2025 Cybersecurity Trends: Nine Ways the Future Could Thrill, Challenge, and Surprise Us 

As we look toward 2025, the cybersecurity landscape promises to be as dynamic and unpredictable as ever. With increasing geopolitical tensions, the rise of sophisticated cyberattacks, and a rapidly evolving regulatory environment, organizations worldwide are preparing for a new wave of opportunities and threats. This blog explores nine emerging trends that could define the future of cybersecurity, from living off the land attacks and deepfake social engineering to groundbreaking regulatory changes and the escalating threat to critical infrastructure. Each trend challenges us to think beyond the immediate horizon, anticipate complex risks, and strengthen our defenses to build a more secure digital future. 

#1 – Geopolitical Tensions Spur Living Off the Land Attacks 

In 2025, we can expect a rise in ‘living off the land’ attacks, where attackers exploit legitimate tools and processes within an organization’s network to avoid detection. As geopolitical tensions rise, cybercriminals from nations like Russia, China and Iran may increase their use of this technique, spreading across networks, establishing multiple backdoors and ensuring they can re-enter if initial access points are cut off. As these attacks grow more sophisticated, organizations will need to refine their ability to distinguish between normal operations and subtle deviations, focusing on baseline behavior and anomaly detection. Law enforcement and cybersecurity agencies, including CISA, the FBI and the NSA, will need to bolster their efforts to counter these evolving threats, ensuring they can anticipate and mitigate such stealthy incursions. 

#2 – Breach-Related Class Action Suits: CISOs No Longer on the Firing Block  

In the coming year, the role of the CISO will shift from being a point of blame to a strategic partner in managing and explaining breach-related incidents. In the last few years, we’ve seen CISOs face personal repercussions and complete blame after a cyberattack. But in the coming year, organizations will start to recognize the CISOs as ‘Chief Explainers to attacks.’ Instead of taking blame for breaches, this role will need to articulate the nuances and complexity of a breach if one occurs, defensive strategies and decisions around risk management. 

This shift reflects a broader understanding that cyber incidents often stem from systemic issues rather than individual failures. As a result, CISOs will work closely with legal and executive teams to address vulnerabilities, promote transparency, and guide the company’s cybersecurity posture, ensuring they are viewed as essential partners in resilience rather than liabilities. 

#3 – 2025 Will Bring a Wave of Triple Extortion Attacks Targeting Partners and Subsidiaries 

Hackers are getting greedier and more sophisticated. In 2025, companies won’t just face the theft of their data and ransom demands—they’ll see attackers extort their partners, suppliers, and even customers. After locking systems and stealing data, hackers will squeeze not just the victimized company, but the entire ecosystem they work with, demanding ransoms from any organization with a connection. Triple extortion will become the latest method to maximize profits from a single attack, wreaking havoc across entire supply chains. 

#4 – Cyberattacks on Critical Infrastructure will Reach Crisis Levels, Threatening to Destabilize Entire Nations 

Large-scale cyberattacks on critical infrastructure—such as power grids, utilities, and healthcare systems—will reach unprecedented levels. As geopolitical tensions rise and cybercriminals become more emboldened, attackers will increasingly target essential services that can cripple entire nations. These attacks will be designed to maximize disruption and force victims into paying massive ransoms.  

#5 – Federal Inaction Will Compel U.S. States to Lead the Charge on AI Regulation 

The absence of a comprehensive federal AI and data privacy law will lead states to take matters into their own hands. California, Colorado and other states will continue introducing AI regulations, forcing companies to navigate a complex patchwork of legal standards. As AI becomes more ingrained in business operations, the lack of a national framework will create compliance challenges across industries. Without swift federal action, expect more states to legislate AI usage, and companies to be caught in an increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape. 

#6 – Deepfakes Will Unleash a Devastating New Wave of Social Engineering Attacks 

No longer just a theoretical risk, video-based deepfakes will continue the trajectory to become imperceptible from reality. This technology will be weaponized in social engineering attacks, allowing criminals to impersonate executives, forge high-stakes transactions, and extract massive payouts from unsuspecting victims. With AI ability to provide exceptional deepfakes accessible at the push of a button, the potential for financial fraud will explode, forcing organizations to rethink how they verify identity in an increasingly deceptive world. 

#7 – Expedited Exploitation Cycles 

With AI’s ability to identify weaknesses faster than humanly possible, the time from vulnerability discovery to exploitation will shrink significantly. Attackers will leverage AI to automate the assembly and deployment of exploits, building on more complex attack strategies and rapidly escalating threats. To stay ahead, organizations must adopt predictive AI capabilities within their cybersecurity frameworks. Leveraging tools that utilize AI to simulate attack vectors will enable teams to proactively identify and patch vulnerabilities, staying a step ahead of threat actors. 

#8 – Software Bill of Materials (SBOMs) Adoption and Evolution in 2025 

In 2025, the adoption of SBOMs will expand beyond traditional software, with AI and ML applications driving demand for more advanced BOM frameworks. Concepts like ML-BOMs (as defined by CycloneDX) will need rapid evolution to address the intricacies of modern LLM applications. These models rely on dynamic and often opaque supply chains, where each ML component, data set, and algorithm may introduce unique vulnerabilities. For government and defense organizations, effectively managing this complexity will require an expanded ML-BOM standard that can account for continuous updates, complex dependencies, and provenance tracking across AI and ML systems. Achieving interoperability across ecosystems will remain critical, but automation, coupled with emerging regulatory standards, will play a pivotal role in maintaining compliance and security across increasingly complex AI supply chains. 

#9 – Regulatory Changes Impacting Software Supply Chain Security in 2025 

In 2025, AI regulation will be driven by three interconnected factors: data, jobs, and safety. Each of these areas plays a critical role in shaping policy as governments worldwide work to address the complex challenges AI brings to society. Data concerns, in particular, are poised to have a profound impact on software supply chain security through the evolution of ML-BOMs (Machine Learning Bill of Materials). As more AI and ML systems come under regulatory scrutiny, questions around data—such as its ownership, acquisition, and security—will become central to maintaining supply chain integrity. 

Organizations will need to disclose what data their models are trained on, ensuring transparency about its sources and safety. Regulations are likely to demand that companies prove they legally own and have responsibly acquired training data to mitigate risks of unauthorized or low-quality sources. This shift could lead to an expanded ML-BOM framework that not only lists components but also provides comprehensive documentation about the provenance, quality, and compliance of each data source used in AI models. In this way, data-focused regulations will become a foundational aspect of supply chain security, requiring organizations to rigorously manage and validate data inputs as they would any other critical software component. 

Conclusion

The cybersecurity trends of 2025 highlight a rapidly shifting battlefield where innovation and adaptability are essential. From confronting the rise of triple extortion attacks and deepfake-powered fraud to navigating evolving regulatory landscapes and ensuring the resilience of critical infrastructure, organizations must remain vigilant, informed, and collaborative. As challenges grow more complex, the role of security professionals will expand—not just as defenders but as strategic enablers of resilience and trust. The future holds both uncertainty and opportunity, and those prepared to adapt will not only survive but thrive in the face of what lies ahead.