Zimperium has published the 2026 Banking Heist Report, revealing an escalating trend in mobile banking threats worldwide.
Targeting over 1,200 financial applications, this surge in banking malware has turned mobile banking apps into a primary avenue for financial fraud.
Rising Threats from Banking Malware
In 2025, Zimperium's zLabs tracked 34 active malware families targeting financial institutions across 90 countries, causing a 67% increase in malware-driven transactions on Android devices year-over-year.
This research highlights sophisticated campaigns specifically designed to evade app security measures, putting both institutions and their customers at risk.
Mobile Banking Malware's Growing Sophistication
The report emphasizes the need to build strong security measures directly into mobile apps"Mobile banking malware has come a long way from simply stealing passwords. Today it can take full control of a customer's device. What used to take highly skilled attackers weeks to build can now be put together and launched in days, and AI is making that even faster. The gap between what attackers can do and what defenders can keep up with has never been this wide. Mobile app security has to be where fraud prevention starts," said Krishna Vishnubhotla, Vice President of Product Strategy, Zimperium.
The report outlines malware's capacity to intercept authentication codes and phone calls, maintaining a low profile to bypass traditional security tools, which results in fraud often going undetected until it is too late.
Global and Regional Impacts
The United States continues to be heavily targeted, with 162 apps currently under threat—up from 109 in 2023. Dominant malware families like TsarBot, CopyBara, and Hook are influencing over 60% of banking and fintech apps globally.
Additionally, nearly half of the examined malware families have evolved to include financial extortion capabilities, including ransomware.
Mobile Security as a Critical Defense
The report underscores the necessity of incorporating stringent security measures directly into mobile applications. By enhancing runtime integrity, hardening applications against reverse engineering, and gaining proactive visibility into device risks, financial institutions can better protect against widespread fraud and meet increasing regulatory requirements.
Zimperium is slated to present its findings at the RSA Conference from March 23 to March 26, at booth #S-1543.
Zimperium, the world pioneer in AI-empowered mobile security, released its 2026 Banking Heist Report. The finding is unambiguous: mobile banking apps have become the primary battleground for financial fraud — and attackers are winning.
Malware bypassing app security controls
Throughout 2025, Zimperium’s zLabs team tracked 34 active malware families targeting 1,243 financial institutions across 90 countries. Android malware-driven financial transactions increased 67% year-over-year.
What the research revealed was not a collection of isolated incidents. These were sophisticated, scalable campaigns, continuously evolving to bypass app security controls and exploit the institutions and customers that depend on them.
Mobile app security
"Mobile banking malware has come a long way from simply stealing passwords. Today it can take full control of a customer's device. What used to take highly skilled attackers weeks to build can now be put together and launched in days, and AI is making that even faster. The gap between what attackers can do and what defenders can keep up with has never been this wide. Mobile app security has to be where fraud prevention starts," said Krishna Vishnubhotla, Vice President of Product Strategy, Zimperium.
“What makes today's malware so dangerous is what it can do once it's on the device. Modern banking trojans intercept authentication codes and phone calls, persist undetected, hide from security tools, and impersonate a legitimate banking session to commit fraud. The customer is unaware and the bank's traditional fraud stack notices nothing unusual. By the time the fraud is detected, it has already happened.”
The 2026 Banking Heist Report documents a threat landscape that has fundamentally outpaced traditional defenses:
- The United States remains a prime target: The U.S. has the highest concentration of targeted apps globally, with 162 banking applications under active targeting, up from 109 in 2023.
- TsarBot, CopyBara, and Hook dominate: These three malware families collectively target more than 60% of the global banking and fintech apps analyzed.
- Fraud evolving into extortion: Nearly half of the malware families analyzed have financial extortion capabilities including ransomware capabilities, allowing attackers to encrypt files on the device.
The conclusion is clear; fraud no longer begins at the server. It begins on the mobile device.
Extending security to mobile app
Financial institutions that extend security to the mobile app itself — hardening it against reverse engineering, protecting its runtime integrity, and gaining visibility into device risk before fraud reaches their systems will be better positioned to protect against scalable fraud and satisfy increasing regulatory scrutiny.
Zimperium will also showcase the findings during the RSA Conference (March 23 - March 26) at the company booth, #S-1543.
