Predicting the future isn’t easy, but you can anticipate what is likely to happen by looking at how things have evolved over the past year. This year again, Barracuda asked colleagues who work on the security frontlines about the things they witnessed in 2024 and expect to see in 2025.

According to their insight, 2025 will be the year when:

• Threat actors will invest more time and resources in evading or disabling security measures. They will leverage novel, complex, and sophisticated techniques, such as the endpoint detection ‘EDR killer’ and advanced phishing methods.
• More attacks will feature multiple approaches. There will be a rise in multichannel, multistage attacks. This will include attacks that infiltrate one platform, such as email, messaging, or collaboration platforms, and then expand laterally to others. More attacks will leverage vulnerabilities in interconnected devices and exploit identity-based vulnerabilities.
• AI-powered attacks will continue to evolve, making attacks increasingly personalised, faster, and harder to detect. They will use automation to execute large-scale attacks and target vulnerabilities in software and systems across organisations.
• Organisations will worry most about the “unknown” — undetected security gaps, new attack methods, accidental supply chain threats, or an attack occurring without their knowledge — as threat actors increasingly leverage novel tools and techniques to help them breach systems, exfiltrate data, or compromise infrastructure without triggering any immediate alarms.

Asia Pacific Predictions

What most surprised you in 2024 in terms of cyberthreats/cybersecurity?

Mark Lukie, Director of Solution Architects – APAC: Cybercriminals’ rapid integration of generative AI made social engineering attacks more convincing and phishing campaigns more widespread. We also saw an increase in email attacks using newer techniques such as QR codes.

Matt Caffrey, Senior Solutions Architect, ANZ: The continued success of ransomware attacks, despite increased awareness and defenses, was a major surprise in 2024. The topic has been elevated to the mainstream media. Attackers have evolved their tactics, focusing on double extortion by threatening to leak sensitive data, as we saw with larger companies within ANZ. Even with improved defenses, the persistence of this threat shows that organisations are still struggling to balance prevention, detection, and recovery.

What is the biggest cybersecurity concern on customers’ and partner’s minds as we approach 2025?

Mark Lukie, Director of Solution Architects – APAC: Many are concerned about fragmented visibility across various threat vectors, making detecting and responding to complex attacks challenging. As threats span email, network, and endpoint layers, customers see XDR (extended detection and response) as essential for unifying security insights and enhancing detection accuracy. With XDR, they aim to achieve centralised, real-time visibility and rapid response across diverse attack surfaces, helping to address evolving threats more effectively.

Matt Caffrey, Senior Solutions Architect, ANZ: The biggest concern remains the protection of sensitive data, especially as businesses increasingly rely on cloud-based services. These concerns are centered around ransomware events. Customers are worried about how to effectively manage their security posture across different environments while ensuring compliance with stricter data privacy. Data privacy is the main focus being brought into effect local to ANZ, see here.

How do you expect cyberthreats to evolve in 2025?

Mark Lukie, Director of Solution Architects – APAC: Cyberthreats will become more automated and evasive, leveraging AI to bypass traditional defences. Attacks on critical infrastructure and cloud services will likely increase, demanding more robust resilience measures.

Matt Caffrey, Senior Solutions Architect, ANZ: In 2025, we can expect a rise in targeted attacks on critical infrastructure and small-to-medium enterprises, which often lack the robust security resources of larger organisations. Cybercriminals will likely continue exploiting vulnerabilities in outdated systems and supply chains, making it crucial for companies to invest in stronger, more adaptive security frameworks.