Australian Tech Industry Leaders Make Their Predictions for 2025

It’s that time of year where the technology industry predictions start rolling-in. Here’s what you can (apparently) expect in 2025. We’ll post newer contributions at the top:

Yubico’s Insights and Predictions on Cybersecurity in 2025

With 2024 behind us, we saw another challenging year in the world of cybersecurity – highlighted by new and evolving threats like Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven phishing and increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks overall. Yubico’s September Global State of Authentication Survey confirmed the challenges, even underscoring the potential risks of these new threats. The report emphasised the importance of wide-scale adoption of cybersecurity tools like multi-factor authentication (MFA) and phishing-resistant passkeys.

While the survey results were eye-opening, it allowed businesses an opportunity to reflect on the effectiveness of existing cybersecurity practices and what changes should be made in 2025. Whether the changes are spurred by increasing threats or the evolution in global government regulations, it’s clear that the year ahead will bring many cybersecurity changes across the enterprise. To get a better understanding of where the cybersecurity landscape sits heading into a new year, we sat down with some of Yubico’s experts to discuss what top trends they’re seeing unfold across the industry in 2025.

The future of digital identity wallets: Stina Ehrensvard, Founder

The Internet, initially created by researchers for sharing information, has become a major threat to democracy, security and trust due to bad actors leveraging it to attack individuals, companies, and nations. The majority of these challenges are caused by stolen, misused or fake identities. To mitigate these risks, some claim that we have to choose between security, usability and privacy – but there is a clear solution focused on the broad adoption of digital identity wallets and open standards for digital identities. 

Digital identity wallets aim to offer a new approach to the use of federated identities where users are in control of when and where their personal data is shared – and with whom. User credentials and data includes important things like driver’s licenses, insurance cards, work and student visas, travel documents, credit card data, educational credentials, and digital medical prescriptions. Modern FIDO-based authentication is a natural fit to secure digital wallets as users are becoming more familiar with its associated registration and sign in flows now that many websites have adopted passkeys as a means to access their services. 

As we continue seeing more success stories about digital identity wallets and continued momentum of open standards for digital identities, in 2025, I expect many more countries around the world to adopt the technology and secure citizens and organisations with these digital wallets backed by FIDO-based security.

A look at a passkey future: Derek Hanson, VP of Standards and Alliances

Passkeys have taken the world by storm as the de facto authentication solution to replace passwords. As we continue navigating the ever-changing landscape of cybersecurity, embracing passkeys will be critical – but the role passkeys actually play in securing our online identities depends heavily on how they are used. Unless organisations do all the right things and have an effective strategy in place throughout the user lifecycle, passkeys won’t reach their potential. Over the next year, I expect to see a rapid rise in adoption of passkeys across the enterprise – but it will still take time for organisations and consumers to fully take advantage of the benefits passkeys provide as they continue understanding the new technology.

In the short term, consumers may continue to be hesitant to adopt MFA – primarily because their experience with MFA has traditionally been cumbersome and difficult. While better than no MFA at all, the reliance on SMS-based OTP as a primary MFA factor is dangerous. SMS-based OTP is widely available and offered as a standard by organisations around the world and because of this customers are now accustomed to it. When we’re talking about consumer behaviour, there is hesitancy to change or adopt anything else unless they see it in more places where they’re familiar with and respect. 

I believe the solution is clear: enable broad support for passkey authentication. Like any new technology, passkey adoption will be slow – unless organisations begin to remove unsafe methods of authentication for users, like SMS OTP. It’s also important to prioritise following recommended guidelines around creating a good user experience that encourages users to enrol passkeys and educates them on the value to them as users.

The rise of AI-driven cyber threats: Chad Thunberg, CISO

More than 80% of all cyber attacks start with phishing, primarily due to its relatively low cost and high success rate. That number will continue to grow even higher with the advent of AI-driven phishing attacks. By automating the most time, skill, and labour-intensive parts of running phishing campaigns, generative AI is making it possible to dramatically increase the number of attacks and lowers the bar for less capable attackers to get involved with phishing.

The risk doesn’t end there, though. We’ll continue to see generative AI make each social engineering attempt more potent and likely to succeed because modern AI leverages massive amounts of data to support generating realistic text and voice-based attacks, or generate a dossier on specific targets to be used in a sophisticated campaign. For example, AI can mimic someone’s writing style or reference relevant and accurate details extracted from previous breaches. It can even create “deep fakes,” where attackers use AI to synthesize someone’s voice and speech patterns.

These types of attacks usually focus on convincing the victim to take action but can be mitigated by validating the request using an alternative communication path – ideally one that is known to be good. For example, if you receive an email from a family member asking you to send them money to help them get out of a situation, call them using a phone number that you already possess for them to confirm the situation.

I believe we will also likely see wider adoption of standards, like those from the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), that focus on assisting consumers validate the authenticity of content. The drastic increase in generated content will negatively impact confidence in content if countermeasures like these are adopted and well understood by consumers.  

Legacy MFA solutions are already under attack, and generative AI will make them even less effective. This is why it’s more critical than ever to be vigilant of these threats, and stay one step ahead of attackers with phishing-resistant security keys by removing the human error that leads to the success of AI-driven phishing attacks.

Luke Fossett, GM, Australia and New Zealand, GoCardless

Tech to success

Like we saw in 2023, this was another tough year for businesses on the path to profitability.

I think that struggle will shift in 2025 – but only if businesses realise the value that the end-to-end customer payments journey can have on the growth and efficiency of their enterprise. Exploring how to reduce churn, offer a diverse range of payment options and slash unnecessary friction will be the key to success for many companies.

Many businesses are also running super lean right now due to headcount reductions being the main driver of cost reductions. Now, it’s all about making the most of technology, using it in the right areas to be more effective and efficient with less people power.

