Forthcoming trends in cyber security in 2025

In a time of digital change, cyber security has become a top concern for individuals and companies. Protecting sensitive data and maintaining the integrity of digital systems is now a mandate in organizations due to the rising levels of cyber threats.

When a simple, careless click on an unknown link or sharing a secured password exposes an organization’s important data to an unauthorised entity, implementing robust cyber security solutions becomes non-negotiable. This dynamic environment necessitates ongoing attention to detail and creativity, particularly given the growing frequency and severity of cyberattacks.

With AI and other emerging technologies being leveraged, these attacks are not just becoming more sophisticated but also becoming harder to detect and recognise, leading to more easy access points and vulnerabilities within the company.  Organizations must invest in strong security measures that can adjust to changing circumstances in order to reduce risks and guarantee long-term stability.

Cyber security landscape in 2024
The year 2024 witnessed a significant rise in cyberattacks. It is mostly seen in the rise of AI-enabled attacks. Cybercriminals are using artificial intelligence to automate and enhance their tactics, which creates more difficult threats. These threats range from phishing to network breaches. It is also capable of adapting to security defenses in real time. This has made cyberattacks very dangerous.

Ransomware-as-a-service, a cybercrime business model in which ransomware developers sell ransomware code or malware to other hackers, has become an imminent way of cyberattack in 2024. When double extortion became popular, attackers started to threaten people to leak their data, making organizations vulnerable because they could not protect their information and data.

Organizations had to shore up their security measures against insider threats, which saw a rise from 66% to 76% from 2019 to 2024, as per the recent report by Securonix. Organizations are becoming more aware of the potential harm that can come from this and have  started shifting to next-gen technologies such as User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA), rather than traditional cyber security tools.

They realised most of them were a result of accidental mistakes of employees rather than malicious intent. Such next-gen tools have helped organizations identify and protect high-risk individuals who may unintentionally become security risks due to their role or access to sensitive information. 

Trends and predictions for 2025
With the advancement of AI from 2024 and going beyond 2025, we will continue to see AI being used extensively or being adopted extensively in different organizations across different use cases. This means that we will also be seeing the risks associated with AI going up. 

This new phase of AI and deepfakes has given a threatening scenario. Attackers use AI to create malware and perform severe attacks. Ransomware-as-a-service will prove to be very dangerous, as AI tools can now give the liberty to the attackers to start stealing data and personal information in a way that cannot be detected.

Era of AI and deepfakes
Deepfake is another major concern. With the help of AI, deepfakes help attackers create fake videos & audio, which can be later used for manipulation and fraud. For example, North Korean operatives used deepfakes in job interviews to pretend to be South Korean developers, which has ultimately increased the severity of insider threat risks.

With the help of social engineering & deepfake, attackers can now pretend to be the CEOs and misuse their profiles. The growing adoption of cloud technology & IoT devices has increased AI-Integrated risks even more. So, organizations should start a culture where security awareness is prioritized.  In 2025, the risks are very high because, with each passing day, new tactics are being used to steal data.

Agentic AI is a matter of concern in 2025. In the upcoming days, Agentic AI will assist in automating difficult tasks across various sectors like manufacturing and healthcare. Till now, LLMs(large language models) did not act independently. Now, LLMs can act on their own with the help of Agentic AI. Some threats include data exposure and malicious coding, which leads to data breaches. IT leaders must start educating their organizations and take preventive measures in advance.

Remotely working too will be at higher risk in 2025, which might compel organizations to opt for in-person work mode, especially in defense working sectors.

Due to the information overload happening almost everywhere, it could create cyberalert fatigue in the industry, ultimately increasing the risks. Recent VikingCloud research states that around 33% of organizations cannot respond to cyberattacks on time, and they get delayed because information is overloaded with false alerts.

So, it is vital to combat cyber alert fatigue before it is too late. Leaders can prevent alert fatigue in cyber security with technologies that identify and prioritize important alerts first, offering critical steps to mitigate these risks and address the challenges of alert fatigue.

There will be a shift with the adoption of metrics such as mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR) along with an increase in the adoption of next-gen enterprise technologies like Unified Defense (UD) Security information and event management (SIEM) and User Entity and Behaviour Analytics (UEBA).

The results are severe, since many organizations need the processes to measure these metrics. It takes weeks for detection, and response time takes days. Attackers have enough time to steal sensitive data and execute further attacks.

Quantum attacks on encryption systems might not be possible yet but government-backed hackers are expected to increase their efforts, aiming for highly sensitive data as quantum technology evolves. This will put government and businesses at high risk, putting civilian and military communications at risk, affecting critical infrastructure, and weakening the security of online financial transactions.

Governments and venture capital firms are investing significantly in local quantum computing projects and will also increase investments in quantum cybersecurity. This will help agencies and firms handling encrypted data integrate quantum-cyber protocols across their ecosystems and help identify risks in real-time. 

With artificial intelligence (AI) developing rapidly and connected devices becoming more common, the cybersecurity sector is expected to increase significantly by 2025. The need for enhanced security solutions will only grow as cyber threats become more complex.

-- Ajay Biyani, VP, APJ, India, Middle East & Africa, Securonix.