Top 6 cybersecurity predictions for 2025

Is your business truly equipped to protect itself from cybercrimes in 2025?

For the past few years, cybercrime has continuously increased, with the estimated cost expected to reach a whopping $10.29 trillion in 2025. And with technologies like generative AI and machine learning emerging, the nature and severity of cyber threats have also changed.

The best way to protect your business from these threats? Implement stronger cybersecurity measures based on expected trends for the coming year.

Check out Liquid Web’s cybersecurity predictions for 2025 to stay prepared and what you can do to keep your business protected.

Key points

• Artificial intelligence (AI) will help automate cyberattacks and create new types of vulnerabilities. Organizations will also leverage AI to strengthen their cybersecurity strategies.
• As third-party threats increase, more organizations will turn to zero-trust architecture. All access activity will be treated as a potential threat and continuously authenticated.
• Identity-related crimes, such as social engineering and deepfakes, will increase due to the easy availability of generative AI.
• Businesses will prioritize reduced cybersecurity risks when partnering with third-party service providers.
• Organizations may not be fully prepared to deal with cybersecurity attacks as the threat landscape continues to evolve.
• Securing data at all stages of use becomes a priority with the implementation of AI in business processes.

Here’s are the six cybersecurity predictions we’ve uncovered after extensive research:

• AI-based threats continue to grow
• Organizations will increasingly implement zero-trust architecture
• Identity-related attacks and breaches will increase
• Reduced cybersecurity risks will drive business partnerships
• Organizations might have concerning gaps in cyber resilience
• Securing data will become a priority more than ever

Cybersecurity predictions to watch out for in 2025

Our cybersecurity predictions for 2025 reveal a growth in AI-based threats, more organizations using zero-trust architecture, and an increase in identity-related breaches.

Let’s explore these and our other predictions in detail.

1. AI-based threats continue to grow

As artificial intelligence (AI) grows, the technology has been making waves in the cybersecurity industry. Businesses are leveraging AI’s defensive capabilities to introduce stronger security measures. 

But cybercriminals are also using it to exploit vulnerabilities and introduce new types of cyberattacks.

In 2025, attacks using AI will be at an all-time high with 93% of security leaders expecting to face them every day. AI attacks will range from common DDoS and ransomware attacks to new types of phishing and brute-force threats.

While it’s true AI also enhances cyber defense, protecting organizations from these attacks, not all businesses will be safe.

Small businesses and startups that don’t have the budget to equip advanced, AI-based protection measures will be the most vulnerable. On the other hand, larger businesses may increase their cybersecurity spending to adopt modern tech. 

However, they’ll also be exposed to new vulnerabilities as they increasingly use AI in their cybersecurity strategies.

AI security tactics to consider

AI-powered attacks can be swift. The best way to protect your website and data is to automate your security measures. 

Using automation in threat detection and incident response with tools like ThreatDown will help you protect your website from advanced threats in real time.

2. Organizations will increasingly implement zero-trust architecture

One of the biggest cybersecurity predictions for 2025 is the adoption of zero-trust architecture.

In previous years, some businesses had trusted entities that could gain authorized access to their data and servers. These entities could be their employees, web design agencies, or other third-party service providers.

But despite having strong security measures in place, several organizations were victims of cyberattacks. These attacks were either inside threats or bad actors who entered data networks through authorized entities.

To lessen these risks, businesses are increasingly adopting zero-trust architecture in 2025. 

In the zero-trust model, each access request from an entity is treated as potentially malicious — whether they’re new or have previously accessed the data. 

These requests are continuously authenticated and approved only after rigorous verification.

Zero-trust also involves eliminating any entity that can host multiple vulnerabilities or turn into a potential threat. According to Gartner, 75% of businesses will remove legacy, unmanaged, and cyber-physical entities as part of their zero-trust strategies.

As the zero-trust framework follows the “never trust, always verify” policy, it’s especially useful for companies spread across multiple locations or using a hybrid work setup. 

Businesses that adopt the framework expect to mitigate cybersecurity threats like ransomware attacks and credential thefts, along with insider threats.

Zero-trust tactics to consider

Adopting zero-trust architecture can strengthen your data protection. Here’s how you can get started:

• Treat all data and access activity as potential threats and mitigate them by continuously verifying and authenticating access requests. This includes requests from all users, devices, and service providers.
• Create multiple layers of security, including passwords and secure keys, to identify devices that require repeated access.
• Partner with hosting and other service providers that ensure multifactor authentication (MFA) and allow access control as part of your zero-trust strategy.

3. Identity-related attacks and breaches will increase

Identity-related threats, such as phishing and account takeovers, have been plaguing the Internet for a long time. And with the advancement of GenAI and machine learning, threat actors are finding it easier to obtain personal information and create fake identities.

