Europe is the second-most targeted region for cyber attacks
Europe now ranks just behind North America as the top hunting ground for cybercriminals, politically motivated threat actors, and hacktivists. Being second place here isn’t a silver medal. It means nearly one in every four victims of global ransomware and extortion resides in Europe. That’s a large footprint, too large for any serious business leader to ignore.
Why Europe? Because it’s connected, economically powerful, and an access point into broader global systems. That makes it a high-value target. European organizations across sectors, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, government, are all being probed and breached.
Just because your data isn’t under attack today doesn’t mean there isn’t already unauthorized access happening right now. What used to be a localized threat born out of technical missteps is evolving into a large-scale, hyper-connected ecosystem of financially and politically incentivized actors. Geopolitics is now part of your cybersecurity risk model.
Your role as an executive is not to fear this but to face it with the right tools, fast decisions, and a clear, intelligence-led plan. Fix the plumbing before your roof leaks.
Ransomware operations are becoming faster and more sophisticated
Speed is the new danger. Cybercriminals have evolved their playbook. The average ransomware attack now unfolds in just 24 hours, from breach to payload. That’s not days or weeks anymore. That’s minutes and hours. Groups like Scattered Spider, yes, the ones who disrupted Marks and Spencer, have increased their deployment speed by 48%. They’re using tools that match enterprise-level capability.
There’s a shift happening. These aren’t lone hackers in basements. We’re looking at teams with structured ops, logistics, and tech stacks built for scaled disruption. They use services like malware-as-a-service, phishing toolkits, and access brokers, basically plug-and-play attack models. That shortens time to impact and increases their reach with limited effort.
What executives need to understand is that legacy defense models can’t keep up with this. You’re not dealing with basic malware anymore, this is high-speed, multi-threaded, cloud-aware warfare. The window to detect and respond is narrowing. Being proactive isn’t a strategy anymore, it’s a requirement. You need AI-driven threat detection, automated response protocols, and real-time network visibility.
There is a convergence of state-sponsored attacks and traditional cybercrime tactics
This is where it gets serious. We’re seeing criminal innovation collide with state-backed operations. The result? A cyber threat landscape that’s faster, harder to trace, and more unpredictable. Cybercriminals have started borrowing the techniques, infrastructure, and discipline of nation-state actors. At the same time, governments, Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, are now behaving more like cybercrime enterprises, weaponizing data theft and ransomware for geopolitical gain.
The targets have shifted. Industries once overlooked, academic institutions, research hubs, infrastructure providers, are now in the crosshairs because of the data, disruption potential, and influence they hold. This hybrid model of geopolitics and criminal execution creates a layered threat that’s getting smarter all the time.
From a C-suite perspective, your threat model now includes not just system outages and data loss, but coordinated campaigns that couple espionage with financial damage. Trying to handle this with static controls and reactive security policies is not going to cut it. You need systems that can adapt as fast as the threat actors evolve, AI that recognizes behavior changes in real time, leaders who can pull the right levers fast, and a threat intelligence loop that your board understands and uses appropriately.
European organizations face heightened targeted extortion attacks involving file encryption and data theft
The attacks aren’t just more frequent, they’re more calculated. European organizations are now dealing with double-extortion ransomware campaigns by default. That means you’re not just getting locked out of systems. You’re also having sensitive business data stolen and publicly exposed if you don’t pay. It’s high-pressure, high-impact, and the odds are shifting daily.
The volume speaks for itself. Since the beginning of this year alone, over 2,100 European victims have been named on extortion leak sites. These aren’t random hits. The UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain are consistently the most targeted countries. And the pattern? 92% of these cases involved both encrypted systems and extracted data. Attackers push for payment by threatening reputational damage and regulatory backlash.
Boards need to understand that this is no longer just a technical incident, it’s a multi-layered risk involving legal exposure, business continuity, and brand trust. At a time when governments are tightening data protection laws and compliance requirements, the cost of inaction or inadequate response grows daily.
Cybercrime infrastructure increasingly relies on initial access brokers (IABs) and underground forums
Cyberattacks are no longer executed entirely by a single group. They’re increasingly modular. Initial Access Brokers, or IABs, operate as front-end sellers. Their job is to breach networks, establish access, and auction that access off to the highest bidder, usually ransomware operators or data extortion groups. The faster they work, the faster attackers can reach mission-critical systems and deploy their payloads.
CrowdStrike recorded 260 active IABs targeting over 1,400 European organizations. This supply chain of crime thrives on mature underground infrastructures. Forums like BreachForums (a known successor to RaidForums) and messaging tools like Telegram, Tox and Jabber make all of this happen in real time. So what used to take weeks, targeting, access, deployment, now takes days or even hours.
From a business standpoint, this isn’t a niche issue. Enterprise networks are now routinely being sold on the dark web with precise targeting by geography, industry, or company size. If your systems look vulnerable or poorly segmented, you’re automatically flagged as a high-return asset. This turns mid-sized and large European businesses into consistent targets, especially those in sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, insurance, and logistics.
You can’t separate ransomware from access-as-a-service anymore, they’re part of the same operational funnel. CISOs and CIOs must treat compromised credentials and unauthorized access attempts with urgency, because that’s often the first monetizable moment in an eventual ransomware campaign. Asset inventories, zero-trust frameworks, and segmentation are not optional, they’re offensive defense tactics.
Cybercriminal groups are extending their operations into physical realms
There’s a shift happening, and it’s not just online anymore. Cybercrime groups are coordinating physical threats, kidnappings, extortion, and other violent acts, to support digital campaigns, particularly those intended for cryptocurrency theft and coercion. These instances are no longer isolated; they’re being organized through Telegram-based networks and coordinated by entities tied to larger cybercrime ecosystems like “The Com” and Renaissance Spider.
