Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2025. Read them in this 17th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
By Members of the Netskope executive team
As we approach 2025, we once again polled some of our esteemed experts here at Netskope to see what trends and themes they have on their radar for the coming year. Here’s what our experts predict will unfold in the new year, with artificial intelligence (AI) safety and security and the expansion of advanced threats top of mind.
AI Safety and Security
2025 will be the year of AI safety and security
“Over the past two years, organizations have been experimenting with AI. As a result, the harms and vulnerabilities are now better understood and the negative consequences have been seen in the wild. Organizations will now prioritize building capabilities and risk management processes to address these sorts of issues prior to production implementation at scale. AI safety focuses on preventing accidents, misuse, or other harmful consequences arising from AI, while AI security focuses on protecting the AI from adversarial attacks and compromise. In 2025, there will be a race to the top for both AI safety and security which will lead to competitive advantage for organizations by building trust with consumers and delivering the expected business outcomes.” – David Fairman, CIO & CSO APAC
Advanced AI for security
“In 2025, AI will redefine the landscape of cybersecurity, pushing the boundaries of threat detection and prevention. These advanced models promise to safeguard sensitive data by detecting insider threats with unprecedented precision, turning AI into a frontline defense against internal breaches. Intelligent systems will predict potential threats before they manifest, and as these innovations accelerate, we may even see AI models collaborating across global networks, setting a new standard for responsive, proactive security.” – Dagmawi Mulugeta, Staff Threat Researcher
The CIO will take on the role of Chief AI Officer
“By 2025, the CIO will increasingly assume the role of Chief AI Officer, overseeing both IT and AI initiatives as businesses fully integrate AI into their strategies. As the leader responsible for driving operational agility, digital transformation, and measurable business outcomes, the CIO will expand their focus to include end-to-end AI strategy-embedding AI across business units to enhance customer experience, streamline operations, and fuel growth. This dual role solidifies the CIO’s position at the forefront of innovation, blending technology management with AI leadership to guide the company in unlocking new value and staying competitive in an AI-driven landscape.” – Mike Anderson, CIO & CDO
Advanced AI Threats and Scams
Scams leveling up with AI-generated voice and deepfake
“Cyber scams have leveled up tremendously in 2024, with help of AI, from generating voice messages copied from a loved one to creating deepfake videos of CEOs asking to wire-transfer funds. In 2025, not only will we continue experiencing AI-generated voice and video scams, but we can expect more sophisticated scams that resolve some of the limitations they currently face. Perhaps we will see the combination of AI-generated voice and deepfake video live through a live video call, where the attacker can interact with the victim, increasing its plausibility.” – Jan Michael Alcantara, Senior Threat Research Engineer
AI assisted threats on the rise
“In 2025, the sophistication of cyber threats is expected to escalate further, with genAI playing a major role in enhancing the complexity of attacks, such as customized and convincing phishing campaigns. These campaigns will leverage data from public and compromised sources to make emails appear remarkably legitimate. Remote vulnerability exploitation will remain a popular method, particularly for illicit crypto-mining. The combination of genAI-enhanced social engineering and advanced remote exploits will create a formidable threat landscape, challenging traditional cybersecurity measures and demanding more sophisticated defenses in 2025.” – Hubert Lin, Senior Staff Threat Researcher
Adapting to Growing Threats, Beyond AI
A transition to post-quantum cryptography
“In 2025, quantum computing is poised to reach a significant milestone: the potential to compromise widely-used encryption standards such as AES. This technological leap will necessitate the immediate development and adoption of quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms, some already available such as Crystals-kyber, Falcon and Sphincs+. Organizations worldwide will need to transition to this post-quantum cryptography in a quest to safeguard a broad spectrum of digital communications, from personal emails to high-stakes financial transactions. As the quantum computing era dawns, the urgency to fortify our digital infrastructure against potential threats is paramount. The next few years will be critical in developing and implementing robust, quantum-resistant security measures.” – Rehman Khan, Chief Information Security Architect, Head of Security Architecture and Engineering
The rise of identity and privilege vulnerability
“Because cloud-based platforms (e.g. GCP, AWS) have risen in popularity, providing better and more efficient workspaces for organizations, threat actors are most likely to target users in those apps to gain privileged access to the company’s resources. This is more commonly known as “identity and privilege vulnerability,” where attackers aim to simply “log in” instead of “hack in”. Once an account has been compromised, attackers can simply log in to the said account and access the sensitive data without as much as a peep from the security monitoring tools and products. This also applies to deactivated or decommissioned accounts, accounts of former employees, over-privileged accounts with weak credentials and much more.” – John Carlo Marquez, Threat Research Engineer
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