PayTo Progress

We will see PayTo take another leap forward in 2025 – both in terms of consumer awareness and business willingness to offer PayTo alongside both Direct Debit and Credit/Debit Cards. 

I think we will also see larger Australian consumer businesses start to set up what their migration plan from Direct Debit to PayTo looks like.

2025 will also be the year PayTo starts being used as a vehicle to de-prioritise BPAY as a way businesses request to be paid. Historically for big billers, BPAY can be up to a 50% share of a company’s payment volume. In 2025, I expect PayTo to eat into that across industries like Energy Retail, Insurance, Telco/ISP and more. 

Surcharge crackdown

I expect the noise around cracking down on card surcharges to continue – and if I’m honest, I don’t anticipate a lot of proactiveness from the regulator in response.

This means that merchants will have to spend more time understanding their costs and potentially more and more situations where we see card costs passed through to the end payer outside of the POS, where we otherwise see platforms like Square, Zeller and others auto-apply surcharges to every in-person payment on their devices.

Simon Howe, Area Vice President – ANZ, ExtraHop Networks

Geopolitical tensions are escalating globally and as a result, cyber warfare experts are predicting intensifying ransomware attacks in the near-term. Further exacerbated by a business climate in which most organisations are paying the ransom, there is no indication these attacks will slow down. The cybercrime gang Scattered Spider proved to be a sophisticated threat this past year, using modern techniques such as auto-generation of phishing pages to target financial institutions for lucrative ransom payouts.

The group and other ransomware threat actors are considered experts in social engineering, finding success in using techniques like phishing, push bombing, and subscriber identity module (SIM) swap attacks to obtain credentials and gain access to an organisation’s network. These social engineering attacks will only grow more complex as adversaries leverage AI and ML to be more convincing and evade existing controls. It’s up to organisations to improve their security posture and build resilience against these increasingly complex threats.

Corey Nachreiner, CSO, WatchGuard Technologies

By 2025, malicious use of multimodal AI will be used to craft an entire attack chain. As multimodal AI systems gain the ability to integrate text, images, voice, and sophisticated coding, they will be coming to threat actors who will leverage them to streamline and automate the entire pipeline of a cyberattack. This includes profiling targets on social media, crafting and delivering realistic phishing content, including voice phishing (vishing), sometimes finding zero-day exploits, generating malware that can bypass endpoint detection and deploying the infrastructure to support it, automating lateral movements within compromised networks, and exfiltrating stolen data.

This hands-off, entirely seamless approach will democratise cyber threats even more radically than malware-as-a-service offerings have in recent years, enabling less-skilled threat actors to launch advanced attacks with minimal human intervention. Therefore, organisations and security teams, regardless of size, will face an increase in highly tailored cyber threats that will be difficult to detect and combat.

Dan Wright, GM Cloud & Connect, Atturra Managed Services

Public cloud platforms are often the go-to choice for deploying AI workloads due to their convenience and flexibility. However, many organisations face “bill shock” upon realising the true costs of their resource usage. In 2025, this financial challenge will prompt an increasing shift toward hybrid cloud models. A hybrid cloud approach combines the benefits of public cloud services with private cloud infrastructure and on-premise resources. This model offers cost savings, greater control over data, and the ability to scale operations quickly. For many businesses, it represents a balanced strategy, blending flexibility with financial prudence.

At the same time,as AI adoption grows so do concerns about security and, during 2025, cloud and hybrid platforms must address increasingly complex security requirements. The key challenge lies in tailoring security measures to specific infrastructures as there is no universal solution. Businesses must strike a balance between protecting sensitive data and maintaining operational efficiency.  With cyber threats becoming more sophisticated, organisations will need to invest in advanced security protocols and partnerships with cloud providers who prioritise robust defences. Proactive measures, such as automation, regular audits and adopting zero-trust models, will become industry standards.

Morey Haber, Chief Security Advisor at BeyondTrust

In October 2025, we’ll see one of the most significant end-of-life (EoL) announcements since Windows XP. Microsoft has plans to end-of-life Windows 10 (completely and for good—unless you are willing to pay for extended support). This means hundreds of millions of systems will lack the hardware requirements for Microsoft’s newest OS and be unable to upgrade to Windows 11. Those systems will become obsolete, and many will end up in landfill.

Much of the hardware we use today simply cannot be upgraded due to dependencies on hardware and software security features. Only new computers with both Secure Boot and TPM will be supported, and able to migrate to Windows 11—unless Microsoft chooses to remove these restrictions (highly unlikely, even though there are workarounds). Operating systems updates and security patches will cease to be generally available for these noncompliant systems, which, consequently, will become increasingly vulnerable over time.

Thus, a flood of perfectly functional, but vulnerable and obsolete notebooks, laptops, and desktop computers, will go up for sale or recycling in the second half of 2025. As a result, the hardware market will get a much-needed boost, including a switch to ARM processors.

We can also expect to see a significant increase in the use of alternative desktop operating systems, like Linux, Mint, or Ubuntu Desktop, as organisations and individuals seek to minimise the cost of hardware replacement.

More from Beyond Trust

• BeyondTrust experts predict a paradigm shift in security strategies as identity risks and quantum threats take centre stage
  
• Top cybersecurity threats include the evolution of the AI2, quantum computing, and cyber insurance

Morey Haber, Christopher Hills, Chief Security Strategist; James Maude, Field Chief Technology Officer and Mike Machado, Chief Information Security Officer make predictions outline emerging threats and disruptive technologies that are expected to redefine security strategies in the coming years:

Prediction #1: AI2 Bursts the Bubble
AI2, or the “Artificial Inflation” of Artificial Intelligence, is set to see its hype deflate across industries. While AI will remain useful for basic automation and workflows, much of the over-promised capabilities, particularly in security, will fall short in 2025. The focus will shift toward practical AI applications that enhance security without overwhelming organisations with marketing noise.

