{"id":7297,"date":"2023-01-19T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/2026\/04\/02\/post_id-3572\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T08:22:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T08:22:37","slug":"cybersecurity-2023-the-7-most-important-threats-to-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/en\/2023\/01\/19\/cybersecurity-2023-the-7-most-important-threats-to-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Cybersecurity 2023: The 7 Most Important Threats to Businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Cybersecurity in 2023 is no longer a project to tackle &#8220;someday.&#8221; Attack surfaces are expanding, attackers are becoming more professional, and regulatory requirements are increasing. Knowing the seven most important threats allows you to set priorities  &#8211;  instead of reacting to everything at once.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>TL;DR<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ransomware remains #1:<\/strong> Double-Extortion is standard  &#8211;  data is stolen AND encrypted.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Supply-chain attacks in focus:<\/strong> Attackers target service providers and software supply chains to gain broader access.<\/li>\n<li><strong>AI drives phishing:<\/strong> GPT-generated phishing emails are grammatically correct and harder to spot.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cloud misconfigurations:<\/strong> Over 80% of cloud security incidents are caused by human configuration errors.<\/li>\n<li><strong>NIS2 comes into force in 2023:<\/strong> The EU directive takes effect  &#8211;  implementation runs until October 2024.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ransomware: More Expensive, Targeted, and Ruthless<\/h2>\n<p>Ransomware attacks have evolved from opportunistic mass strategies to targeted operations. Attackers research their victims, know their insurance policies, and demand accordingly. Double Extortion  &#8211;  stealing data and then encrypting it  &#8211;  is now standard. Triple Extortion is next: DDoS attacks on the victim as a third lever.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Measures:<\/strong> Test offline backups, practice incident response plans, check cyber insurance for exclusions. Paying is no guarantee  &#8211;  but prevention reduces the likelihood.<\/p>\n<h2>Supply-Chain Attacks: The Weakest Link is with the Supplier<\/h2>\n<p>SolarWinds (2020) and Kaseya (2021) set the pattern  &#8211;  in 2023, attackers continue this path systematically. Those who are not directly attackable are reached through trusted software updates or managed service providers. The problem: Even well-secured companies are affected.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Measures:<\/strong> Demand Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) from critical suppliers, tighten third-party risk management, enforce network segmentation internally as well.<\/p>\n<h2>AI-Generated Phishing and Social Engineering<\/h2>\n<p>ChatGPT and similar models make it easy to create convincing phishing emails in any language. Classic warning signs  &#8211;  poor grammar, odd phrasing  &#8211;  are a thing of the past. 2023 is the year when phishing detection needs to happen at a different level.<\/p>\n<p>Ditto voice deepfakes: CEO fraud via fake voice messages or calls is becoming technically easier. Some cases from 2022 have shown that employees have little chance without clear verification processes.<\/p>\n<h2>Other Threats: Cloud, OT, Zero-Day<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Cloud misconfigurations<\/strong> remain the biggest entry point in cloud environments. Open S3 buckets, overly broad IAM roles, and missing encryption affect even experienced teams.<\/p>\n<p><strong>OT\/ICS attacks<\/strong> on critical infrastructure are increasing. Energy suppliers, waterworks, and production facilities are increasingly connected  &#8211;  and thus vulnerable. The convergence of IT and OT is an unresolved security problem.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zero-day exploits<\/strong> remain expensive but a real threat to high-value targets. Patch management processes need to speed up  &#8211;  critical CVEs within 24-48 hours, not within weeks.<\/p>\n<h2>Key Facts at a Glance<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Global ransomware costs in 2022:<\/strong> ~20 billion USD (Cybersecurity Ventures)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Supply-chain attacks:<\/strong> +40% compared to 2021 (Gartner)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Average dwell time of attackers:<\/strong> 21 days before detection (Mandiant)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cloud misconfigurations:<\/strong> Cause of 82% of cloud data breaches<\/p>\n<p><strong>NIS2 implementation deadline:<\/strong> October 2024  &#8211;  start preparation now<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fact:<\/strong> The average dwell time of an attacker in the network is 10 days, according to Mandiant.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fact:<\/strong> According to the Allianz Risk Barometer 2025, cyberattacks are the biggest business risk worldwide.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<h3>What is Double Extortion in Ransomware?<\/h3>\n<p>Attackers steal data before encrypting it. Then they threaten to publish the data if no ransom is paid  &#8211;  even if a backup is available.<\/p>\n<h3>How do you protect against supply-chain attacks?<\/h3>\n<p>Third-party risk management, Software Bill of Materials (SBOM), network segmentation, and zero-trust architectures reduce the risk. Absolute security does not exist  &#8211;  but the risk can be managed.<\/p>\n<h3>Are AI-generated phishing emails recognizable?<\/h3>\n<p>Increasingly difficult. Technical indicators (metadata, sender domains, links) remain relevant. Behavior-based detection on email gateways and security awareness training are more important than ever.<\/p>\n<h3>What do companies need to do for NIS2 now?<\/h3>\n<p>Check for applicability (sector, size), conduct a gap analysis, prioritize measures. The implementation deadline is October 2024  &#8211;  18 months are realistic for full compliance.<\/p>\n<h3>What is the most important protection against ransomware?<\/h3>\n<p>Offline backups, tested and isolated from the network. Additionally: MFA on all critical systems, network segmentation, and a tested incident response plan.<\/p>\n<h2>Further Articles on the Topic<\/h2>\n<p>\u2192 NIS2: All details and background information on the new EU Cybersecurity Directive<\/p>\n<p>\u2192 Bitkom: Massive damage from cyberattacks to the German economy<\/p>\n<h2>Further Reading in the Network<\/h2>\n<p>Cloud Security: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cloudmagazin.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cloudmagazin.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Cybersecurity for C-Level: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digital-chiefs.de\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">digital-chiefs.de<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Related Articles<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/en\/2026\/01\/16\/post_id-3620\/\">Cybersecurity Trends 2026: The 7 Most Important Developments for Businesses<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/en\/2025\/11\/13\/post_id-3614\/\">Post-Quantum Cryptography: Why Companies Need to Act Now<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/en\/?p=3584\">IT Security 2024: Trends, Threats, and the Most Important Priorities<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Header Image Source: Pexels \/ Tima Miroshnichenko<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cybersecurity in 2023 is no longer a project to tackle &#8220;someday.&#8221; Attack surfaces are expanding, attackers are becoming more professional, and regulatory requirements are increasing. Knowing the seven most important threats allows you to set priorities &#8211; instead of reacting to everything at once. TL;DR Ransomware remains #1: Double-Extortion is standard &#8211; data is stolen [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":3571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"cybersecurity","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Cybersecurity 2023: Protect your business from rising threats with expert insights on the 7 biggest risks\u2014stay compliant and secure. Learn more now.","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-adv":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image-id":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image-id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"wpml_language":"en","wpml_translation_of":3572,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7297"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10033,"href":"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7297\/revisions\/10033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.securitytoday.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}