Securing ECC During Your S/4HANA Transition 

A common theme I hear from SAP teams transitioning to S/4HANA is that funding for ECC is being reduced or eliminated altogether. 

The logic is understandable.

ECC modernisation, process improvement, and investments in new enhancements should take a back seat to S/4. But increasingly, this reduction is also extending to areas such as back-end automation and security.

That can be a costly mistake, and here’s why.

SAP ECC Is Still a High-Value Target

Most organisations will continue operating ECC for at least another 12–24 months while their S/4HANA programs unfold. During this time, ECC environments remain full of sensitive financial, procurement, HR, and customer data—data that is just as valuable to attackers as ever.

But the risks are higher now:

• SAP is releasing a rising volume of security notes each month.
• Many of these vulnerabilities fall into High or Hot News categories, including flaws that allow full system takeover when left unpatched.

Attackers know that companies in this transition phase often reduce ECC funding. They know that tasks such as patching, monitoring, and hardening the ECC environment are minimised, creating a window of opportunity.

Cybercriminals Are Actively Targeting SAP ECC

This window presents a significant risk. Especially since we know that the threat landscape surrounding SAP applications has intensified dramatically in recent years.

• Mentions of SAP exploits on the dark web have sharply increased (490% between 2020 and 2023), with prices for SAP exploit code rising 400%.
• Cybercrime groups such as FIN7, FIN13, and Cobalt Spider, along with state-sponsored actors like APT10, are aggressively exploiting SAP vulnerabilities to enable financial fraud, data theft, and ransomware deployment.
• Ransomware attacks against SAP systems have grown 500% since 2021, often exploiting unpatched SAP components.

Unfortunately, attackers know exactly where your weak points are and that your SAP ECC system is likely to be vulnerable.

SAP ECC Security Weakens During an S/4HANA Program

During an S/4HANA Transition, critical ECC security activities are often minimised. For example.

• Reduced patching: BASIS and security teams focus on the new environment, the temptation is to install critical patches only, and then, when time allows.
• Reduced monitoring and alert management: Security teams do the minimum to “keep the lights on” for the old system.
• Reduced attention toward access risk: Whilst security teams focus on the new system, outdated roles, and elevated privileges creep in as ECC authorisation structures age.
• Increased attack surface: Hybrid integrations, cloud connectors, and temporary migration tools create new entry points

This combination of minimised effort compounds ECC risk. ECC security is weakened, and attackers know it.

Final Thought

ECC systems during an S/4HANA transition are a valuable target for attackers; they know there will likely be a reduced security focus and an increased opportunity to access.

How do companies maintain a healthy ECC security posture when funds and resources are focused on S/4HANA?

One way to stay ahead of it is to leverage a specialised third-party SAP security solution.

Platforms such as the smarterSec Security Platform provide deep analysis of your ECC environment, highlighting vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and potential threats.

While these tools cannot perform the remediation work for you, they give your teams the clarity needed to prioritise the most critical issues and focus their efforts where they have the greatest impact.

With a clear, data-driven understanding of an ECC risk profile, organisations can make informed decisions, apply targeted remediation, and maintain an acceptable security baseline throughout the transition.