The end of 2025 is here, and while it’s a time to celebrate and recharge for many, cybercrime surges during the holidays and continues to evolve. Fortunately, this year has brought major shifts in how organizations protect data, secure access, and strengthen resilience, just in time to meet rising threats in the new year.
How AI became a prime cybersecurity tool in 2025
One of the biggest developments this year has been the rise of generative AI (genAI) and tactical AI use in cybersecurity. According to Gartner, one of the world’s leading cybersecurity research organizations, AI is now transforming how organizations secure not just traditional databases but also text, images, videos, and more.
This shift has led many companies to invest in AI-powered threat detection, automated monitoring, and behavior-based security tools. Rather than relying solely on signature-based antivirus or periodic scanning, these tools constantly learn from patterns to adapt to new risks, and they can alert teams to anomalies in real time. While many large enterprises enjoy these advantages already, these AI tools are especially valuable for small and medium-sized businesses because they unlock these advanced capabilities without the need to invest in a full IT security team.
In addition to turning AI into a defensive force, security leaders this year embraced so-called “tactical AI,” which focuses on narrow, high-value use cases rather than broad, experimental deployments. This approach helps deliver measurable security improvements without overburdening resources by making them do everything all of the time
Improving training to improve behavior
Organizations are investing not just in fancy new toys but also their security culture and human behavior programs. These new training courses, often enhanced with AI guidance, have shown to reduce staff-driven cybersecurity incidents, which remain the primary cause of data breaches worldwide. Gartner even projects that integrating genAI into such culture programs could reduce employee-driven security incidents by up to 40% by 2026.
Rising cyberthreats to watch for in the new year
These AI-powered tools are a boon to organizations with high threat profiles, which is good news because they will need all the help they can get with rising cyberthreats in the new year.
This is because cybercriminals are taking advantage of AI as well, and the increase in network complexity can create new blind spots.
New vulnerabilities
One major concern highlighted by experts is the rapid growth of machine identities. As organizations adopt cloud services, automation, DevOps, and AI infrastructure, countless new credentials and service accounts emerge. In other words, certain apps and programs need to make use of cloud services and online platforms, so they have to “make an account.”
These machine accounts do not have a person directly in charge of them, so they are not automatically monitored. If unmanaged, these machine identities can become entry points for attackers, which experts predict will become more common.
New threats
As tools and tactics evolve, cybercriminals shift to what works best, and cybersecurity professionals and tools need to follow. Two rapidly expanding threats to watch out for next year are:
Vishing
Phishing relies on fake emails to steal credentials, but that’s old news. Vishing involves criminals altering their voices with AI to call victims directly and trick them into exposing private data. Vishing attacks have increased 400% in recent years, so organizations need to integrate vishing defence into their security training programs
China-nexus activity
State-backed cybercrime continues to be a valuable tool for espionage and hybrid warfare, and the People’s Republic of China in particular has ramped up activity. Cyber espionage operations conducted by threat actors with connections to the PRC have increased by over 150% in 2024, and it’s expected to increase.
Organizations that contract with the US government are at higher risk, but these criminals will target any organization if it means economically destabilizing a government rival.
Keeping your business secure in 2026
To stay ahead of evolving cyberthreats and keep your assets and people secure, your cybersecurity posture must be flexible and customized to your unique needs and threat profile. Contact XBASE for a consultation, and our cybersecurity experts will ensure you’re protected from existing and emerging threats without breaking your IT budget.