As 2025 begins, cyber threats aren’t slowing down. For many businesses, stretching limited resources to keep data safe isn’t easy—but it’s still possible. This article draws on various 2024 reports to show you what’s coming and what you can do right now to stay ahead. Let’s break down the most pressing threats and outline simple steps to keep your organization secure.
IN THIS ARTICLE
What the 2024 Reports Tell Us About 2025
Building a 2025-Ready Cybersecurity Foundation
Notable Industry-Specific Observations
Looking Ahead to 2025
What the 2024 Reports Tell Us About 2025
Ransomware Activity Continues to Evolve
Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting small and medium-sized businesses. The 2024 Huntress Threat Report highlights a surge in ransomware activities following the takedown of Qakbot, with groups like LockBit, Akira, and DarkGate exploiting gaps in defenses. SMBs are often seen as soft targets, making proactive measures critical to avoid disruptions and financial losses.
Third-party and Supply Chain Risks Are Increasing
Your vendors, suppliers, and service providers can be entry points for attackers. The SonicWall 2024 Mid-Year Threat Report emphasizes the growing trend of leveraging trusted third-party relationships to infiltrate networks. Ensuring your partners have strong cybersecurity measures is now critical to protecting your organization.
Cloud Misconfigurations and Human Error Persist
As small entities embrace cloud solutions, misconfigured systems and stolen credentials remain common attack vectors. The IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2024 highlights that “improperly secured cloud environments contributed significantly to initial breach points.” Likewise, Sophos emphasizes that training employees to recognize phishing attempts and unusual behaviors can drastically reduce risk.
Data Integrity and Reputation Management Are Key
A breach can cause long-term damage to trust—especially for nonprofits relying on donor confidence or businesses competing for market share. The Huntress report stresses the importance of detecting and isolating threats quickly to minimize financial and reputational harm. SonicWall further emphasizes safeguarding data to ensure continuity and reliability.
Building a 2025-Ready Cybersecurity Foundation
Strengthen Access Controls
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): This adds a critical layer of defense. Even basic implementations significantly lower the chances of account takeover.
- Zero Trust Principles: Requiring continuous verification of users and devices can help prevent attackers from moving freely within your environment.
Regularly Patch and Update Systems
- Outdated software and unpatched vulnerabilities are low-hanging fruit for cybercriminals. Instituting a timely patch management schedule helps protect against known exploits. Huntress and SonicWall both highlight how patching older vulnerabilities is essential to reducing risk.
Implement Robust Backups and Incident Response Plans
- Backups: Regular, encrypted, offsite backups reduce the leverage attackers have if they attempt a ransomware attack.
- Incident Response (IR) Plans: A well-rehearsed IR plan ensures your team knows how to contain threats, communicate breaches effectively, and restore systems quickly.
Educate and Empower Your Team
- Humans remain the first line of defense. Regular scenario-based training helps employees spot phishing attempts, suspicious links, and fraudulent emails. The Huntress and Sophos reports emphasize that education and vigilance are key to combating social engineering attacks and reducing insider risks.
Evaluate Your Vendors and Partners
- Ask suppliers about their security protocols. Consider adding cyber risk assessments as part of your vendor onboarding and renewal process.
- Contractual requirements, like adhering to industry best practices (e.g., NIST, CIS controls), help ensure everyone in your ecosystem is pulling their weight.
Leverage Managed Security Services (If Possible)
- For small organizations, partnering with a managed security services provider (MSSP) can offer 24/7 threat detection and incident response capabilities that might be cost-prohibitive to build in-house. IBM emphasizes how MSSPs can provide much-needed expertise and monitoring to smaller businesses.
Notable Industry-Specific Observations
While the above measures apply broadly to all industries, a few verticals have unique pressures:
- Healthcare & Life Sciences: Sensitive patient or research data often draw targeted ransomware campaigns. Strict access controls and data encryption are essential.
- Financial Services & CPAs: The handling of sensitive financial data makes these organizations prime targets for credential theft and business email compromise (BEC).
- Retail & E-Commerce: Protecting payment card data and secure POS systems is key to maintaining customer trust and avoiding hefty compliance penalties.
Even if you don’t operate in these sectors, it’s worth learning from their heightened challenges. Implementing strong controls, monitoring for unusual account activity, and regularly assessing your security posture are practices that benefit all organizations.
Looking Ahead to 2025
In a landscape where a single breach can have outsized consequences, proactive steps today can save enormous headaches tomorrow. By leveraging insights from the 2024 reports and focusing on foundational cybersecurity measures—MFA, patching, backups, training, vendor vetting, and possibly MSSP partnerships, you’ll be well-positioned to face the evolving challenges of 2025.
At WingSwept, we’re committed to guiding small businesses, nonprofits, government contractors, and associations toward cybersecurity maturity. With the right strategies in place, you can confidently meet the new year, knowing you’ve taken meaningful steps to protect your data, your customers, and your reputation.
Start A Conversation!