Cybersecurity’s Turning Point: Why Europe’s Midmarket Must Shift From Reactive to Proactive Defense
For decades, cyber security has largely operated in reaction mode. Patching holes after the breach, responding after the malware hits, and scrambling post-incident.
But for Europe’s midmarket that strategy is no longer sufficient. The evolving threat landscape, increasingly dominated by financially motivated threat actors and fast technology change, now demands a proactive defense posture.
Cyber criminals have not only increased in number; they’ve evolved in sophistication. Ransomware groups, Business Email Compromise (BEC) actors or Initial Access Brokers are targeting midmarket organizations with precision. With cyber criminal tools increasingly commoditized and Gen AI leveling up targeting even low-skilled attackers now possess the power to do significant damage.
European midmarket firms, often under-resourced compared to global giants, are emerging as prime targets. They hold sensitive data, often sit within critical supply chains, and yet tend to have limited cyber security maturity. The good news? This sector has an opportunity to turn the tide - if it acts fast and smart.
A new paradigm: Exposure Management and attacker’s lens
Traditional vulnerability management is no longer enough. Exposure Management is a more strategic approach and can help forward-looking companies move the battlefront. Instead of waiting for an attack to reveal a weak point organizations are using attacker’s logic to simulate intrusions across their own infrastructure.
One such solution, WithSecure Elements Exposure Management, allows companies to see their attack surface through the lens of a cyber criminal: where the weakest points are, how a breach could unfold, and what should be fixed first. This prioritization is key in a landscape where security teams are stretched thin. Resources can be focused on the most exploitable weaknesses, not just on ticking compliance checklists.This is a turning point. By adopting attacker-focused tools and combining them with proactive simulation, companies can begin to anticipate rather than react.
The changing threat surface: cloud, identity, and beyond
Recent research from WithSecure Intelligence reveals shifting battlegrounds. While Windows-based and in-document threats are on the decline, attacks are surging in cloud environments, MacOS, identity layers, and even within browser-based applications and source code. One alarming trend: the use of stolen credentials as a breach entry point. These have been a factor in 16% of recent breaches and rising. As businesses accelerate digital transformation, attackers exploit gaps in identity management and social engineering defenses.
This shift underscores the need for better identity protection strategies, stronger access controls, and enhanced user behavior analytics especially as remote and hybrid work persist.
Compliance as a driver, not a drag
For many midmarket companies in Europe compliance with data protection laws like NIS2, DORA or GDPR often feels like a burden. But firms that embrace compliance early are turning regulation into a competitive advantage. “Compliance by design” creates trust, improves development efficiency, and opens access to high-value sectors like healthcare and finance. Cyber security platforms such as WithSecure Elements are built with this in mind and embedding compliance into their architecture from day one.
Furthermore, proactive compliance audits and testing serve as early-warning systems for flaws that could otherwise go unnoticed until exploited. This approach aligns seamlessly with the “left-shift” movement in cyber security - baking security into every stage of software and infrastructure design, not bolting it on afterward.
Co-Security: the ecosystem advantage
One of the more pragmatic developments in cyber security is the emergence of co-security - a collaborative defense approach. Given the cyber security talent shortage many midmarket organizations struggle to maintain the necessary skills in-house. Through trusted partnerships responsibilities can be offloaded to expert teams or vetted partners who share intelligence, provide real-time support, and bolster the firm’s internal capacity. This model creates a multiplier effect: every participant in the ecosystem becomes stronger. Companies like WithSecure facilitate this by offering tailored support and knowledge-sharing to partners, ensuring that even smaller organizations stay ahead of the curve.
Gen AI: friend and foe
Perhaps the most disruptive force in cyber security today is Generative AI. On the one hand, it dramatically levels up attackers’ capabilities. On the other, it opens unprecedented possibilities for defense. Threat actors are using Gen AI to craft believable phishing attacks, automate vulnerability scanning, and even produce polymorphic malware that mutates to evade detection. The implications are clear: traditional defense models, which rely on known patterns or “signatures,” are no longer effective.
In response, WithSecure has embraced Gen AI in its own products, such as Luminen, an AI-driven assistant embedded within its Elements platform. Luminen doesn’t just flag issues, it explains them in plain language, delivers actionable advice, and supports overwhelmed security teams with contextual, multilingual summaries.
More radically, the company is now leveraging autonomous defensive AI agents. These agents monitor networks, isolate infected endpoints, and initiate real-time countermeasures without waiting for human intervention. By operating at machine speed, they offer a glimpse of cybersecurity’s future: not just smarter, but faster and more autonomous.
To ensure safety, WithSecure has built strong guardrails around its use of LLMs (Large Language Models). Data remains within Europe, privacy is protected through anonymization and isolation, and models are constrained to prevent hallucination or data leakage - critical for compliance in high-trust sectors.
Looking ahead: proactive as the new baseline
The age of reactive cyber security is over. For Europe’s midmarket companies, the transition to proactive, AI-powered, compliance-embedded security is no longer optional: it’s essential for resilience, growth, and competitive edge. Companies that embrace this shift - leveraging exposure management, co-security ecosystems, and defensive Gen AI -won’t just be safer. They’ll be strategically positioned to lead in a digital Europe defined by trust, agility, and innovation.