Despite the fact that methods of protection against attacks are improving every year, hackers are also not far behind. That is why the confrontation between attackers and security specialists can be called a constant race – in which it is worth one to get ahead, as he immediately becomes overtaken by his opponent.
SAP systems are widespread in all areas of human activity – from oil and gas to healthcare, so attacks on them can put any company implementing them at serious risk. In order to understand what to protect from, it is necessary to first understand what are the most common threats that companies can face when it comes to cybercrime. That is what we will talk about today.
SAP vulnerabilities and common threats
The presence of a vulnerability in a SAP system can help a scammer install ransomware. As the name suggests, this program is able to block access to certain parts of the system, usually containing sensitive data, in exchange for a ransom. This type of attack has been popular, perhaps, at all times and still does not lose popularity, again, becoming more and more complicated.
It is not worth waiting for the popularity of this type of malware to subside, since it is precisely such an attack, provided that it is carried out successfully, that gives attackers the opportunity to receive huge sums of money in a short time.
A relatively new type of threat in SAP is supply chain attacks. Such attacks are primarily aimed at developers and software vendors and consist in the fact that the scammer tries to gain access to source codes, build processes or update mechanisms – through other authorized infected applications. The attack attacks both external software and internal software deployment processes.
Social engineering attacks are arguably one of the most common threats and are only gaining momentum every year. The strategies of such attacks are becoming more sophisticated, which does not allow victims to navigate and learn how to respond to fraudulent actions. In simpler terms, social engineering attacks mean that an attacker needs an unaware or inattentive employee to break into or infect a system, steal data, or cause any other damage. Remember those very famous malicious mailings with a link that should never be clicked on? This is exactly what it is about. And also about fraudulent phone calls, other people’s infected carriers and other tricks of cunning intruders.
Of course, you never want to think about your coworker – however, very often the employees of the enterprise themselves become the cause of attacks or data leaks in a company. As unfortunate as it may sound, sometimes it is those people who have authorized access to services that cause problems. Getting more serious about issuing access and limiting the circle of people who can work with confidential data is perhaps the best advice for companies in this case.
And finally, the good old DoS attacks and DDoS attacks – although they are not as common now as, for example, a while ago, however, they are not worth talking about. The increase in activity may be for the purpose of sabotaging work by affecting system availability or performance when the server expands, overwhelmed by a large increase in revenue in a short time. Despite their apparent simplicity, such attacks can disable the system at the most crucial moment, causing reputational and even financial damage to the company.
Undoubtedly, this is not all, but common risks that companies using SAP can face. Information and knowledge are one of the main weapons in such a complex battle as cybersecurity, so it is the knowledge of risks that becomes the first step to victory.
