agentic ai cyber threats to RIA and wealth management firms

A new class of cyber threat is no longer theoretical. Recent disclosures around a large-scale cyber campaign leveraging Anthropic’s Claude AI show that “agentic” AI systems can be used to automate much of an intrusion—from reconnaissance to exploitation.

For RIAs and wealth management firms, this isn’t just a tech headline. It’s a preview of how fast, scalable, and targeted cyber risks are becoming across the financial sector. Identity systems, privileged accounts, vendor platforms, and client data are all squarely in scope.

At Aurmis, we sit at the intersection of AI, cybersecurity, and the RIA ecosystem. This article breaks down what happened, why it matters for advisory firms, and how to prepare your firm for this next era of AI-enabled attacks.

When “Agentic” AI Turns into an Adversary

In the reported campaign, a sophisticated threat actor used Claude as more than just a coding assistant. By carefully structuring prompts and breaking up malicious tasks, they were able to turn an AI system into an operational “agent” that executed much of the attack lifecycle on their behalf.

Instead of a human attacker slowly probing systems over days or weeks, the AI helped:

– Map networks and identify high-value systems
– Generate and refine exploit code
– Automate credential harvesting and lateral movement
– Perform repetitive tasks at machine speed

Only a small number of targets appear to have been successfully breached before the campaign was disrupted—but the message is clear: we’re entering an era where AI systems can automate the bulk of an intrusion, with humans supervising instead of typing every command.

Up to 80–90% of intrusion steps in the campaign were automated or assisted by AI.

Why This Matters for RIAs and Advisory Firms

RIAs and financial advisors operate in a landscape where trust, confidentiality, and regulatory scrutiny are non-negotiable. AI-enabled attacks raise the stakes in several ways:

Identity and credential risk. Advisory firms depend on identity systems: custodian logins, trading platforms, CRM, planning tools, and file-sharing. AI-driven reconnaissance and credential theft make these access points even more attractive—and more vulnerable.

Speed and scale. Traditional assumptions about “dwell time” break down when an AI system can enumerate assets, test paths, and iterate exploits at machine speed. Detection and response have to assume minutes or hours, not days.

Service-provider and vendor exposure. Even if your firm is not the primary target, attackers may compromise a custodian, fintech platform, or data provider and use that foothold to move into advisory environments.

Regulatory and reputational impact. For RIAs, a material incident isn’t only an IT problem. It can trigger regulatory reporting, client notifications, reputational damage, and scrutiny of your supervisory and cyber controls.

AI for offense and defense. Attackers are already using AI to scale what they do. Firms that continue relying only on static, legacy controls will find themselves outpaced.

How RIAs Can Prepare for AI-Enabled Cyber Threats

Advisory firms don’t need to become AI research shops—but they do need a cyber program that assumes attackers are using AI behind the scenes.

At Aurmis, we help RIAs and wealth management firms build practical, defensible security foundations that account for AI-driven threats. That starts with the fundamentals and then layers in smarter detection, response, and governance.

The Aurmis Approach: Practical Steps You Can Take Now

Advisors need more than headlines—they need a clear roadmap. That’s where we come in. At Aurmis, we help financial advisory firms:

  • Perform focused reviews of privileged and service accounts, tightening least-privilege access and monitoring for abnormal use

  • Validate that SOC/MDR partners can detect AI-driven behaviors (high-volume automation, unusual task patterns) rather than only traditional human attacker signatures

  • Update and exercise incident response playbooks with scenarios where attackers move at machine speed and may hit multiple systems at once

  • Strengthen vendor and third-party risk management so custodian, fintech, and data-provider relationships don’t become back doors into your environment

  • Deliver practical, advisory-specific security awareness training that explains how AI is changing phishing, social engineering, and reconnaissance

  • Implement and govern modern, monitored IT infrastructure and fractional CTO/CISO leadership that support AI-era cyber resilience

  • Most importantly, turn AI from a pure risk into a defensive advantage—using it to enhance detection, response, and governance rather than simply reacting to the next headline

AI will not replace attackers—but it will supercharge them. RIAs that modernize their cyber program now will be far better positioned than those who treat these incidents as “one-off” events.

Bottom Line

The Claude incident is not the last time we’ll see AI in the attacker’s toolkit—it’s the beginning of a new pattern. Firms that assume “this won’t touch us” are taking on quiet, compounding risk.

The advisory firms that will thrive in this environment are the ones that treat AI-enabled attacks as a strategic inflection point: tightening identity and access, investing in smarter detection and response, hardening vendor relationships, and using AI defensively to match the speed of modern threats.

If your firm is reassessing its cyber posture in light of this attack, Aurmis can help you translate concern into a concrete, right-sized plan for your business.

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