- Google unveils predictions of the top cybersecurity threats in 2025
- AI will be used in attacks and defense, it predicts
- The ‘Big Four’ state actors will continue to be a threat
Artificial Intelligence has been named as one of the biggest threats to security over the next year by leading experts.
Given AI’s domination in headlines over the past year, it will come as no surprise to most people that it was at forefront of Google’s Cybersecurity Forecast 2025 as a primary threat, alongside state-sponsored threat actors, and ransomware.
State-sponsored attacks are nothing new, but as global tensions rise and the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza continue, politically motivated attacks will continue to be levelled against critical infrastructure targets around the world – with Google naming the ‘Big Four’ geopolitical threats to western cybersecurity as Russia, China, Iran, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea).
AI in deepfakes
Google, like many others, predicts that AI will continue to be used as a tool for cyber defense, and also in cyberattacks in the coming year. Large-scale adoption of semi-autonomous security operations will usher in a ‘second phase of AI security’, the forecast predicts.
Google sees AI as a key tool in combatting threats in the future, but affirms that Information Operations (IO) threat actors will continue to leverage Generative AI tools in their attacks.
The use of LLMs to create content such as deepfakes and vishing, phishing, and other social engineering attacks will lead to an increased struggle for cybersecurity teams against more frequent and effective incidents.
Ransomware and data theft extortion are also likely to continue to plague organizations around the world in 2025. The frequency and severity of ransomware has soared to new highs in 2024, and custom malware attacks are set to continue.
“Without question, multifaceted extortion and ransomware will continue in 2025, likely with an increase outside the US,” said Charles Carmakal. Mandiant CTO, Google Cloud
Infostealer campaigns were observed as a rising threat in 2024, and Google anticipates seeing more of the same next year, since relatively low-skilled threat actors can use these tools to infiltrate prominent organizations.