This mingling of physical and cyber operations represents a concerning level of maturity. We’re watching traditional digital threat actors cross over into real-world operations, using encrypted messaging systems to orchestrate activity across borders in practically real time. Telegram, once seen as a fringe tool, is now central to these combined threats.
Executives need to think of security beyond the screen. If your company handles crypto assets, personal data, or high-value transactions, you may face coercion or personal targeting, especially in high-risk jurisdictions. Physical safety protocols, executive risk profiling, and internal response drills need to evolve alongside your technical security posture.
The crossover between cyber and physical threats complicates risk models. Boards must account for the personal security of key executives, regional risk exposure, and crisis management procedures tied to both digital and real-world threats. The risk isn’t binary anymore, it’s blended, persistent, and often violent.
Chinese state-sponsored campaigns are intensifying efforts to steal intellectual property and target governmental sectors
China’s cyber operations have evolved into highly targeted campaigns focused on intellectual property theft and critical infrastructure infiltration. These activities go beyond passive surveillance. They’re designed for long-term access, allowing state-backed actors to gather competitive intelligence and compromise strategic technologies across Europe.
CrowdStrike flags VixenPanda, a prolific Chinese threat group, as one of the most active actors targeting European government and defense institutions. Tactics include exploiting vulnerabilities in cloud infrastructure and software supply chains, often leveraging trusted partnerships and vendor integrations to gain undetected access. That makes mitigation more complex and reaction time slower.
These campaigns are structured, technically advanced, and often go unnoticed for long periods. Vectors of attack are expanding into academic institutions, aerospace contracts, and advanced manufacturing sites, all rich in proprietary data and innovation IP.
For the C-suite, this means safeguarding intellectual property is no longer just about NDAs or firewalls. It requires rigorous auditing of third-party access, tighter controls over who interacts with your cloud infrastructure, and clear oversight of code provenance in software procurement. Your innovation pipeline is now a direct national security interest, even if it doesn’t carry a defense label.
Russian cyber operations extend beyond Ukraine to affect broader European interests
Russia’s cyber warfare machine has not limited itself to Ukraine. It’s operating across multiple European countries, with clear intention. These are not opportunistic strikes. Russian-backed actors are running campaigns aimed at destabilizing institutions, eroding public trust, and gathering strategic intelligence. Targets include military agencies, government ministries, telecom infrastructure, and energy providers.
The tactics are consistent: credential phishing, destructive data operations, intelligence collection. Whether it’s done through long-term access or rapid-fire, high-volume attacks, the goal stays the same, strategic disruption and psychological impact with plausible deniability.
This form of state-directed cyber aggression is about shaping political momentum while degrading technical capabilities of competitors. For European businesses involved in critical sectors, or supplying governments and defense, this raises direct exposure to coordinated, persistent threat actors. Even adjacent vendors and service providers are valid targets in this chain.
Decision-makers must acknowledge that geopolitical dynamics directly influence cybersecurity risk. With Russian operations extending across borders, a passive security strategy isn’t sufficient. Cross-border threat intelligence sharing, industry-specific threat modeling, and close coordination with national cyber agencies must become standard operations, especially in telecom, energy, logistics, and public services.
North Korea and Iran are expanding cyber operations targeting European institutions
North Korean and Iranian cyber actors are widening their field of operations, embedding deeper into Europe’s digital infrastructure. This isn’t about probing. It’s about execution, strategic, targeted, and with material consequences. These campaigns aren’t random malware drops; they’re well-crafted operations focused on espionage, financial theft, and public disruption.
CrowdStrike’s research shows that North Korean operators have increasingly turned their focus toward European defense, diplomatic, and financial institutions. Their objectives combine data theft with cryptocurrency heists, supporting regime economics and intelligence objectives simultaneously. These actors understand how to navigate through defense supply networks, financial platforms, and state-level information pipelines with precision.
On the Iranian side, operations are more geared towards disrupting narratives or punishing perceived adversaries. The group known as Haywire Kitten claimed authorship of a recent DDoS attack on a Dutch news outlet. While the technique is basic, its purpose is strategic, disruption, intimidation, and message control.
These campaigns signal a clear expansion of hostile cyber operations into broader European territory. They move across sectors quickly, seek lateral movement within networks, and often operate under the radar until a high-impact action occurs.
Executives must realize that cyber threats from North Korea and Iran carry both direct and indirect risks. Primary targets may be government or finance institutions, but private companies in related sectors, like contractors, vendors, and service providers, are often easier entry points. Monitoring for anomalous behavior, knowing who your partners are, and investing in red team simulations isn’t discretionary anymore. It’s basic operational readiness.
In conclusion
Cybersecurity is no longer a technical problem, it’s a strategic one. The pace, scale, and precision of today’s threat landscape have moved beyond firewalls and antivirus licenses. What we’re facing is coordinated, cross-border, and often state-aligned cyber activity that targets the very core of European business and government infrastructure.
For leaders, that means reshaping how you think about risk, speed, and resilience. This isn’t just about a breach interrupting operations for a few hours. It’s about data loss, public exposure, and long-term damage to trust and market position. If your controls are outdated, if your network visibility is partial, or if your incident response plan hasn’t changed in two years, you’re likely already exposed.
Decisions made at the executive level now directly impact cybersecurity posture. Your job isn’t to run the firewall, but it is to fund the right capabilities, ask the right questions, and support the kind of threat-informed strategies that don’t just defend, they adapt.
Attackers are moving fast. If you want to stay viable in this environment, your organization needs to move faster.
