Looking back at this year, one thing was clear: everyone wants to make things faster and more secure.
For example, 2024 saw a marked increase in AI-originated attacks. Cybercriminals leveraged these tools to craft highly convincing and personalized phishing emails, automate the discovery and exploitation of system vulnerabilities, and conduct sophisticated social engineering campaigns. Research shows that 75% of security professionals witnessed increased attacks over the past 12 months, with 85% attributing this rise to bad actors using generative AI.
Yet this trend is not only for the darker side of the web. Organizations are also utilizing similar technologies to make their teams more efficient. For instance, more are beginning to embrace solutions that offer an automated vulnerability remediation process or network security automation. Introducing automation into redundant, manual processes alleviates a heavy burden of work from your teams and reduces errors.
This is why I expect 2025 to be the year of AI and automation
AI-powered attacks
The accessibility and cost-effectiveness of generative AI have lowered the barrier to entry for malicious actors, enabling the automation of complex attacks and increasing their success rates. One great example is how AI can now convincingly fake video and voice, commonly known as “deepfakes”; this presents a deeply troubling issue in today’s digital landscape. Deepfakes have the potential to spread misinformation, disrupt elections, and damage reputations on an unprecedented scale. Beyond personal and political misuse, they also create challenges for cybersecurity, as attackers use fake voice recordings or videos to bypass authentication systems or manipulate employees through social engineering.
The rapid advancement of this technology, whatever the medium, outpaces current detection and mitigation methods, necessitating the reevaluation of current cybersecurity strategies. Organizations need robust solutions with advanced detection mechanisms, continuous monitoring, and comprehensive employee training to recognize and mitigate AI-driven threats.
Work smarter, not harder
To combat the rising number and speed of cyber threats, organizations will fully embrace automation in 2025. By using automation to manage routine tasks like firewall change management or vulnerability remediation, teams will focus more on preventative measures, such as predictive threat modeling and proactive risk management. While these trends have steadily risen, 2025 will see broader adoption and integration, emphasizing the need for continuous upskilling in these key areas.
Automation also helps tackle the ongoing skills shortage in cybersecurity. Using advanced tools that support data correlation, automation, and AI will streamline workflows, reduce dependency on specialized talent, and enhance cross-functional collaboration. These strategies empower organizations to bridge the talent gap while improving operational resilience and responding to threats more efficiently.
In 2025, organizations must adopt proactive measures to safeguard against the evolving landscape of AI-enabled cyberattacks. A continuous exposure management platform combines real-time threat intelligence, automated workflows, and adaptive responses. As threats grow more sophisticated, continuous exposure management helps organizations stay secure by reducing exposure, responding faster, and strengthening resilience. This will be a critical tool in 2025 that will help address evolving cyber risks, including AI-driven threats, and match this dynamic security landscape.