Prediction #2: Quantum Computing Threats Loom Large
Quantum computing will challenge existing cryptographic defenses, especially for large organisations. While NIST’s post-quantum encryption standards were released in 2024, the transition to these new standards will be gradual. Larger enterprises, particularly in finance, must begin planning for this quantum shift to protect sensitive data.

Prediction #3: Hidden Paths to Privilege Become the New Battleground
In 2025, attackers will increasingly target obscure identity paths—convoluted trust relationships and hidden entitlements—that can grant privileged access. These minor identity issues will evolve into significant security risks, forcing organisations to reassess their identity and access hygiene to avoid lateral movement and privilege escalation attacks.

Prediction #4: Reverse Identity Theft Takes Center Stage
Expect a rise in reverse identity theft, where stolen breach data is improperly merged with additional personal information to create false digital identities. This trend will complicate identity security as organisations struggle to differentiate between legitimate and fraudulent personas.

Prediction #5: Planned Obsolescence Forces Hardware Overhaul
As Microsoft ends support for Windows 10 in late 2025, millions of systems will become obsolete. Many of these systems lack the hardware capabilities required to run Windows 11, pushing organisations toward hardware upgrades or alternative operating systems. The result will be a massive influx of outdated devices vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Prediction #6: Cyber Insurance Plays Catch-Up
Cyber insurance carriers will need to reassess policies as AI and quantum computing introduce new risks. In 2025, expect carriers to revise their terms to include exclusions related to AI and quantum risks, much like traditional exclusions for acts of war. This will push businesses to adopt new cyber-resilient practices to maintain insurance coverage.

BeyondTrust’s Long-Term Cybersecurity Projections
In addition to these immediate threats, BeyondTrust experts project longer-term cybersecurity trends:

Prediction #7: The End of Malware Dominance
Malware as a primary threat vector will decline as attackers increasingly exploit identity and access vulnerabilities. Organisations must shift their focus to protecting identities and reducing the blast radius of compromised accounts.

Prediction #8: Satellite Connectivity Disrupts Traditional Networks
With advances in satellite connectivity, traditional 5G and broadband networks will face stiff competition. This shift will introduce new attack surfaces as satellite communication becomes a more widespread alternative.

David Nuti, Head of Security Sales, Extreme Networks

MSPs are going to be forced to add that second ‘S’ to their acronym: MSPs will add another S, for Security. And they should be incredibly excited about the opportunity this presents. Driven by the convergence of networking and security, the increased threats created by hybrid users and IoT, and the preference for cloud-native and SaaS-based application workloads, cloud-native subscription-based security services to govern it all will become the ideal solution.

Vendors in this space, some that are entirely MSP-centric in their go-to-market strategy, have made it easier than ever for MSPs that may have traditionally avoided a deeper cybersecurity conversation to now deliver rich, scalable solutions where the complexity of unification has already been solved by the supplier.  It is one of the biggest spend participation opportunities in a decade for MSPs…or should I say MSSPs.

Patrick Harding, Chief Product Architect, Ping Identity

If 2024 was the year when cybercriminals became more sophisticated, and deepfakes came onto the scene at a record rate, then 2025 will be centered on how organisations choose to secure their business, adopting new technology to combat these threats while putting control back in the hands of customers.

As such, 2025 will be the year we’ll see increasing adoption of digital wallets that safely secure digital identities and allow users to transact, travel, and verify identities at a moment’s notice. According to a new study, 74 per cent of consumers like the idea of digital wallets or ID cards that are kept on personal mobile devices, but barriers to adoption are top of mind. Businesses will start adopting a seamless, gradual, and approachable rollout to digital IDs, helping ease consumer concerns while progressing to more widespread adoption. Those that cannot offer a secure, customer-centric experience will be at risk of falling behind early adopters who embrace this new wave of digital interaction.

Predictions from Workato

Carter Busse, CIO, Workato

Emotional Intelligence Will Win Over Technical Skills in Hiring

In 2025, the demand for IT professionals will not slow down – the nature of living in an AI-driven world calls for those experts. But a significant shift in desirable skills is on the horizon as we move towards roles that blend business acumen with tech skills and novel AI technologies.

There will be less emphasis on technical skills whilst higher emotional intelligence becomes important. High emotional intelligence is essential for training teams on how to use the advanced technologies available to them.

This shift will be paramount to driving complex digital transformation, and innovation, and facilitating the integration of technology, like AI and automation, into business processes.

Bhaskar Roy, Chief of AI Products & Solutions

AI Agents Will Suffer the Same Fate as SaaS

We’re starting to see AI agents come up more and more and it seems like every business leader is now thinking about what their roadmap is for AI agents. This is smart because I believe next year we will see the most significant impact on business operations with agents that are role-based.

This means workers in customer service or IT, for example, will become more proficient in their role because agents will become stronger and more capable of handling niche tasks much faster than a person can on their own.

In turn, this will allow workers to spend more time learning tasks that require deeper thinking and, in turn, become more knowledgeable in their role.

What I see becoming a challenge is the proliferation of AI agents that can handle these individual tasks, creating a web of specialised use cases that don’t work together and overwhelm business users.

Similar to the explosion of SaaS applications in the last decade, which companies now struggle to untangle.

John Deeb, Country Manager for ANZ

Process and Productivity Paradox

As businesses adopt more digital tools, programs and applications than ever before in a bid to improve processes, performance and productivity – in 2025 we’ll see the rise of the productivity paradox, where processes hinder rather than help business performance.

