When did you last carry out a comprehensive security review of your SAP environment? If the answer is “at the last audit” – you have a problem. In a world where the number of critical SAP vulnerabilities rose by 39% in 2025, and attackers are using artificial intelligence to craft targeted exploits, a “we check once a quarter” model is a recipe for disaster.
For years, SAP security functioned as a series of discrete exercises: audit, report, patch deployment, silence until the next review. This cycle made sense when ERP systems were isolated and the threat landscape changed slowly. Today that logic is outdated. Hybrid environments, cloud integrations and thousands of interfaces create an attack surface no team can monitor manually.
The manual model – why it loses the race against time
A typical SAP BASIS team manages several dozen systems. Each has hundreds of configuration parameters, thousands of users with assigned authorisations, and dozens of external interfaces. SAP publishes several dozen security notes every month – some require an immediate response, others can wait. How do you identify what is genuinely critical?
Manually analysing each note, testing the patch and deploying it to production is a process that takes weeks. According to SAPinsider research, outdated systems remain the biggest challenge in securing SAP environments for the third year running. The problem intensifies when working with external integrators – who verifies that delivered code does not introduce new vulnerabilities? Without automation, these questions go unanswered.
Automation as the foundation of maturity
Moving from reactive compliance to continuous hardening requires a paradigm shift. Instead of asking “are we secure today?”, organisations must ask “will we detect immediately when we stop being secure?”
Configuration scanning is the first area to deliver immediate benefits. Tools such as SecurityBridge compare system settings against recognised standards – the SAP Security Baseline, DSAG guidelines or NIS2 requirements. Every deviation is detected automatically and presented as a recommendation with a risk score.
“Security automation is not a matter of convenience but of necessity. At the current pace of change, no human can keep up with every attack vector. But people can – and should – supervise the intelligent systems that do it for them” – notes Jacek Bugajski, CEO of SNOK.
Next-generation tools
SecurityBridge, as a platform native to SAP, combines threat detection, patch management and compliance automation without the need to build external infrastructure. The system delivers an up-to-date “security roadmap” with prioritised actions.
Malware protection deserves a separate category. Standard antivirus tools do not scan files in SAP repositories – they are encrypted and stored in a proprietary format. bowbridge, certified by SAP, performs in-memory scanning, detects XSS attacks embedded in documents and automatically blocks malicious macros.
Process automation platforms are playing an increasingly important role. The UiPath integration with SAP Build Process Automation opens up possibilities for building comprehensive processes spanning both SAP systems and external applications. Access recertification, which in the manual model consumed weeks, can be automated end to end – from data extraction to the automatic revocation of unapproved access.
Digital assistants in day-to-day work
It is worth emphasising that security automation is not only about large platforms. It also includes scripts checking critical parameters, bots monitoring the publication of new SAP security notes, automated board-level reports and intelligent alerts integrated with SIEM systems. Each of these elements removes another manual task from the team and allows it to focus on what genuinely requires human expertise.
From firefighting to conceptual work
Automation changes the role of specialists. When routine tasks are taken over by software, people can focus on designing security architecture, analysing incidents and building a culture of threat awareness.
“Teams that have implemented monitoring automation stop operating in a mode of continuous reaction to alarms. They gain time for proactive work that genuinely raises the organisation’s security” – highlights Jaroslaw Kamil Zdanowski of SNOK.
This shift has a business dimension. Organisations that demonstrate continuous compliance with NIS2 or KSC gain a competitive advantage – particularly in the public sector. An auditor sees not a single report from months ago, but a complete history of changes and remedial actions taken.
How SNOK supports the transformation
At SNOK we help clients build processes that make SAP security a continuous practice. We combine the knowledge of a consulting team with 25+ years of cumulative experience in the SAP ecosystem with access to best-in-class tools – as partners of SecurityBridge, bowbridge Software GmbH and Platinum Partner UiPath.
We pay particular attention to the context of the Polish market. Public sector organisations must operate in local environments, without cloud-based solutions. For them, we design fully on-premise security architectures, with complete control over data.
Is your organisation ready to move from reactive compliance to proactive security? Please get in touch.
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Would you like to see this in practice or discuss an implementation for your organisation? Contact us – we will respond within 48 hours.