businesses are recognizing the need for things like 24/7 monitoring,” Guim added. “There’s been a real cultural shift, and clients are starting to take these recommendations more seriously than ever before.”
According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025, the number of small-to-medium U.S. businesses that believe their cybersecurity measures are inadequate increased sevenfold since 2022. Similarly, the number of large enterprises reporting poor or ineffective cyber resilience increased by 50% since 2022.
Although, without substantial investment into payment fraud defenses, U.S. businesses will remain increasingly vulnerable to criminal cyber activity, given the current macroeconomic scenario, according to Trustpair researchers.
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