In this blog, we share our top three predictions for cybersecurity trends in 2025. We discuss how social engineering attacks, advanced identity and access management challenges, and how AI has increased the sophistication of cyber threats.

As businesses brace for 2025, the stakes in cybersecurity have never been higher. The global average cost of a data breach increased to $4.88 million in 2024, which is 10 percent more than in 2023 and the highest total recorded so far, according to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report. This rise underscores a troubling trend: The attack surface isn’t just growing — it’s becoming more complex and harder to defend.

From emerging threats in identity and access management to the growing reliance on third-party vendors, these insights highlight the challenges you must anticipate and address in 2025.

3 Cybersecurity Trends to Watch in 2025

Threats like social engineering, impersonation attacks, and vendor-related breaches are evolving rapidly, exploiting vulnerabilities that traditional security measures can’t fully protect against. Cybercriminals are refining their tactics, using new technologies, and creating attacks so sophisticated that even the most prepared organizations are struggling to keep up.

I recently sat down with three of my fellow Centric Consulting colleagues and experts in AI and cybersecurity to discuss how you can navigate this evolving battlefield. Here are three critical cybersecurity trends you should watch for according to them:

1. AI in Social Engineering

As cybercriminals refine their tactics, social engineering attacks become increasingly sophisticated. AI plays a major role in this evolution, enabling attackers to craft convincing phishing emails, deepfake videos, and voice impersonations nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.

I’ve seen AI-generated videos of people like Elon Musk that are incredibly convincing — the voice is spot on, and the video is about 85 percent there and getting better by the day. This technology was relatively immature six months ago, but it’s reached a surprisingly sophisticated level.

This shift means that even the most trained professionals are at risk of being duped by content that feels shockingly authentic. In fact, according to the 2024 Phishing Intelligence Report from SlashNext, social engineering tactics increased by 141 percent last year alone.

While traditional security measures can still help identify low-quality phishing attempts, the rise of AI has made the job much more difficult. Attacks are no longer limited to obvious scams. Now, they can be tailored to exploit your individual communication style or even mimic someone you know and trust.

The most effective defense against these advanced social engineering techniques isn't only relying on technology — it's developing a mindset of skepticism. You need to question everything, even messages that appear perfectly legitimate. Validate requests through separate channels, and don’t take anything at face value. By adopting these verification habits, you'll be better prepared to spot and stop these increasingly creative attacks.

2. Identity and Access Management

Joseph Ours, Director of AI Strategy, is concerned about AI’s participation as well, though in a different capacity. "I'm worried about how AI could become a master of impersonation. Imagine an AI that can craft emails so perfectly aligned with your communication style that it could trick your own colleagues or family members."

Next year, we can expect identity and access management (IAM) to continue to be a crucial trend in cybersecurity as businesses face growing challenges with impersonation attacks powered by AI. Cybercriminals are increasingly using advanced AI to mimic individuals' communication styles, behaviors and interactions to craft emails or messages indistinguishable from legitimate ones.

Shane O’Donnell, Vice President of Cybersecurity, adds, “AI-generated content will make it harder for humans to verify authentic communications, particularly through deepfakes and voice synthesis. For example, AI-generated faces and voices could be used to impersonate IT personnel and obtain passwords.”

These advanced impersonation techniques allow attackers to bypass traditional defenses, such as firewalls and password protection, to gain unauthorized access to sensitive systems or information.

In addition to behavioral mimicry, attackers can use AI to enhance their tactics using context manipulation, analyzing past conversations, and creating highly personalized messages that seamlessly continue existing threads. This level of personalization — based on your prior interactions and communication history — makes the attack more difficult to detect and more likely to succeed.

The danger lies in the fact that AI can automate these techniques at scale, making it easier for attackers to target large numbers of individuals without human intervention.

To defend against these AI-driven attacks, you need a robust IAM strategy. Some steps include implementing multifactor authentication (MFA), adopting zero-trust principles, and continuously monitoring identity access controls. Ongoing training to raise awareness about AI-driven impersonation and phishing tactics will also help your team members recognize potential threats. By prioritizing IAM and combining it with proactive security measures, you can strengthen your organization’s defenses against potential AI-powered malicious attacks.

3. Third-Party Breaches

As organizations increasingly rely on third-party vendors, the risk of data breaches through APIs and external systems continues to rise.

“APIs will continue to be a major attack vector,” Fisher said in a SecurityWeek article focused on what to expect this year in APIs. “We're seeing more IoT devices and cloud systems communicating via APIs, and with low-code/no-code solutions, anyone can build an API. The problem is they're often built insecurely, without proper testing, and people mistakenly think obscurity provides security.”

These gaps create prime opportunities for attackers to exploit, especially when businesses fail to fully secure their third-party connections.

For example, a hacker exploited Trello's API to scrape data from about 15 million profiles. By manipulating the API’s invitation feature, the attacker could access public workspaces linked to email addresses, revealing usernames and personal information that were previously thought protected. This breach underscores the critical importance of managing third-party risks and ensuring that vendors adhere to the same security standards as internal systems.

To defend against these rising threats, focus on vendor management and implementing strong security practices. Fisher told SecurityWeek that while “resilience” is a hype term in cybersecurity today, “The concept relates to being prepared for inevitable attacks through proper backups, ransomware readiness, and response processes. While it’s being presented as new, it’s really a rebranding of existing security fundamentals.”

In other words, make sure your third-party vendors are regularly vetted for security compliance, especially when handling sensitive data or integrating with your systems.

Basic cybersecurity hygiene, such as data sanitization, proper permission settings, and adherence to established guidelines like those set by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP), will reduce vulnerabilities. With attackers using AI to create sophisticated exploit code and ransomware, staying ahead of security protocols and maintaining rigorous third-party security assessments will safeguard your organization from breaches outside your network.

Prepare for Cybersecurity Success

Each year, the cybersecurity landscape undergoes significant transformation, and this year is no different. Cybercriminals will increasingly use AI to enhance social engineering tactics, making attacks harder to detect and more convincing. With AI's ability to mimic communication styles and manipulate context, impersonation attacks will become a key threat, bypassing traditional defenses.

Third-party vendor breaches will continue to rise, particularly through insecure APIs and IoT integrations, putting sensitive data at risk.

The key to success in 2025 will be a combination of robust security tools, ongoing education, and vigilance. By adapting to these evolving threats and maintaining strong security practices, you can better protect your organization from the rising tide of AI-powered cyberattacks.

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