To mitigate this, IT leaders will be required to identify ways the business can be flexible in customising software, processes and experiences to empower employees in the organisation. This holistic view will ensure businesses are automating processes and integrating workflow systems to ensure seamless data flow between applications which deters the need to alternate between tools, reduce manual work and streamline processes.

Mick McCluney, ANZ Field CTO at Trend Micro

The age of hyper-personalised attacks is almost upon us, warns

As generative AI makes its way ever deeper into enterprises and the societies they serve, we need to be alert to the threats. Hyper-personalised attacks and agent AI subversion will require industry-wide effort to root out and address. Business leaders should remember that there’s no such thing as standalone cyber risk today. All security risk is ultimately business risk, with the potential to impact future strategy profoundly.”

Trend’s 2025 predictions report warns of the potential for malicious “digital twins,” where breached/leaked personal information (PII) is used to train an LLM to mimic the knowledge, personality, and writing style of a victim/employee. When deployed in combination with deepfake video/audio and compromised biometric data, they could be used to convince identity fraud or to “honeytrap” a friend, colleague, or family member.

Deepfakes and AI could also be leveraged in large-scale, hyper-personalised attacks to:

• Enhance business compromise (BEC/BPC) and “fake employee” scams at scale.
  
  
• Identify pig butchering victims. 
  
  
• Lure and romance these victims before handing them off to a human operator, who can chat via the “personality filter” of an LLM. 
  
  
• Improved open-source intelligence gathering by adversaries.
  
  
• Capability development in pre-attack prep will improve attack success.
  
  
• Create authentic-seeming social media personas at scale to spread mis/disinformation and scams.

Elsewhere, businesses that adopt AI in greater numbers in 2025 will need to be on the lookout for threats such as:

• Vulnerability exploitation and hijacking of AI agents to manipulate them into performing harmful or unauthorised actions.
  
  
• Unintended information leakage (from GenAI)
  
  
• Benign or malicious system resource consumption by AI agents, leading to denial of service.

Outside the world of AI threats

The report highlights additional areas for concern in 2025, including:

Vulnerabilities

• Memory management and memory corruption bugs, vulnerability chains, and exploits targeting APIs
  
  
• More container escapes
  
  
• Older, simpler vulnerabilities like cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injections 
  
  
• The potential for a single vulnerability in a widely adopted system to ripple across multiple models and manufacturers, such as a connected vehicle ECU

Ransomware

Threat actors will respond to advances in endpoint detection and response (EDR) tooling by:

• Creating kill chains that use locations where most EDR tools aren’t installed (e.g., cloud systems or mobile, edge, and IoT devices)
  
  
• Disabling AV and EDR altogether
  
  
• Using bring your own vulnerable driver (BYOVD) techniques.
  
  
• Hiding shellcodes inside inconspicuous loaders
  
  
• Redirecting Windows subsystem execution to compromise EDR/AV detection.

The result will be faster attacks with fewer steps in the kill chain that are harder to detect. 

Time for action

In response to these escalating threats and an expanding corporate attack surface, Trend recommends:

• Implementing a risk-based approach to cybersecurity, enabling centralised identification of diverse assets and effective risk assessment/prioritisation/mitigation
  
  
• Harnessing AI to assist with threat intelligence, asset profile management, attack path prediction, and remediation guidance—ideally from a single platform.
  
  
• Updating user training and awareness in line with recent AI advances and how they enable cybercrime.
  
  
• Monitoring and securing AI technology against abuse, including security for input and response validation or actions generated by AI
  
  
• For LLM security: hardening sandbox environments, implementing strict data validation, and deploying multi-layered defences against prompt injection
  
  
• Understanding the organisation’s position within the supply chain, addressing vulnerabilities in public-facing servers, and implementing multi-layered defences within internal networks
• Facilitating end-to-end visibility into AI agents
  
  
• Implementing Attack Path Prediction to mitigate cloud threats

Jake King, Director of Engineering at Elastic Security

Jake’s top 3 picks for 2025 cyber predictions are:

AI’s expanding role in cybersecurity

From streamlining threat hunting to response automation, AI will play a pivotal role in cybersecurity and driving organisational efficiencies. Equally, threat actors have harnessed AI to their advantage, making attacks like phishing campaigns and malware development increasingly sophisticated and dramatically expanding the volume of cyber security incidents worldwide. A prominent example this year has been individuals affected by phishing attacks involving the impersonation of financial institution representatives or adversaries posing as organizations looking for staff.

Against this backdrop, leveraging AI-driven tools within security teams will be crucial for an organisation’s cyber resilience. Organisations that effectively integrate AI into their cybersecurity strategies will gain a decisive edge against the rapid proliferation of threats to protect their systems. Security Teams must continually educate their peers and constituents about cybersecurity measures, further strengthening their overall security.

Increasingly sophisticated and complex threat environments

Exposed, reused, and leaked credentials will remain a significant vulnerability in 2025, as adversarial groups exploit these to gain initial access to IT environments. The challenge of safeguarding sensitive credentials and securing access will intensify as these attacks grow more sophisticated.

The prevalence of ransomware, phishing campaigns, and spyware is expected to persist, but a notable increase in sophisticated malware campaigns, particularly trojans, is on the horizon. These attacks are likely to focus on resource exploitation, such as cryptomining, and double extortion tactics targeting sensitive data. This marks a shift towards more complex and resource-intensive cyberattacks.

We also see malicious actors targeting growing cloud environments that are insufficiently secured, identifying vulnerabilities that serve as entry points for attacks. Continual monitoring will be crucial to protect against cyber attacks.

The recently introduced Australian Cyber Security Act will serve as a unified approach towards cybersecurity, strengthening the country’s cyber preparedness and protecting organisations from malicious actors.

