The past year 2024 has brought no relief from the threat of cybercriminals, quite the opposite. Experts assess the situation for 2025 as equally dangerous. What specific risks do companies face?

Although the state, economy, and society in Germany have strengthened their resilience and are more robust against cyberattacks according to the latest BSI situation report 2024, cybercriminals are increasingly arming themselves. A growing danger comes from easily accessible artificial intelligence. Therefore, there is no talk of relief. This is also the assessment of experts from the specialist magazine Security-Insider: “Those who think it can’t get worse should brace themselves: In 2025, security experts will face challenges that can shake companies,” reports the new special report “Cyber Risks 2025.”

AI exacerbates the threat landscape further

Experts particularly rate the new possibilities that AI brings for attacks on networks and systems as highly dangerous. The technology is reportedly capable of elevating both current and anticipated cyberattacks to an entirely new level.

In conjunction with AI, ransomware attacks are becoming even more sophisticated and posing an even greater challenge for companies of all kinds in Germany. Security-Insider therefore warns against complacency. With a “business as usual” approach, one risks falling behind.

Specifically, the experts mentioned in the report assess the security situation as follows:

• According to Thales, ransomware attacks have increased internationally by 27 percent, and by 32 percent in Germany.
• Kaspersky reports that cyberattacks on businesses and other organizations lasted an average of over a month in 2023.
• 83 percent of cyberattacks begin with emails, according to Check Point.
• The majority of attacks occur through phishing in combination with ransomware, identity theft, and data theft.
• Radware reported that Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks increased by 265 percent year-over-year in 2023 and 2024.
• DDoS attacks involve deliberately induced delays and outages of websites through an artificial barrage of requests. According to the new BSI report, large-scale DDoS attacks have particularly increased.

The flood of IoT devices expands the attack surface

In addition to the aforementioned threats, the growing number of connected devices poses another challenge. According to US market researcher IDC, by 2025 there will be 55.7 billion IoT devices connected to the internet, thereby expanding the attack surface for cybercriminals. However, the cited security experts also offer reason for hope. The key to successfully defending against cybercrime is collaboration.

This starts with ensuring that all employees in a company are on the same page. It is crucial to enhance awareness and education among the entire workforce. Equally important is the company-wide implementation of regulatory requirements such as NIS2 and DORA. At the same time, AI itself can help mitigate cyberattacks.

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