A concerning cybersecurity prediction for 2025 is a rise in these identity-related attacks. These threats include:

• Deepfakes: Deepfake technology is the use of AI to create realistic audio, images, and videos of real people using commonly available information, such as a person’s social media profile. This technology is often used maliciously to impersonate employees and service providers to facilitate cybercrime, costing organizations thousands of dollars. By 2025, deepfakes are estimated to cost more than $10 trillion globally.
• Social engineering: Social engineering is a method of obtaining sensitive data, such as passwords and social security numbers, using illegal and manipulative methods. In social engineering, attackers can employ deepfakes to impersonate trusted entities, such as banks or hospitals, to extract personal information. Through these methods, attackers can gain unauthorized access to business data and servers.
• Phishing attacks: Phishing is a form of social engineering where attackers impersonate and communicate with people to obtain information. Though phishing is typically done by email, it’s also done through voice messages and social media due to the availability of deepfakes.
• Credential stuffing: After a data breach, threat actors can automate the use of username-password pairs to gain unauthorized access to servers.

Security tactics to consider

According to our cybersecurity prediction, setting up protective measures to prevent identity-based attacks is crucial to secure your business data. 

Use multi-factor authentication (MFA), such as setting up a unique password and one-time access code for each user, to ensure the right person is accessing the data.

Make sure your hosting provider also sets up the required security measures, such as access control, to protect your server data.

4. Reduced cybersecurity risks will drive business partnerships

In the same vein as adopting zero trust architecture, we’ll also see more organizations prioritizing reduced cybersecurity risks when choosing business partners in 2025.

While cybersecurity risks were a factor in choosing third-party vendors in previous years, other considerations such as budget often took priority. According to Gartner, 60% of supply chain organizations will consider cybersecurity risks when working with third-party vendors in 2025.

This comes in the wake of an increase in high-profile cyberattacks on organizations, where attackers gained access to data through a vulnerability in their third-party networks.

The infamous SolarWinds breach is one of the best examples of this vulnerability. Organizations that used software from SolarWinds — including the U.S. government — faced malware injections due to the company’s compromised network.

Cybersecurity tactics to consider

Partner with a web hosting provider with adequate security measures in place. 

Liquid Web, for example, offers advanced security features, including firewalls and DDoS protection, with most hosting plans to ensure customers’ data is safe. 

Choosing a secure and trusted host can protect you from cyberthreats, keeping your business and customers safe from third-party risks.

5. Organizations might have concerning gaps in cyber resilience

While cybersecurity threats will increase in 2025, we’ll also see a concerning lack of preparedness among organizations to deal with these attacks.

According to PwC, only 2% of executives have implemented cyber resilience actions across their organizations.

There are a few reasons for this glaring gap in preparedness:

• Organizations are unable to keep up with the evolving cybersecurity landscape. With increased risks from AI and third parties, organizations lack the resilience and response capabilities needed to deal with advanced attacks.
• Chief information security officers (CISOs) and other cybersecurity leaders aren’t fully involved in their organization’s cybersecurity planning, leading to gaps in strategic implementation. This makes security operations weaker, leaving organizations less prepared to deal with threats.

This lack of cyber resilience may leave organizations vulnerable, increasing cybercrimes.

Cyber resilience tactics to consider

To keep up with this cybersecurity prediction, implement as many resilience measures as possible to prepare against cyberattacks. These measures include:

• Identifying critical business processes.
• Developing a recovery strategy in case of an unpredicted cyberattack.
• Exchanging information on risks and security developments with other organizations.

6. Securing data will become more of a priority

As organizations lean more towards cloud storage and servers, data protection has become a top priority. According to CompTIA, 46% of organizations will prioritize data more in 2025 than they did two years ago. 

This includes securing data at each step of use, such as when performing basic analysis or building a data lake. Organizations are also prioritizing data privacy and transparency practices as AI makes way in business processes. 

While data has always been valuable, companies are ensuring their data stays uncompromised in the coming years.

That’s because, besides business processes, data strengthens their cybersecurity strategies too. With the comprehensive analysis of uncompromised data, organizations get insights on potential threats and best strategies, determining their cybersecurity ecosystem’s success.

Cybersecurity tactics to consider

To stay ahead of this cybersecurity prediction, implement strong measures to protect business data and privacy at every step, especially when storing it on remote servers or when using third-party vendors. Ensure that entities using your business data have adequate security measures in place to protect it.

Stay updated on cybersecurity predictions

With AI, machine learning, and data security, the cybersecurity landscape will continue to evolve throughout 2025. While there’s the imminent threat of security risks, there are also ample opportunities to leverage new technologies to strengthen your cybersecurity strategies.

Our cybersecurity predictions indicate an increase in the adoption of zero-trust architecture, implementation of adequate protective measures, and partnerships with trusted service providers to safeguard your data.

Liquid Web understands the importance of having strong cybersecurity measures and ensures each customer has access to the required security features.

From offering advanced security to providing round-the-clock customer service, Liquid Web always prioritizes your data’s safety. 

For the highest level of security and customization, check out Liquid Web’s bare metal servers.