Election and democratic integrity

As Australia heads towards the federal elections in 2025, we expect to see a rise in disinformation, deepfakes and state-sponsored hacking efforts as threat actors exploit periods of heightened uncertainty to target victims. Defenders must remain vigilant and adapt quickly to counter these evolving tactics, ensuring resilience against technical and geopolitical threats.

Rik Ferguson, VP Security Intelligence at Forescout

Threat Actors Will Hijack Supply Chains with ‘Invisible’ Firmware Threats 

Nation-state actors are increasingly weaponising firmware supply chain attacks, embedding malicious code during manufacturing that bridges cyber and physical warfare. 

The recent compromise of communication devices by Israel demonstrates how firmware-level threats could have real-world impact. 

Traditional defenses and documentation, including Software Bill of Materials (SBOMs), are more reactive, tending still to rely on implicit trust, and neglect to provide true visibility and detection of these risks and sophisticated implants.  

As IoT adoption grows, supply chain risks escalate, making it imperative for organisations to secure every step of the production and distribution process. 

Cybercriminals Will Steal Money While You Sleep 

Business Email Compromise (BEC) could evolve into Autonomous Business Compromise (ABC), where AI will automate fraud with minimal human interaction.  

Cybercriminals will target AI-driven processes like supply chain management and financial planning to conduct high-stakes fraud without ever stepping foot in the target’s inbox.  

This allows cybercriminals to carry out attacks without reliance on social engineering methods to trick an individual into making a payment. 

Advanced AI Deployments Will Power the Next Generation of Cyberattacks 

Threats such as model manipulation, data poisoning, supply chain disruptions, and AI-assisted fraud are expected to dominate the next wave of attacks. 

In 2025, attackers will leverage AI to automate and accelerate their campaigns, adapting to defences in real-time and making attacks more effective and harder to detect than ever before.  

This year the Australian Signals Directorate teamed up with ten international cyber security agencies to publish Engaging with Artificial Intelligence. The paper outlines the current threats associated with AI applications and urges organisations to take proactive steps to manage these risks, such as increased attack surface, prompt injection, and automated attacks.  

However, as AI becomes integrated into critical functions like supply chain management, financial planning, and healthcare, new opportunities for cybercriminals emerge.  

To stay ahead, organisations must balance the benefits of AI adoption with robust security strategies tailored to this evolving threat landscape. 

Daniel Dos Santos, Lead Threat Researcher, Vedere Labs at Forescout

Routers and Perimeter Device Attacks Will Grow in 2025 

In 2024, we saw threat actors increasingly target network perimeter devices like routers, firewalls, and VPNs. In the first half of the year alone, 20% of newly exploited vulnerabilities focused on these devices, a trend I expect to persist with growing sophistication.   

Notably, advanced persistent threats from state-sponsored actors have developed several custom malwares for espionage on perimeter devices recently – such as ZuoRAT, HiatusRAT, and COATHANGER – and deployed those on thousands of devices across the world, supposedly as part of pre-positioning activities. 

Sophisticated targeting of perimeter devices through custom malware and other methods can lead to privileged access to networks, making them high-value targets for state-sponsored actors in 2025. 

Outdated OT Systems Will be A Cybercrime Goldmine 

With increasing integration between IT, IoT, and OT devices, strategic custom malware – such as those for perimeter devices – has become a threat to critical infrastructure. Botnets and other opportunistic IoT malware already include capabilities such as infection via well-known OT credentials. By 2025, I predict a rise in attacks leveraging opportunistic malware that may disrupt operations.  

Legacy OT systems, like we saw with the American Water cyberattack this year, will remain vulnerable with many devices unmanaged and exposed. If attacked, these systems can serve as an entry point to critical infrastructure systems.  

As demonstrated by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, critical infrastructure is at risk, highlighting that proactive vulnerability management is an urgent priority. 

Nation-States Will Hijack ‘Grassroots’ Hacktivism 

Since 2022, we’ve seen hacktivism tactics increasingly leveraged in regional conflicts like Russia-Ukraine and the Middle East.  

By 2025, more nations will adopt hacktivist identities to carry out sophisticated cyberattacks—moving beyond defacements and DDoS to include massive data breaches and cyber-physical disruptions.  

With tensions rising, especially with the potential for conflict in the APAC region, we anticipate more nation-states will use hacktivist fronts to execute covert cyber operations. 

David Wiseman, Vice President, Secure Communications at BlackBerry

Cybersecurity outages, espionage attempts by foreign actors, and AI-led misinformation were significant causes for concern to governments and organisations across the world this year, and we expect this to continue to escalate in 2025.

The recently introduced Australian Cyber Security Act reinforced the government’s commitment to cyber resilience, bolstering national security and protecting businesses and people from cyber threats. This commitment is crucial as Australia heads towards the federal elections next year.

Recent reports of Chinese espionage groups allegedly targeting the cellphones of former President Donald Trump, Sen. JD Vance and Democrat staffers is one of many such examples this year of adversarial activity targeting the fabric of democracy globally. Information found on politicians’ phones can be invaluable to foreign intelligence agencies attempting electoral interference or other objectives that threaten national security.

This scenario exposes vulnerabilities in telecommunications infrastructure – as metadata generated by ‘free’ apps for voice calls and messaging can be easily traded, fuelling ‘wire-tapping-as-a-service’ markets that are readily available for purchase on the internet. This underscores the harsh reality that trust placed in uncertified apps does not extend to protecting your metadata. 

In this uncertain threat landscape, government agencies, political figures, and their teams must mitigate risk with military-grade, highly secure communications solutions, which will be critical to maintaining election and democratic integrity.”

