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Cyber attacks have moved from technical disruptions to cognitive warfare. So small businesses are facing record cyber extortion.
Hacktivists are now focusing all their firepower on Europe, not just on networks but on public perception. The latest Security Navigator 2025 report from Orange Cyberdefense says since March 2022, pro-Russian hacktivists have claimed over 6,600 attacks, 96% of which were against European countries like Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Spain, Poland, and Italy. They are now manipulating public trust in a strategic way; they don't just attack network systems but they exploit cyber incidents to manipulate opinions and create chaos.
Hacktivists Move from Infrastructure to Influence Public Opinion
The report redefines hacktivism evolution insightfully, with a range of applications and psychoelectronic attacks on many levels, directed towards another type of cognitive warfare. Given the threats to election systems and other governmental institutions, this was impressive to go with empowerment itself. The mentioned tactics can attack any living being to instill doubt, create fear, or create confusion to erode public trust in a particular moment. These rewrites present the complexity of threats beyond what can be seen and understood, with a much stronger focus on attention, management, protection, and control on the so-called all-encompassing infrastructure of air, land, and several personalized scenarios.
Besides hacktivism, the Security Navigator 2025 warns of other types of cyber extortion (Cy-X) against small and medium-sized businesses. Cyber extortion incidents reported by small businesses are up 53% YoY, and medium-sized businesses are up 52%.
Critical Infrastructure Under Attack: OT Combined Under Attack
It seems OT systems in energy, healthcare, and transport are being attacked; 23% of OT attacks are hacktivist. 46% of attacks hackers were able to control, meaning they physically altered industrial processes.
"Your report this year is spot on about the need for a coordinated defense against ransomware, hacktivism, and cognitive warfare," said Hugues Foulon of Orange Cyberdefense.
Cyberextortion on the Rise: SMBs are Vulnerable
A cyber extortion storm is brewing over small and midsized businesses. Small and midsized businesses are in the storm now. Entrepreneurs say two-thirds of the Cy-Xs recorded victims are below, and it’s getting more effective than ever. There are multiple extortion attempts against businesses in a re-victimization scenario; some just keep raking in money by reselling the same info they got from other companies.
That doesn’t just apply to SMBs but also to the larger companies that depend on them and across their supply chain. An attack on a small business means threats to entire industries.
The new cyber extortion narrative doesn’t look so good in South Korea and Singapore. There are some differences in the cyber-extortion trends in the APAC region. Japan being 13th in the global list of most-aided countries hasn’t stopped. China only has a few reported cases, while South Korea and Singapore have moderate activity. India is the new favorite target lately.
"Phil Lee from Orange Cyberdefense APAC says it’s time for the community to consider the rapid pace of AI, IoT, and 5G in the APAC region when implementing agile security, as it expands the attack surface. In this cyber-extortion landscape, solutions need to be localized and able to adapt to the spread of the threat."
AI: A Double-Edged Sword in Cybersecurity
An AI system is neither a blessing nor a curse to the owner. While AI has gotten better at detecting advanced threats to enterprise systems, the bad guy has also become more resilient—the response time is down by at least 30%. As technologies create hyper-realistic phishing emails with GenAI or use deepfakes, the biggest threat to an enterprise may be GenAI itself.
It reveals GenAI’s inherent weaknesses, which can allow new types of threat actors to get into the enterprise. Access controls need to be tightened; data separation and leak protection need to be highlighted; staff need to be trained on related risks to prevent data from being exposed.
Healthcare & Critical Sectors Under Attack
The 50% YoY increase in Cy-X attacks means cybercriminals are far from being tired of healthcare, but sectors are getting hit harder:
Manufacturing +25%
Professional Services +20%
Wholesale +65%
Harden Defenses
The report recommends national OT protection strengthening, improved incident attribution, and misinformation monitoring.
“This year the message is that collateral damage is not big, and it’s the worst harm attackers are willing to do,” says Charl van der Walt, Head of Security Research at Orange Cyberdefense.
Hacktivist attackers are targeting Europe, which has already been hit with record extortion on small and medium enterprises; partnership through stronger cybersecurity policy and collaboration is the way to go.