Have you checked out Cyble's new report on Europe cyber vulnerability in 2025? It is frankly shocking. The findings show that things are not just bad, into breaking point territory.
Fresh groups such as Qilin and Akira are disrupting more organizations than the older hacker groups. Cyber criminals are adapting very quickly; they are learning from their experiences and continually improving.
There is also explosive growth in crime markets where hackers sell access they have hacked, such as passwords or RDP logins. Cyble records noted that they found 644 hacked accesses for sale in Europe, and the retail market was the biggest target.
Around 41% of all stolen compromised access was from retail, some consider criminals want to target retail because they sense it is easy.
1. Cybercriminals performing and launching easy-to-replicate attacks and/or buying or selling hacked access.
2. State-sponsored hackers focusing on spying and collecting.
3. Hacktivists, which sometimes is an associated [non-state logic] or semi-organized crime group, that engage in DDoS attacks, for example the pro-Russian hacktivists Z-ALLIANCE and NoName057(16), are engaged in distributed denial of service attacks.
These entities are now utilizing the same tactics frequently targeting the same entities. This increases the likelihood of success for these attacks makes defending considerably more difficult.
Some EU countries have advanced cybersecurity, while others still have an immature posture or vulnerability.
Hackers will exploit the weaker nations, citing specifically that Russia has taken an advantage against Ukraine, to breach the defenses of stronger EU countries.
Cyble says they utilize AI to comb through billions of pages in the dark-web daily, forums, marketplaces, paste sites, etc, in order to find threats faster.
This allows organizations to see if their data or passwords are for sale or a new method of attack is appearing.
• Government: Hacktivists attack here frequently.
• Energy, Finance, and Manufacturing: Big targets for Ransomware and spying.
Cyble even cited one manufacturing company that was compromised 109 times in nine months. That's not a small issue, that is a significant crisis.
What Is Fueling The Problem
Ransomware attacks are worse than ever before. Cyble noted 955 ransomware attacks reported in the first nine months of 2025.Fresh groups such as Qilin and Akira are disrupting more organizations than the older hacker groups. Cyber criminals are adapting very quickly; they are learning from their experiences and continually improving.
There is also explosive growth in crime markets where hackers sell access they have hacked, such as passwords or RDP logins. Cyble records noted that they found 644 hacked accesses for sale in Europe, and the retail market was the biggest target.
Around 41% of all stolen compromised access was from retail, some consider criminals want to target retail because they sense it is easy.
The Three Types of Cyber Attacks
According to Cyble, Europe is facing three major threats from attackers.1. Cybercriminals performing and launching easy-to-replicate attacks and/or buying or selling hacked access.
2. State-sponsored hackers focusing on spying and collecting.
3. Hacktivists, which sometimes is an associated [non-state logic] or semi-organized crime group, that engage in DDoS attacks, for example the pro-Russian hacktivists Z-ALLIANCE and NoName057(16), are engaged in distributed denial of service attacks.
These entities are now utilizing the same tactics frequently targeting the same entities. This increases the likelihood of success for these attacks makes defending considerably more difficult.
Why Europe Is Struggling
According to Cyble, Europe has uneven defenses, disinformation, and state-sponsored actors use this to their advantage.Some EU countries have advanced cybersecurity, while others still have an immature posture or vulnerability.
Hackers will exploit the weaker nations, citing specifically that Russia has taken an advantage against Ukraine, to breach the defenses of stronger EU countries.
Cyble says they utilize AI to comb through billions of pages in the dark-web daily, forums, marketplaces, paste sites, etc, in order to find threats faster.
This allows organizations to see if their data or passwords are for sale or a new method of attack is appearing.
Detailed Sector Analysis
• Retail: This is the easiest place this is frequently most stolen access comes from.• Government: Hacktivists attack here frequently.
• Energy, Finance, and Manufacturing: Big targets for Ransomware and spying.
Cyble even cited one manufacturing company that was compromised 109 times in nine months. That's not a small issue, that is a significant crisis.
What Companies Should be Doing?
If I were managing security in Europe, I would focus on:- Utilizing threat intelligence which are pro-active tools that will warn you earlier — rather than reactively too later.
- Utilizing fewer smarter tools, for example: Cyble's Vision platform that includes dark web monitoring and threat intelligence and endpoint protection all in one place.
- Fulfill regulations proactively with GDPR, identifying leaked data early could save companies money in fines.