Telecom Networks are the New Stratum for Threat Actors

Attackers are expected to target telecom and internet service provider (ISP) networks more aggressively using ‘supply chain’ attack methods, and lessons learnt from recent US telco-network hacks. The recently passed Australian Cyber Security Act clearly shows the government’s commitment to cyber resilience, bolstering national security and protecting critical infrastructure, businesses and people from cyber threats. However, Aus & NZ network and service providers must remain vigilant as attackers will certainly sharpen their tools and tactics in an election year, leaving no stone unturned.  Secure communications must be a critical component of ‘supply chain security, especially in high-risk sectors like government, defence manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and critical infrastructure.

Mobile Messaging Apps: There is no such thing as ‘free’

It is not only network espionage that is of concern; mobile spying is on the rise.  The use of Whatsapp, Signal and similar apps for government and other sensitive communications will continue to come under scrutiny – especially as Australia prioritizes data and communications sovereignty in an election year. Government and critical industries must leave no breadcrumb trail or stored metadata for attackers to harvest.  This also applies to anyone in a position of vulnerability that blends their personal and professional lives on their devices, possibly revealing ‘insider’ or other information for financial or geo-political gain. 

Identity Spoofing Will Escalate as AI, Deepfakes, and Exposed Metadata Fuel Sophisticated Attacks

Gen AI learns from voice and text, as much as imagery, which can afford attackers ‘up-to-the-minute’ information to target victims almost immediately.  The recent US network breaches have shown how widely accessible user metadata and real-time communication information have become. Imagine if someone is listening in to an M&A call or the movements of a high-profile politician?  Real-time information, metadata and access to sovereign networks could enable miscreants to tailor their attacks based on the call you just made, making their impersonations harder to detect.

Mark Mader, President and CEO of Smartsheet

Generative AI (GenAI) is ushering in a renaissance age for the generalist

Organisations have spent a disproportionate amount of capital hiring hyper-specialised talent with deep technical knowledge for years. Now, with the democratisation of GenAI, the value offered by hiring ‘capable generalists’ is on the rise. People who articulately frame their thoughts, pose well-formed questions (prompts), and exercise AI tools to their advantage, stand to benefit greatly. The demand for specialised AI talent – model developers, AI ops talent, and engineers to build and maintain infrastructure – will persist in 2025. However, we will also see the demand for non-technical talent shift to a more balanced state.

Organisations will place as much worth on employees with the skills to extract value from platforms as those who build them. Organisations have spent a disproportionate amount of capital hiring hyper-specialised talent with deep technical knowledge for years. Now, with the democratisation of GenAI, the value offered by hiring ‘capable generalists’ is on the rise. People who articulately frame their thoughts, pose well-formed questions (prompts), and exercise AI tools to their advantage, stand to benefit greatly. The demand for specialised AI talent – model developers, AI ops talent, and engineers to build and maintain infrastructure – will persist in 2025. However, we will also see the demand for non-technical talent shift to a more balanced state. Organisations will place as much worth on employees with the skills to extract value from platforms as those who build them.

Future of Work

Over the past year, many of us have started experimenting with GenAI to work smarter and faster, and this has raised questions about how this new technology will impact knowledge workers’ roles. Organisations will apply GenAI to reduce and even replace repetitive tasks in the coming year. This will allow knowledge workers to shift their focus, freeing their time to work on the aspects of their roles that are more strategic and creative. As a result, we’ll start to see more innovation. Businesses will also be expected to move faster and deliver more for their customers. Those who adopt GenAI now will have a competitive edge as these expectations shift.

In 2025, AI will start to become part of the everyday fabric of our work

This year, an unbelievable amount of software came online that enables people to take advantage of AI in the context of their daily work. In 2025, AI will become part of the everyday fabric of work. Adoption will increase dramatically. More people will experience AI within the software they currently use. This removes the friction of switching to another app and staring at a blank prompt window. People will know where to start, and when they see results generated, they’ll usually have a better sense of whether the result is accurate.

iManage executives in Asia Pacific

Madeleine Porter, Legal Industry Expert

The race (against the clock) to comply with Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering regulations begins

With the impending implementation of Australia’s Anti-money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) regulations in March 2026, ensuring the integrity of operations and aligning with the international standards set by the rules will be a top priority for legal and accounting firms. With the clock ticking, there is no room for delay. Firms will scramble to restructure their operations and processes to meet the comprehensive compliance requirements. 
  
The scope of these regulations, set by the Financial Action Task Force, demands that firms register formally with AUSTRAC, Australia’s AML/CTF regulator, and adopt a risk-based approach to develop robust procedures across a wide range of activities that constitute a designed service under the Act. This encompasses risk assessment of money laundering, terrorism financing, proliferation financing risks, rigorous customer due diligence, and Know Your Client measures. Additionally, firms must appoint a dedicated AML/CTF Compliance Officer to oversee implementation. 
  
As the deadline looms, most firms will need to hastily identify and deploy technological solutions to ensure compliance readiness by March 2026. 

Victoria’s minimum cybersecurity standards to drive law firm cloud migration nationwide

With the Victorian Legal Services Board setting the bar high with its minimum cybersecurity expectations, law firms across Australia are poised to embrace cloud-based solutions. Compelled by the need to safeguard sensitive client information, legal practitioners now bear the burden of compliance as failure to comply could jeopardize lawyers’ practicing Certificates, with findings of professional misconduct or unsatisfactory professional conduct charges looming for those who fall short. 
  
This expectation will proliferate nationally, raising the standard for cybersecurity across every state and territory in Australia. Due to the comprehensive nature of these minimum cybersecurity expectations—from risk assessment, data encryption, and access authentication to incident response and business continuity—on-premises IT infrastructure will make it difficult to meet these expectations. A move to the cloud will be the only realistic and cost-effective way of meeting the standards.  

Luke Creswick, Head of Presales

AI on data that remains securely “in-place” will be a critical business need

In light of the high-profile data breaches in recent years in the Asia Pacific region, in 2025 security and compliance will continue to be top priorities for IT leaders. Organizations will look to embed comprehensive strategies to protect customer data, including everything from proactively managing threats and mitigating business risk through to regulatory compliance and information governance.  
  
