Tech Predictions 2025: Cybersecurity

Kevin Robertson, co-founder and chief operating officer, Acumen Cyber: Enterprise adoption of MDR/MSSP providers

By 2025, we predict a substantial shift in enterprise focus away from internally managed cybersecurity solutions towards the adoption of managed services.

Organisations are increasingly recognising that cybersecurity is a specialised function requiring dedicated resources and expert knowledge. This realisation is leading to a growing reliance on external partners who can provide the necessary expertise that internal teams may lack.

As cyber-threats become more sophisticated and pervasive, companies attempting to handle all cybersecurity measures internally are finding it challenging to keep.

Much like large corporations with internal legal counsel still seek advice from dedicated law firms for their specialised knowledge and experience, enterprises are starting to understand the value of augmenting their internal cybersecurity teams with external experts.

MSSPs offer advanced threat detection, continuous monitoring and incident response capabilities that are difficult and costly to replicate in-house.

The compounding effect of this shift by 2025 will likely result in a landscape where leveraging managed cybersecurity services becomes the norm rather than the exception.

Brian Boyd, principal consultant, i-confidential: Supply Chain Security Will be a Top Priority for Regulators

If 2024 taught us anything, it’s that cyber-resilience isn’t simply about organisations only taking steps to assess the effectiveness of controls across their own assets.

In today’s super-connected digital world, cyber-resilience must also span across all suppliers and partners, otherwise, when a weak link in the supplier eco-system is breached, this can have an operational and availability impact on others.

Over the last year, the world has witnessed numerous third-party cyber-attacks, where a breach on a supplier has had a rippling impact on others.

From Synnovis to Change Healthcare to AT&T, these incidents have demonstrated to the world the volatility of supply chain resilience.

These incidents will continue to plague the digital world in the year ahead and it is vital organisations take steps to not only test the resilience of their operations, but also their suppliers.

The introduction of the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) seeks to strengthen supply chain resilience for financial entities. These organisations will be legally obligated to test the resilience of their suppliers to ensure no weak third parties could threaten the integrity and availability of the EU’s banking system.

With DORA’s deadline fast approaching, it will be important for organisations that fall under the scope of the regulation to identify their third-party connections, and to document their processes and approaches to assessing third-party risk.

The UK government’s upcoming Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will also heavily focus on supply chain resilience, so it is clear that soon many businesses in the UK won’t simply be testing their third-party resilience as a good security practice, but also because they are mandated to do so.

David Ferbrache, managing director, Beyond Blue: AI to Escalate the Cyber Arms Race

AI will be used by adversaries and defenders in equal measure Generative AI has dominated technology conversations in 2024. This will continue in the year ahead with many debates over the ethics of AI adoption, including in high-risk areas such as law enforcement and surveillance, opinion manipulation and safety critical systems.

National regulatory positions on the adoption of AI will diverge as nations seek competitive advantage.

Organisations will get AI adoption wrong in their haste to adopt, raising privacy and cybersecurity concerns, and we will continue to see examples of incidents which could have been avoided had appropriate guardrails been in place.

AI is already being applied to scale social engineering attacks by criminal groups, to identify vulnerable organisations and evade malware detection.

This will accelerate in 2025 as AI adoption by organised crime groups becomes mainstream.

We can safely predict that AI will soon take on reconnaissance tasks and first stage exploitation of systems independently, allowing attackers to operate with unprecedented speed and scale.

Defenders will also harness AI allowing more sophisticated threat detection, response, analysis and prediction.

Caution will remain over fully automated responses to attack, even if there is an inevitability about this development in the near future.

Nations will continue to invest in national scale infrastructure to fuse intelligence on attacks and work with technology providers to automate take down and blocking activities.

Legal structures will struggle to keep up with the necessity of action at pace, with criminal groups continuing to seek nations who will provide safe cyber havens for their activities.

The cat and mouse race continues, but now enabled by AI.

Ryan McConechy, CTO, Barrier Networks: IPv6 Installations Could Provide Attackers With Network Entry Points

It’s been over 13 years since World IPv6 Day, yet only around a quarter of global websites fully support the internet protocol. Most websites still rely on IPv4 due to its widespread use and simpler implementation.

However, a significant emerging risk in 2025 could be attackers exploiting overlooked or unsecured IPv6 connections.

Many devices may already support IPv6 without users even realising it. While some users might attempt to disable this protocol, it’s often challenging to switch off entirely.

This leaves a blind spot, as users typically focus on securing IPv4 connections while remaining unaware of potential vulnerabilities from IPv6.

Cyber-criminals could exploit these unsecured IPv6 pathways to infiltrate networks, steal sensitive data, or deploy malware.

Many current breaches may already be linked to this overlooked vector, a trend we expect to see continue in 2025.

For any organisation currently not being able to pinpoint the source of a breach, maybe it’s time to work out if an unsecured IPv6 connection was the cause.

For organisations and computer users concerned about this risk, it’s best to speak to IT and cybersecurity professionals who can help with securing IPv6 or with disabling it completely.

These are just some of the trends we can expect to see in the coming year and there will be many surprises along the way.

While we can’t predict every twist and turn, we can say for certain that we look forward to supporting our clients as we help them battle through the cyber playing field in 2025, and beyond.

IPv6 installations could provide attackers with network entry points.

