Weekly Cybersecurity Digest [October, Week 3]
Posted on October 21, 2025
Dear Valued Clients,
Welcome to this week’s cybersecurity digest from Make Sense, your partner in building measurable resilience across Europe’s digital and regulatory landscape. October’s third week underscored how Europe’s so-called “safe zone” is giving way to a more complex and high-risk environment – where supply-chain breaches, state-linked campaigns, and shifting economic pressures converge.
From AI-driven espionage to SME fragility, the focus now is turning intelligence into proactive resilience across every layer of defence.
✅ Top Stories of the Week
i. Verisure flags data breach at partner
Swedish home-security provider Verisure disclosed that an external billing partner’s system was compromised, impacting approximately 35,000 current and former customers of its Swedish subsidiary Alert Alarm. The exposed data included names, addresses, email addresses and social security numbers. Verisure’s main network remained unaffected, though its stock dropped 4% after the Oct 17 announcement. [Read more via Reuters]
Consider: Does your vendor management framework include data-handling audits and breach-notification SLAs for every third-party supplier?
ii. China-linked APT “Salt Typhoon” targets European telecommunications
Security analysts revealed that the Chinese state-linked advanced persistent threat group Salt Typhoon has mounted aggressive campaigns targeting European telecommunications providers, exploiting known vulnerabilities and supply-chain entry-points. The operations have been underway for months and are part of a broader push into critical communications infrastructure – raising concerns about espionage, network surveillance and national-resilience risks across Europe. [Read more via Infosecurity Magazine]
Action prompt: Map your telecom and cloud dependencies – could any unmanaged or legacy systems serve as a pivot point for state-linked threat actors?
iii. Capita fined £14 million for data-protection failings after 2023 breach
Capita was fined £14 million by the UK regulator in October 2025 for serious data-protection failures following a March 2023 cyber-attack. The breach exposed the personal data of 6.6 million individuals, including pension records and criminal-history details. The ICO found Capita failed to shut down a compromised device for 58 hours and lacked sufficient vulnerability management and incident response. [Read more via The Guardian]
Reflect: How quickly could your incident response team isolate and contain a compromised endpoint – before exposure becomes regulatory liability?
✅ Industry Trends & Insights
Europe shifts from “safe zone” to high-risk cyber region
An analysis published on 18 October shows Europe’s cyber-threat posture has changed dramatically: malware infection rates in some sectors are now 3-4x those in the U.S., and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), often supply-chain nodes, are increasingly targeted. The article emphasises that boards are now prioritising “resilience” over just prevention, and that vendors are altering their go-to-market to adapt. [Read more via TechRadar]
Reflect: Which resilience capability – detection, recovery, or supply-chain assurance deserves the most investment in your 2025 cyber roadmap?
European SME cyber-risk landscape widens amid fiscal pressure
On 16 October 2025, major European insurer Munich Re cautioned that stagnant growth across Europe is increasing pressure on SMEs, which have lower-than-average cyber-insurance coverage, thereby heightening their vulnerability to business-interrupting cyber incidents. The warning highlights how economic stagnation is intersecting with cyber-risk, especially for smaller players who lack strong defences and incident-response resilience. [Read more via Reuters]
Consider: Identify one SME partner critical to your value chain – when was their last resilience test, and does your policy account for shared liability?
✅ Regulatory & Policy Updates
EU and Ukraine strengthen cyber-policy cooperation at 4th Cyber Dialogue
On 20 October 2025, the EU and Ukraine convened their 4th Cyber Dialogue, agreeing to deepen collaboration on cybersecurity policy, infrastructure protection, and NIS2 implementation. The meeting outlined commitments to expand EU funding for Ukraine’s CERT operations and align cyber-incident response procedures with ENISA standards – part of the EU’s broader digital-resilience partnership with Kyiv. [Read more via EU Enlargement]
Reflect: How does your organisation embed geopolitical intelligence into business continuity and cross-border cyber planning?
Data Act now in force across the EU
On 19 October 2025, the European Union’s Data Act formally came into force. The regulation grants individuals and businesses greater rights to access and share data they generate via connected devices (including industrial IoT) while protecting trade secrets and privacy. New obligations span years, including design requirements for new devices from September 2026 and contract rules delayed until 2027. [Read more via DIG Watch]
Consider: Which of your connected devices or vendor ecosystems will require redesign or new data-sharing agreements under the Data Act’s 2026 obligations?
✅ Cyber IQ Challenge + Proactive Security Hacks
Quick Quiz:
Which factor most determines an organisation’s ability to withstand long-term cyber and economic pressure?
A) Compliance-only posture
B) Resilience-first investment strategy
C) Reactive threat containment
D) Outsourced incident ownership
(Answer below)
Smart Security Moves of the Week:
- Vendor vigilance: Reassess third-party incident-notification SLAs and confirm vulnerability patch cycles.
- Resilience testing: Conduct a joint tabletop exercise simulating dual economic and cyber disruption for SMEs.
- Data governance refresh: Begin Data Act readiness reviews for connected-device environments.
- Critical-communications audit: Revalidate telecom exposure points in light of Salt Typhoon activity.
Answer: B) Resilience-first investment strategy.
✅ Conclusion
From regulatory penalties and espionage campaigns to SME risk exposure and EU-Ukraine policy coordination, this week highlights Europe’s shift from assumed safety to sustained vigilance. Resilience is no longer theoretical – it’s operational, regulatory, and economic.
Final reflection: If your resilience strategy were tested tomorrow by both financial and geopolitical shocks, would your detection, recovery, and communication layers stand together?
At Make Sense, we convert intelligence into measurable defence, enabling resilience through data governance, vendor assurance, and cross-sector readiness that withstands both attack and uncertainty.
Stay secure,
The Make Sense SRL Team & CyberTania
