Let me start by wishing everyone Happy Holidays and a great new 2025 ahead.

As we exit 2024, I am equally hopeful and worried about the year ahead. While I am concerned that even increased spending on cybersecurity has not slowed down cyberattacks, with increased interest in breach readiness and cyber defense, I am hopeful that the industry will focus on reducing opportunities to a large extent. In 2024, as I interacted with our customers, they increasingly challenged us to help them #bebreachready. But most of my excitement in 2025 will be around the use of AI in both the form of generative and agentic AI.

I am very confident that despite cyberattacks, digital is the way forward in 2025, and the difference between continuing to operate a digital business and being impacted by cyberattacks will lie in how we manage the digital computing landscape.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission obtained $8.2 billion in financial remedies, the highest amount in its history in 2024. This does not include the severe hidden and cascading costs of lacking foundational controls beyond revenue loss, which may be reputational and threaten human lives. Ransomware attacks continued to evolve in 2024, and the US accounted for the most significant impact. Groups like AlphV, LockBit, Hive, and BlackCat use newer tactics to infiltrate systems and move laterally within networks. We still lack a serious, comparable, repeatable, and predictable patch and vulnerability management program. Digitally enabled businesses involved in essential services—such as finance, healthcare, and transportation—are particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks due to their significant impact on everyday life. Consequently, these industries are more likely to pay any ransom demanded to minimize downtime.

I look forward to 2025, which will be the year when organizations equipped with breach-ready cyber defense capabilities will deny an attack and stop it from spreading to achieve resilience in digital operations.

It is not that cybersecurity tools are failing. The industry is realizing that the promise of stopping cyberattacks stumbles due to many other fundamental operational challenges like asset management, change management, configuration management, etc. This is where a more holistic approach of hardening digital computing systems and integrating cybersecurity investments will help enterprises #bebreachready.

Breach readiness will help organizations stop issuing public statements about unprecedented cyberattacks that have forced them to take their systems offline. Instead, I hope to see statements about an unprecedented cyberattack and that the company will continue to provide most or all essential services because the attack was promptly contained. The SEC has ensured that effectively reporting breaches has become a highly sought-after capability for CISOs, particularly those who can demonstrate transparency and resilience. More and more breach-ready organizations will inspire partners, suppliers, and supply chains to be confident in digital businesses and extend customer trust. And along the way, companies will reduce regulatory concerns and insurance premiums.

I also believe business continuity paradigms will change. If companies can contain cyberattacks in small microperimeters where attacks happen, the Minimum Viable Business can extend to up to 80% from the current 20%.

Technology is evolving, and 2025 will bring quantum computing, blockchain for various applications beyond cryptocurrencies, augmented and virtual reality in disparate fields such as education and healthcare, and biotechnology breakthroughs, particularly in genetic engineering and personalized medicine. Developments in 5G and beyond will enable more connected devices and smarter cities. Now, more than ever, we need to build globally interconnected innovative businesses that can be immune to cyberattacks even when they scale to meet future demands.

With AI playing a significant role, breach-ready capabilities will help CISOs report the materiality of cyberattacks within 24 to 48 hours. AI will also transform breach-ready cyber defense, combining the powers of Generative and Agentic AI to swiftly change digital landscapes and harden them. The CISO’s new ally will be the AI that can help anticipate and model cyber defenses, harden digital landscapes, contain and withstand digital operations, and evolve breach readiness through war gaming and exercises. By consolidating our defenses, we will reduce complexity and can focus more on strategic initiatives rather than getting bogged down in managing disparate systems.

At ColorTokens, we arm our customers to #bebreachready using our award-winning, SaaS-based microsegmentation technology, ranked among the field’s leaders by Forrester.

I remain optimistic that by uniting security practices, advanced technologies, and a culture of resilience, we can drive digital innovation fearlessly. Let us continue to build trust in our interconnected future. If you’re ready to strengthen your cybersecurity posture in 2025 and beyond, I encourage you to reach out to us at colortokens.com/contact-us/