 William Wright, CEO Closed Door Security: Whistleblower Leaks Around Government Backdoors

Over the last few years there have been numerous leaks about spyware and backdoors that have been planted into software by governments to eavesdrop on user activity.

High-profile incidents such as the Pegasus Project, allegations of backdoors in Huawei products, and covert installations in consumer technology by the US government have dominated headlines.

While these revelations are often based on speculation and rarely confirmed, they highlight an ongoing trend.

As political tensions continue to rise globally, it’s inevitable that cyber espionage campaigns will escalate—and more will be exposed in 2025.

Even more alarming is the growing likelihood of a whistleblower akin to Edward Snowden stepping forward to unveil a backdoor embedded in a widely used piece of technology.

While we can’t predict the specific country or technology involved, such a revelation could expose efforts to spy on users, steal sensitive information, or, in worst-case scenarios, cause physical harm.

Tech Predictions 2025: Cloud, AI & Data

James Lucas, CEO of CirrusHQ: The comeback of the cloud innovators

Over the last two decades, I have seen the evolution of cloud adoption within organisations across all sectors. For those who were early cloud adopters, once the trailblazers and advocates of the technology, they saw firsthand how they could benefit.

However, a decade or so on, it is likely that they became comfortable with how they are using the cloud – not making too many changes to it since their initial migration – and as a result have put any further digital transformation programmes on ice as they achieved all they needed to.

As we move into 2025, though, I predict that we will see many of those same early adopters embark on digital REtransformation programmes – to make sure that their cloud estate is still fit for the current needs of their business and to tap into the significant amount of innovation that has taken place in their cloud platform.

Not only will such a programme likely result in organisations adapting how they use the cloud and benefit from how the technology has evolved, but they may also realise cost efficiencies.

I also expect that we will see a complete shift in HOW organisations purchase their cloud provisions.

While purchasing through a distributor or reseller has traditionally been a valuable approach for many, increasingly, we have seen the cloud hyperscalers, like AWS, moving into this space.

The boom of cloud marketplaces – which are continually evolving – is speeding up cloud adoption times. Next year, I expect that we will see more organisations make their cloud purchases direct through a cloud marketplace rather than route them through traditional resellers.

For those who might already hold an account with an organisation like AWS, a shift in the purchasing approach will not only streamline (or completely remove) the need for procurement to be involved, but it will also mean that organisations benefit from a single bill – and may even be able to claim back on some SaaS purchases made through a marketplace.

Duncan Hart, Co-founder and CEO of DeepMiner: Data will bring a new competitive edge

You already know the potential of your organisation’s data and we are being told how important data and AI is to your business.

But to truly unlock its value, in 2025 you will not only need to be able to access it but also extract meaningful insights.

Next year, those who harness the power of data will experience some serious growth. By tapping into it to identify new revenue streams, understand market dynamics, and uncover hidden opportunities, businesses will absolutely gain significant competitive advantage.

However, the quality of that data is paramount. Ensuring data accuracy and consistency is crucial. Deduplication and error correction will be essential steps to avoid skewed results and misleading insights. By investing in data quality initiatives, organisations can make informed decisions and drive strategic growth.

Beyond traditional data sources, metadata and metrics can provide valuable context and deeper insights. By analysing these additional data points, organisations can gain a comprehensive understanding of their current state and future potential.”

Pete Miller, Sales and Business Development Manager, ETB Technologies: Advancements Ramping up GPU and Server Demand

It’s no surprise that artificial intelligence remains the hottest tech topic of 2024, driving the biggest shift in requirements since the graphics card revolution of the late 90s.

Back then, Nvidia’s single-chip GeForce 256 took the market by storm, transforming entire industries such as video game development and VFX.

Today, AI is making even bigger waves, showcasing the immense potential of data-driven technology to enhance human capabilities. Machine-learning has expanded far beyond chatbots like ChatGPT and Jasper AI; it’s now an essential tool across numerous sectors.

Architects are using AI-driven design tools to bring their projects to life through virtual reality visualisations, while visual effects
specialists leverage AI to enhance rendering and character animation.

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As AI use grows, so does the need for robust technology to manage the vast data demands it generates.

Organisations will need to consider how all this data will be accessed and managed, meaning higher specifications, greater processing power and fast and reliable networking and switching capabilities will be needed.

As a result, we’re seeing a surge in demand for high-performance GPUs and large capacity storage to meet these requirements.

This is a trend I’d only expect to grow over the next 12 months.

The Shift to Modular Infrastructure and Data Centres

To keep up with these changing data demands, data centres are adopting more flexible and modular solutions. This year saw the UK label data centres as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), bringing new pressures and responsibilities.

As a result of this decision, enhanced security standards, stricter regulations, and increased scrutiny over supply chains are pushing these organisations to be more vigilant in choosing the right processing equipment and implementing robust protocols.

This heightened focus aims to mitigate cybersecurity risks while ensuring data centres today remain resilient enough to support the needs of the UK economy.

Combined with the rapid growth of AI and machine learning, changing demand in the sector means data centres will need to scale up quickly and adapt operations to handle unprecedented data volumes.

Traditional, rigid infrastructure setups are less viable, paving the way for more modular strategies that offer customisable power, cooling, and load capacities. And this move is accelerating, with companies like Microsoft already deploying modular, container-based data centres in remote locations, offering the flexibility needed to adapt to evolving processing needs.

This sets a positive precedent that other players will follow, and modular infrastructure will likely become the new standard.