For corporate and government registry leaders, cybersecurity is no longer a background concern. It is a frontline issue that directly affects public trust, operational continuity, and the integrity of national economies. Every day, registries are relied upon to process company formations, director filings, beneficial ownership data, and compliance checks. But this growing digital responsibility has not gone unnoticed by cybercriminals.
Increasingly, corporate registries are becoming a prime target and you need to be prepared.
Recent breaches at registry authorities around the world have demonstrated just how vulnerable these systems can be. Sensitive information has been exposed. Entire services have gone offline. In many cases, recovery has taken months, and the damage to credibility even longer. According to New Zealand’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) cyber threat report, government agencies, including registries, made up nearly a third of all reported cyber incidents in 2023. The risk is real, and it is rising.
So what does the threat landscape look like today? Below are some of the most pressing cyber threats registry platforms face, based on real-world events and growing global trends:
7 Real-World Threat Scenarios Facing Corporate Registries Today
Sophisticated attackers often start with the simplest tools, emails. By impersonating registry staff or government officials, they trick users into revealing sensitive credentials or approving fraudulent changes. These attacks open the door to deeper infiltration of the registry system.
Many registry systems remain vulnerable to brute-force login attempts using stolen usernames and passwords from unrelated data breaches. Without multi-factor authentication or login rate-limiting, attackers can silently access and tamper with corporate records.
Not every risk comes from outside. Employees or contractors with too much access, insufficient oversight, or lax protocols can intentionally or accidentally alter, leak, or delete data. Without proper audit trails and role-based controls, such incidents are hard to detect and harder to trace.
Weak verification processes allow fraudsters to register companies under stolen or synthetic identities. This not only enables criminal enterprises to mask their activities, it also undermines the registry’s reliability as a source of truth.
Attackers are increasingly submitting false or misleading data to registries in an attempt to pollute their databases. These attacks aim to erode the value of registry data for governments, financial institutions, and compliance bodies.
Registries do not operate in isolation. They exchange data with tax departments, banks, courts, and other institutions. These connections can become weak points if third-party vendors or legacy systems are not properly secured. A 2023 European Commission study found that over 60% of public sector cyber incidents involved vulnerabilities introduced through external integrations.
In a DDoS attack, cybercriminals flood the registry’s online services with overwhelming traffic. These attacks can render the platform unusable for hours or days, blocking company registrations, filings, and essential updates. The resulting frustration and delays erode public confidence and create legal and economic ripple effects.
The threats are not hypothetical. They are already disrupting registry operations globally. But the good news is that more and more leading registries are taking proactive steps. From adopting multi-layered access controls to embedding incident response protocols and modernizing their infrastructure, forward-thinking jurisdictions are prioritizing resilience, not just defense.
At Foster Moore, we are proud to partner with registries that want to do more than just react to incidents. Our secure-by-design platforms and modernization services help ensure that registries remain operational, trusted, and protected, no matter what threats emerge.
Want to know how your registry stacks up against best practices?
Let’s talk about how you can strengthen your platform, secure your data, and prepare for whatever the future brings.