The New Cybersecurity Challenge for SAP Systems. The security landscape for enterprise systems is undergoing a radical shift. Traditionally considered a fortress of complexity, SAP environments are now facing a new kind of threat—one that is faster, cost-efficient, more accessible, and increasingly AI-assisted. This is especially concerning during the recent World Backup Day, a timely reminder that safeguarding data is no longer optional but vital!
As Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-4 become more sophisticated, they’re not just changing how we work and operate—they’re also changing how attackers operate. With a few prompts, even novice cybercriminals can identify SAP misconfigurations or create exploit scripts that would have taken seasoned experts days to build.
This democratization of attack tools places SAP systems and the teams defending them under greater stress than ever before.
“Real-life scenario as tested on the recently launched Chat-GPT O3 model in Deep research mode. To conduct SAP security research, we use many different tools and steps, conduct thorough reasoning and analyze multiple paths and options in SAP software to try and find new vulnerabilities. With AI supported tooling like Chat-GPT O3 in deep research mode we can simulate this research and with the below prompts do a deep analysis on SAP Executables or other code:
It is impressive to see the results and it feels like magic to get results in roughly one hour. First tests provided several new angles to look at and even new SAP vulnerabilities. Though getting the exact details requires some additional work, it is really not that hard to imagine that with help of this AI tooling research can be taken to the next level, for better or worse.
Why SAP Systems Are Now Prime Targets
SAP systems often contain the crown jewels of a business: financial records, customer data, supply chain details, and intellectual property. Exploiting these systems offers both financial gain and strategic advantage for threat actors.
What’s different now is that attackers no longer need deep SAP expertise. They can ask an LLM to scan code snippets, analyze system parameters, or even guide them through known vulnerabilities like RECON (CVE-2020-6287) or ICMAD (CVE-2022-22536), exploiting these with surgical precision, making it more easy to build practical exploits when these are not available publicly.
The Role of AI in Accelerating Exploits
Large Language Models can process SAP documentation, analyze and generate ABAP code, and identify configuration weaknesses in real time and in an automated way. This lowers the technical barrier to exploitation, especially for those who previously lacked domain-specific knowledge.
It also changes the attack timeline. What once took many hours or days to research can now be accomplished in minutes, see the above example. AI makes lateral movement within systems more efficient and aids in exfiltration techniques that avoid traditional detection methods.
Assume the Attacker Knows Everything
In this new paradigm, it’s no longer safe to assume obscurity is a form of protection. Defenders must operate under the assumption that attackers already understand the structure of SAP systems and possess the tools to exploit them.
This is a critical shift in mindset. Legacy security models that depend on complexity or lack of public documentation are insufficient. Real-time monitoring, security patching, and continuous configuration audits are not just best practices anymore—they are necessities.
Building a Strong Backup and Recovery Strategy
Around World Backup Day, the spotlight should shine brightly on your backup resilience. Even with strong security mechanisms in place (which is not always the case), you are never 100% secure and AI-powered attacks could still compromise your business-critical SAP systems. Without a secure, tested backup, business continuity could be at severe risk.
Some best practices to consider are:
● Immutable backups that cannot be altered or encrypted by ransomware.
● Regular recovery drills to test how quickly systems can be restored.
● Air-gapped backup copies for critical systems to prevent cross-infection.
● Integrated SAP-specific backup solutions that understand the platform’s architecture.
These strategies must be combined with strict role-based access control (RBAC) and encryption both in transit and at rest.
Continuous Monitoring and Threat Detection
Attackers empowered by AI will not wait for office hours. Real-time threat detection systems are crucial. This includes:
● SIEM tooling configured specifically for SAP logs.
● Anomaly detection algorithms that learn user behavior and flag deviations.
● Integration with SOAR platforms to enable automated response playbooks.
Cybersecurity teams must ensure that these systems aren’t siloed and that incident response is both timely and holistic.
AI-Assisted Defence: Fighting Fire With Fire
The silver lining is that AI can be used by defenders too. Machine learning algorithms can analyze vast quantities of SAP log data, detect anomalies, and even predict potential misconfigurations.
For example:
● AI tools can help prioritize vulnerabilities based on exposure and impact.
● NLP-driven interfaces can assist analysts in threat hunting across SAP landscapes.
● Predictive models can assess business risk of patch delays or unauthorized user actions.
Adopting such technologies helps level the playing field and supports overburdened security teams.
The Compliance Factor
As regulators catch up with evolving threats, businesses must demonstrate due diligence. Frameworks like ISO/IEC 27001, NIS2, and SOX mandate strong controls over critical systems, which include SAP.
Auditors increasingly want evidence of:
● Role reviews and segregation of duties.
● Audit trail completeness.
● Backup validation and frequency.
● Disaster recovery readiness.
Failure to comply doesn’t just lead to fines—it increases your business risk exponentially.
Final Thoughts: SAP Cybersecurity is Now a Business Imperative
The security of SAP environments can no longer be relegated to a line item in the IT budget. It is a business-critical priority. With AI levelling the cyberattack playing field, organizations must shift from reactive to proactive security postures.
With this World Backup Day, take a hard look at your organization’s ability to detect, respond, and recover from SAP-specific cyber threats. Backup strategies should be just one part of a larger, more robust cybersecurity framework designed for the age of AI-driven attacks.
