Penetration testing for banks, fintechs, pension and insurance firms, energy, oil and gas, manufacturing and the public sector

The last quarter of the year is the busiest in most organisations. Payments rise, year-end deadlines close in, and staff plan their leave. Criminals know all of this, and they plan for it.

Q4 fraud doesn’t always start with a stolen card or a fake call. Often it starts with a weakness in your systems that nobody has tested, and the people who might have spotted it are on leave.

Attackers wait for the quiet

A Semperis survey, reported by Axios in December 2025, found that 52% of ransomware attacks in the past year happened on a weekend or holiday. In the same survey, 78% of organisations said they cut security staff over the holidays. A Sophos researcher described it as a bank robber waiting for the guard to go home.

The pattern is simple. When fewer people are watching, a small gap goes unnoticed for longer. By the time someone sees it, money has moved, or systems are down.

What the Nigerian numbers tell us

NIBSS and the CBN reported in January 2026 that fraud losses in Nigerian banks fell by half in 2025, from N52.26 billion to N25.85 billion. That is good news, but the details matter:

Banks recorded 67,518 fraud cases in 2025, only 4% fewer than the 70,111 in 2024. The attempts have not gone away.

Social engineering accounted for 47% of fraud volume and N17.84 billion of the losses.

Internet banking was the most costly channel, at N13.37 billion.

SIM-swap fraud, insider compromise and authorised push payment scams were named as emerging threats.

Fraudsters are going after people, accounts and digital channels. A penetration test cannot stop a customer from being tricked. It does show you where an attacker could get in, take over an account, reach sensitive data or move money, so you can close those routes first.

What a penetration test does

A penetration test puts skilled engineers in the attacker’s seat. With your permission, they try to break into the systems you agree to test, using the methods criminals use. You receive a report that explains:

what they were able to reach

how serious each finding is

what to fix first

It is different from a vulnerability scan. A scan lists what looks weak. A penetration test shows what an attacker could actually do with those weaknesses, which is what a board, an auditor or a regulator wants to know.

Why penetration testing matters in your sector

The risks differ by industry, and so should the test.

Banking and fintech. Mobile apps, internet banking, APIs and partner integrations carry money and customer data. A test checks login, sessions, transaction flows and the connections to third parties, where account takeover and payment fraud often begin.

Pension and insurance. These firms hold sensitive personal and financial records, and they pay out claims and benefits. Portals, customer data and payment approvals are the areas to test, because a breach damages trust as well as money.

Energy, oil and gas. Billing, procurement, field operations and vendor payments depend on connected systems that cannot stop. Testing is planned with your team first, so operations are not disrupted.

Manufacturing. Plants and supply chains now rely on connected systems and third-party access. A test shows which connections an attacker could use, whether to divert supplier payments or to halt production.

Public sector. Government institutions hold citizen data and run payment and payroll systems. When these fail, public trust fails with them.

Six penetration testing steps to take before year-end

List the systems that handle money, customer data or critical operations, especially anything new or changed this year.

Include third-party connections, APIs and cloud environments in the scope.

Use an independent team, so the results carry weight with your board and regulator.

Agree the testing windows so business is not disrupted.

Fix the highest-risk findings first, then retest to confirm the fixes hold.

Keep the report as evidence for audit and regulatory reviews.

For banks and payment service banks, the CBN’s Risk-Based Cybersecurity Framework, effective since July 2024, includes a dedicated part on vulnerability assessment and penetration testing. Whatever your sector, regulators and auditors increasingly expect evidence that you test.

A partner you can trust

ActivEdge Technologies has delivered cybersecurity solutions for leading organisations in financial services, energy and oil and gas, manufacturing, telecoms and the public sector. Our certified engineers use industry-standard security tools, and we are ISO 27001 certified.

We work across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

We start with a scoping conversation about your systems and your risks. Then we agree on what to test and when. You receive a clear report ranked by risk, and we walk your team and leadership through it.

Year-end is coming. The best time to find your weak points is before someone else does.

Request a scoping call here