How Cybersecurity is Evolving in 2025 to Tackle New Threats

The cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve at breakneck speed. In the U.S., regulatory policy at the federal level – for instance, the National Cybersecurity Strategy launch and the SEC’s Cybersecurity Disclosure Rules – has played a big role in its growth. The rise of zero-trust architecture has also accelerated across private and public organizations to combat the changing and growing risks posed by cyber threats.

2025 promises to be another year of change for cybersecurity professionals, with existing and emerging threats set to present challenges for organizations of all sizes. Cybercrime itself is rapidly advancing, and costing global businesses $12 trillion annually. The World Economic Forum reports that 35% of small businesses are concerned about their cyber resilience, a seven-fold rise from just a couple years prior. It’s clear that businesses must adopt more resilient and innovative strategies to protect themselves. Fortunately, there are clear steps organizations can take to stay ahead of the risk.

The double-edged sword of generative AI (GenAI)

Globally, there was a 30% year-over-year increase in cyberattacks in Q2 2024 compared to Q2 2023. This staggering rise, coupled with a shortage of nearly 500,000 cyber security professionals in the U.S., has meant that cybersecurity professionals are stretched thin.

GenAI offers remarkable potential to swing the pendulum back in favor of defenders. From real-time threat detection to automated incident response, GenAI is a crucial weapon in the security professional’s armamentarium.

However, GenAI also poses some security risk of its own. It’s been used to develop sophisticated phishing campaigns and advanced malware attacks. Concerns like these call for a careful approach to AI adoption, focusing on privacy safeguards to ensure sensitive data remains protected. We must balance the benefits of AI with its risks, with privacy being a top priority to ensure AI systems protect sensitive company and consumer data.

Infusing an “outcomes” mindset throughout the organization

Outcome-driven metrics are critical – and while not new, they’ve gained traction in recent years as organizations look to quantify the return on their cybersecurity investments. Key metrics like reduced time to detect and respond, and false-positive reduction rate, help measure success and demonstrate ROI on security investment.

However, these measures have to be meaningful and interpretable across the organization, including to non-IT leaders. Simplifying the technical terms is crucial: For example, framing MTTD (mean time to detect) as the “time taken to spot potential threats” resonates better with leadership teams. High-profile incidents last year, such as the Change Healthcare Ransomware Attack and Volt Tycoon attack on infrastructure, underscore the importance of making cybersecurity initiatives intelligible at all levels of an organization, especially to decision-making executives.

Empowering employees to reduce human-generated risk

Cybersecurity is not just a technological issue – it’s very often a human one. Gartner, advocates for human-centric security design, which aligns with our long-standing belief that many breaches stem from human error, whether misconfiguration, credential compromise, or phishing. Nurturing a culture of cybersecurity awareness through comprehensive employee training is crucial to protecting organizations.

Security responsibility must extend beyond the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) to every business unit. Embedding security champions across departments enables organizations to decentralize efforts, making each team responsible for its own security. This not only alleviates pressure on security leaders but also helps address the cybersecurity skills gap. Knowing the role continuous threat exposure management can play

Gartner predicts that by 2026, organizations that base their security investments on continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) could reduce breaches by two-thirds. While proactive, continuous threat evaluation is valuable, it’s important to know where it may fall short. For instance, it’s unclear how CTEM will address the very human issue of phishing, which remains the leading cause of breaches. Still, using the tools at your disposal to better understand external vulnerabilities will remain a central tool for enhancing security.

Managing third-party vulnerabilities in an interconnected world

In today’s hyperconnected world, businesses are often intimately intertwined with one another. Third-party vulnerabilities are a growing concern in this increasingly interconnected ecosystem. Weak spots in the supply chain – whether in software, services, or hardware – are perpetual risks. Reducing these threats lies not just upfront in due diligence, but in regular investments where they are most needed.

Conducting continuous third-party assessments is a given in our own operations, to ensure vendors adhere to rigorous security standards. Still, since no external assessment strategy is guaranteed, strong internal controls are essential to minimize the damage from third-party vulnerabilities.

Why identity security and zero trust are more critical than ever

Identity is the new security perimeter. With employees accessing data from multiple locations and devices, strong identity and access management (IAM) solutions are critical. Zero Trust architecture – requiring continuous user identity verification before granting access – is a cornerstone of this strategy. Integrating IAM across infrastructures helps create a seamless yet secure user experience while ensuring strong protections. Part of this effort lies in behavioral analytics, where continuous behavior monitoring can help us detect anomalies and challenge suspicious activity, reinforcing Zero Trust principles.

The need for secure digital infrastructure has never been greater. In 2023, tech sector contributed nearly $2 trillion – or 8.9% – of the total gross domestic product (GDP) in the U.S. As industries integrate IT with legacy OT systems and embrace new technologies like GenAI, the complexity of threats continues to evolve. Cybersecurity is bigger than preventing hacks and protecting systems – it’s about preserving trust. As we prepare for the future, organizations must embrace proactive and nimble security strategies that prioritize resilience, adaptability, and trust.

About the Author

Vaibhav Dutta is the Associate Vice President and Global Head-Cybersecurity Products & Services at Tata Communications at Tata Communications. With 23 years of experience across product management, engineering, business development, and strategy advisory, he has developed deep expertise in cybersecurity. His career has allowed him to work on various aspects of the field, from threat management to identity and OT security, and in creating managed security services and frameworks within these domains. Vaibhav has been recognized for my contributions to the industry and he appreciates the opportunity to collaborate with advisory communities and analysts. In his current role at Tata Communications, he leads Strategic Ventures for the Cybersecurity Business, focusing on new product and service initiatives, analyst relations, investments, and market exploration.

Vaibhav can be reached online on LinkedIn and at our company website https://www.tatacommunications.com/