In the same vein, with the growing industry focus on AI adoption, organizations will look for secure, “in-place” technologies to use AI so that they can always maintain their security posture, strictly adhering to client demands of data security and compliance. This “closed” security approach will help firms better protect data as it will eliminate the need to extract data to less secure external AI repositories and services.  

Navigating the AI evolution: change management will emerge in importance 

The enthusiasm to adopt AI led organizations to experiment with the technology in 2024, diverting and reducing enterprise attention away from areas such as security, IT infrastructure, and change management requirements. In 2025, change management will be a top priority. IT organizations accustomed to on-premises infrastructure will need to go through significant change management to reshape their department and skillsets to effectively leverage the cloud, a key requirement for AI adoption. On the customer side, organizations will focus on determining how best to support clients with the change management aspects of adopting new ways of working, driven by the adoption of AI and cloud technologies. 

Todd Moore, Vice President, Data Security Products, Thales

GenAI Breaches Skyrocketting, Critical Infrastructure Attacks, Quantum Threats: what security leaders should expect from 2025

AI tools will support, not replace, security roles

AI and ML will play an increasingly central role in cybersecurity. They will be used to enhance threat detection and response (more effective anomaly detection), improve threat hunting (proactively identify vulnerabilities), combine security posture management to behavioral analytics to help monitor and secure large datasets in real-time, spotting risks such as data exfiltration attempts or unusual data access patterns. 

“Cybersecurity vendors are increasingly integrating AI-assisted Copilots to enhance their services for customers. These tools are great for helping to fill talent shortage gaps, which the ISC currently estimates at 4.8 million worldwide, but aren’t a replacement for internal teams. In the year ahead, it will be less about the adoption of these tools and more about how security teams leverage AI tools’ capabilities. Those looking to remain agile will likely utilise these tools to bring their threat investigation abilities to the next level.” 

Gen AI-powered breaches will skyrocket

The adoption of AI technologies is also a reality for cyber threats. Hackers can leverage AI to complexify their attacks. AI can also facilitate the development of automated scripts by a larger number of -less experienced- hackers. 

“With enterprises being targeted by an influx of advanced phishing attacks, the likelihood that someone within their organisation falls victim to an attack is at an all-time high, and we expect to see a steady rise in these across 2025. Once credentials are compromised, an enterprise’s entire network security crumbles, and with generative AI rapidly advancing social engineering methods, typical defense measures for credential compromise won’t be able to keep pace.” 

Critical infrastructure attacks will surge.

Attacks targeting critical infrastructure have grown exponentially over the last few years. The overwhelming majority of these attacks on operational technology (OT) and critical infrastructure start with IT. Unfortunately, few within the operational space—from manufacturing to automotive—make this connection, often viewing themselves as separate from data security concerns. This focus on product development has led to a lag in security controls, with many industries still relying on dated and unsecured legacy systems. 

“Given that critical infrastructure will always be a prime target for cybercriminals due to its potential for widespread impact, the disconnect between IT and OT, combined with geopolitical issues, creates the perfect storm for insider threats to thrive. In the year ahead, addressing this gap will be crucial to safeguarding critical infrastructure.” 

Data fortification and supply chain resilience will intensify.

In 2025, securing the software supply chain will be a top priority, especially after major breaches like SolarWinds and the rise of software supply chain attacks. Organisations will conduct deeper security assessments on their third-party vendors, including cloud providers, to ensure their software and services are secure. Protecting data from being compromised through uncontrolled third-party applications or services will become even more critical, with organisations needing more visibility into the services they rely on. 

“With the proliferation of data via collaboration platforms, companies will need to focus on file activity monitoring and data watermarking to protect sensitive information. Supply chain security will also be a significant concern, as vulnerabilities in the supply chain can lead to widespread security breaches. The generation of personal data by users through various apps and services will increase the risk of data exposure, necessitating stronger data protection measures.” 

Post-Quantum Cryptography will spotlight crypto agility.

Earlier this year, NIST released its first sets of post-quantum encryption algorithms. Before these standards were released, many enterprises needed help grasping the need for PQC. NIST’s standards have brought urgency to address the impact of quantum advancements and the need to address these threats. Even though the TLS and SSH protocols have been updated to meet NIST’s new standards, NIST is already working on its next set of algorithms, meaning that the algorithms implemented today will be different by the time the threat of quantum computing arrives. This points to the importance of crypto agility in adapting to these evolving security recommendations. 

“While TLS and SSH protocols are being updated to meet NIST’s standards, enterprises will need to embrace crypto agility in 2025. The biggest barrier will be ensuring they have the time and resources to identify their exposure, take inventory of their assets, and employ crypto discovery. This will manifest in a steady rise of crypto centers of excellence among major enterprises. Enterprises must place agility at the center of their quantum readiness, ensuring crypto-agile solutions are leveraged to keep pace with emerging quantum-resistant cryptography. 

DigiCert Unveils 2025 Security Predictions

Insights from DigiCert’s experts spotlight the evolution of post-quantum cryptography, AI-driven risks, and the growing demand for digital trust 

Prediction 1: Post-Quantum Cryptography Takes Off 
2025 marks a pivotal year when post-quantum cryptography (PQC) shifts from theoretical frameworks to real-world deployments. With impending announcements from the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and growing compliance pressures, PQC adoption will surge, empowering industries to embrace quantum-resistant solutions. 

Prediction 2: Chief Trust Officers Take Centre Stage 
Digital trust becomes a boardroom priority, leading to a continued rise of Chief Trust Officers (CTrOs) who will oversee ethical AI, secure digital experiences, and compliance in an increasingly regulated environment. 

