In response to an increasing wave of cybercrime worldwide, JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced an increase in hacker attempts to compromise its systems.

According to JPMorgan Chase, the amount of hacking attempts it stops every day has doubled from the previous year to about 45 billion. The alarming trend was disclosed by Mary Callahan Erdoes, the head of JPMorgan’s asset and wealth management division, during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, according to Bloomberg.

Cybercriminals’ changing strategies were highlighted by Erdoes, who said, “The fraudsters get smarter, savvier, quicker, more devious, more mischievous.” It’s really up to every one of us to stay one step ahead of it because it’s so difficult and only going to get harder.

JPMorgan clarified Erdoes’ comments regarding the number of hacking attempts the company encounters daily after the panel.

“Observed activity gathered from our technology assets, whether malicious or not, is what Ms. Erdoes was referring to. Our monitoring infrastructure then processes this activity,” a JPMorgan spokesman, Joseph Evangelisti, stated in a statement. “User logins, such as employee virtual desktops, and scanning activity, which is frequently highly automated and not targeted, are examples of activity.”

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago, geopolitical tensions have been on the rise, and banks are dealing with a rise in cyber incidents. According to a KPMG survey conducted in 2023, over 70% of bank executives believe that cybersecurity and cybercrime are major issues for their companies.

In response to this growing threat, JPMorgan has allocated roughly $15 billion a year to technology to strengthen its cybersecurity, according to Erdoes. This is more than the $14.3 billion that the financial behemoth spent in 2022, as per their earlier statements.

Additionally, Erdoes stated that the company depends on approximately 62,000 technologists who are actively working to protect its systems from cyberattacks.

JPMorgan allocating $15 billion in part to cybercrime defense

According to Mary Callahan Erdoes, head of JPMorgan’s asset and wealth management, hackers are becoming more sophisticated and determined to break into the bank.

During a panel discussion on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum conference in Davos, the executive stated that there has been a noticeable increase in the activity observed through internal monitoring.

According to Erdoes, the bank employs 62,000 technologists and spends $15 billion on technology in an attempt to protect its systems from hackers.

“The fraudsters get smarter, savvier, quicker, more devious, more mischievous,” she continued. “It’s so hard and it’s going to become increasingly harder and that’s why staying one step ahead of it is the job of every one of us.”

According to a JPMorgan representative, the activity is occasionally automated and isn’t always targeted, Bloomberg reported. More than two-thirds of bank executives surveyed by KPMG in 2023 said that cybercrime was their top concern going forward.

Aside from hackers, JPMorgan had an outstanding year. It broke its record of $49.6 billion in net income in 2023, reporting the highest annual profit of any US bank in history. This record was set in 2021.

A rise in interest rates and larger revolving credit card balances contributed to those impressive numbers, according to the company, which is measured by net interest income, or the ratio of what banks make on loans and repay on deposits.