Weekly Cybersecurity Digest [December, Week 4]
Posted on December 30, 2025
Dear Valued Clients,
Welcome to this week’s cybersecurity digest from Make Sense, your trusted partner in building measurable resilience across Europe’s digital and critical-services landscape. As December draws to a close, the focus has sharpened on accountability, sector-specific resilience, and the growing convergence of AI, infrastructure and regulatory enforcement.
From public-sector data penalties and healthcare cyber funding to actively exploited vulnerabilities, the message is clear: cyber maturity in 2026 will be defined by readiness, not reaction.
✅ Top Stories of the Week
i. CNIL Fines Nexpublica €1.7m for Data-security Failures
France’s data-protection authority CNIL fined software firm Nexpublica France €1.7 million on 22 Dec; CNIL published the decision on 24 Dec 2025. The regulator found insufficient technical and organisational security for a PCRM product used by social services, exposing sensitive personal data. The sanction underlines increasing DPA scrutiny of security controls across EU public-sector suppliers. [Read more via CNIL]
ii. EU Funding Call – €30m to Strengthen Hospitals’ Cyber Resilience
On 29 Dec 2025, coverage reported an ECCC / Digital Europe funding call worth €30 million to boost cybersecurity resilience in hospitals and healthcare providers across the EU, funding detection, monitoring and response projects (protective DNS, threat intelligence, incident readiness). The call targets cross-border consortia to harden health-sector IT against ransomware and service disruption. [Read more via Hospitals-Management]
Consider: Are your healthcare-sector partners positioned to access EU funding, or are governance and maturity gaps holding them back?
iii. Critical MongoDB Memory Leak (CVE-2025-14847) – Actively Exploited
On 28 Dec 2025, researchers disclosed CVE-2025-14847, a critical memory leak in MongoDB that allows unauthenticated data extraction; incident trackers reported active exploitation that week. Organisations across Europe using exposed MongoDB instances were urged to patch immediately and audit public-facing databases to prevent large-scale data theft and compliance breaches. [Read more via Breached Company]
✅ Industry Trends & Insights
AI-driven Ransomware & NFC Threats Highlight Evolving Attack Trends
Security researchers reported a surge in AI-generated ransomware proofs-of-concept and NFC-based malware detections in late December 2025, underscoring how AI and novel attack vectors could lower the barriers to complex attacks. European defenders are urged to prioritise AI-secure defences, behaviour analytics and robust endpoint protection – a marked shift in threat actor tactics across the region. [Read more via TechRadar]
Solar Sector Cybersecurity Goes Mainstream as Connected PV Systems Expand
As solar power infrastructure becomes more software-centric and networked, European energy operators are prioritising cybersecurity for solar PV systems. SolarPower Europe leaders warn that increased connectivity – from grid-tied panels to IoT sensors – expands the attack surface for supply-chain and operational technology threats. Robust security integration is now a core part of clean-energy planning. [Read more via PV Tech]
Consider: How well are your clean-energy or OT environments integrated into enterprise cyber-risk governance?
✅ Regulatory & Policy Updates
European Aviation Agency Publishes Cybersecurity Implementation Guidance
On 23 December 2025, Spain’s State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA) published new technical guides to help air navigation organisations implement updated European cybersecurity regulations (PART-IS) for aviation systems. The guidance aims to harmonise security practices across EU airspace operators and to mitigate the risks posed by evolving threats to critical aviation digital infrastructure. [Read more via Aviation Security]
✅ Cyber IQ Challenge + Proactive Security Hacks
Quick Quiz:
What most effectively reduces regulatory and operational risk from actively exploited vulnerabilities?
A) Annual penetration testing
B) Continuous asset discovery and patch-prioritisation
C) Post-incident reporting procedures
D) Vendor security questionnaires
(Answer below)
Smart Security Moves of the Week
- Public-sector assurance: Validate supplier security controls against regulator expectations, not just contractual clauses.
- Healthcare readiness: Stress-test incident response plans for ransomware-driven service disruptions.
- Exposure management: Continuously scan for unauthenticated access to databases and cloud services.
- OT & energy security: Extend monitoring and segmentation to connected clean-energy environments.
Answer: B) Continuous asset discovery and patch-prioritisation
✅ Conclusion
From regulatory penalties and healthcare investment to exploited vulnerabilities and sector-specific guidance, this reminder is clear: cyber resilience is now enforced, funded and expected across Europe.
Security maturity is no longer defined by policy presence, but by operational execution – across suppliers, infrastructure and emerging technologies.
Final reflection: If a regulator, an attacker, or an auditor tested your controls tomorrow, would your defences stand up to real-world scrutiny?
At Make Sense, we turn intelligence into measurable defence – strengthening governance, validating controls and embedding resilience where it matters most.
Stay secure,
The Make Sense SRL Team & CyberTania
