Global banks need to do more to protect themselves from cyberattacks after a “significant evolution” in the threat level in the last 18 months, according to the SWIFT global payments network.

Hackers are deploying increasingly sophisticated ways of breaching banks' cyber defenses to launch finely orchestrated attacks, SWIFT said in a report co-written with defense contractor BAE Systems. Intruders can spend more than a year reconnoitering targets once they have gained access to their computer systems, the report said.

“Evidence from recent cases clearly demonstrates the attackers' adaptability, patience, determination and growing sophistication,” the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication and BAE Systems said in the report. “The rise in the threat level requires an equally concerted response.”