Prediction 3: Automation and Crypto-Agility Become a Necessity 
With industry shifts toward shorter SSL/TLS certificate lifespans, automation and crypto-agility will emerge as critical capabilities for organisations aiming to maintain secure operations amidst evolving standards. 

Prediction 4: Content Provenance Goes Mainstream 
In an era of deepfakes and digital misinformation, the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) is set to redefine how we verify digital content. Expect to see C2PA’s Content Credential icon become commonplace on images and videos to enhance trust across media platforms. 

Prediction 5: Organisations Will Demand Resilience and Zero Outages 
The CrowdStrike outage this summer underscored the need for better testing of automated updates and stronger digital trust. As IoT adoption grows, concerns about the safety of over-the-air updates, particularly for self-driving cars, are prompting calls for greater transparency in security practices. The E.U.’s Cyber Resilience Act, effective in 2027, will drive stricter cybersecurity standards, fostering a more secure and trustworthy IoT ecosystem. 

Prediction 6: AI-Driven Phishing Attacks Will Surge  

The proliferation of AI will fuel an unprecedented surge in sophisticated phishing attacks, making them harder to detect. Attackers will leverage AI to craft highly personalised and convincing phishing campaigns, while automated tools will enable them to scale attacks at an alarming rate, targeting individuals and organisations with precision. 

Prediction 7: New Private PKI Standards Like ASC X9 Will Gain Momentum 

ASC X9 is poised to gain momentum as industries like finance and healthcare increasingly require customised security frameworks to meet stringent regulatory demands and unique operational needs. Unlike public PKI, ASC X9 offers greater flexibility by enabling tailored policies and trust models, addressing critical areas such as data integrity and authentication. This ability to foster secure, scalable, and interoperable frameworks will make ASC X9 a preferred standard for organisations prioritising trust and collaboration. 

Prediction 8: Cryptography Bill of Materials (CBOM) Gains Traction 
In response to escalating cybersecurity threats, CBOMs will become a vital tool for ensuring digital trust by cataloging cryptographic assets and dependencies, enabling better risk assessments. 

Prediction 9: The Era of Manual Certificate Management Ends 
Manual management of certificates, still common in nearly a quarter* of enterprises, will phase out as automation becomes indispensable for handling shorter certificate lifespans and stricter security protocols. 

Prediction 10: Organisations Will Continue to Prioritise Fewer Vendors   

Despite concerns about single-vendor risks and a peak of venture capital funding for AI startups, enterprises will continue to consolidate vendors to simplify management, improve integration, and enhance overall security practices. 

“The relentless pace of innovation is not just reshaping our digital lives—it’s exposing new vulnerabilities faster than we can secure them, demanding a bold rethinking of how we approach cybersecurity,” said Jason Sabin, CTO at DigiCert. “The predictions for 2025 underscore the urgent need to stay ahead of these vulnerabilities by driving quantum readiness, enhancing transparency, and reinforcing trust as the bedrock of our rapidly changing digital ecosystem. DigiCert remains committed to shaping and securing future digital innovation to remain ahead of the vulnerability curve.” 

Kumar Mitra, GM and MD, ANZ and CAP, Lenovo ISG

Verticalisation of LLMs will shift the industrial AI landscape in 2025

Verticalisation, the process of tailoring LLMs to specific industries or domains will begin transforming and revolutionising various sectors in the year ahead across Australia. By focusing on specific domains, verticalised LLMs will potentially delve deeper into industry-specific nuances, regulations, and best practices, enabling industries and companies to generate more accurate and relevant output, tailored to the unique needs of each domain. These customised LLMs’ ability to analyse vast amounts of industry data to identify patterns and trends, will enable industry specialised data-driven decision-making. Moreover, the verticalisation of LLMs will set the stage for these models to accelerate innovation by automating tasks, streamlining workflows, and uncovering new opportunities, thereby possibly adding more value in human resources for strategic initiatives. With Asia accounting for more than half of global manufacturing value-add in 2022, according to McKinsey, this region will be a hotspot for the deployment of verticalisation of LLMs. By leveraging the power of AI, these specialised models will drive innovation, improve efficiency, and ultimately reshape the future of industries worldwide.

AI will become a true partner or companion, enabling true user-centricity

Agentic AI, or AI agents, capable of independent action and decision-making, are set to make waves over the next year and drive not just personalisation, but complete individualisation. For the first time, AI is no longer just a generative knowledge base or chat interface. It is both reactive and proactive—a true partner. Gartner estimates that nearly 15% of day-to-day work decisions will be taken autonomously through agentic AI by 2028. AI agents will leverage local LLMs enabling real-time interaction with a user’s personal knowledge base without relying on cloud processing. This offers enhanced data privacy, as all interactions remain locally stored on the device, and increased productivity, as the agent helps to automate and simplify a wide range of tasks, from document management, meeting summaries to content generation. We will also see the emergence of personal digital twins, which are clusters of agents that that capture many different aspects of our personalities and act on many different facets of need. For example, a digital twin might comprise a grocery buying agent, a language translation agent, a travel agent, etc. This cluster of agents become a digital twin when all of them work together, in sync with the individual’s data and needs.

Cybersecurity will continue to be a key concern amid growing threats

With the rise of high-profile data breaches in 2024, cybersecurity will remain a critical area of focus for businesses in Australia. Specifically, the spotlight will be on securing data, after Lenovo’s 2024 Smarter Data Management Playbook found that data security was the number one priority among IT and business decision-makers. Increased government regulations, such as the Cyber Security Bill proposed in Australia, are pushing companies to enhance their security measures, while also holding them accountable for losses and damage resulting from security failures. This growing awareness is prompting businesses to invest more heavily in cybersecurity and data protection solutions, implementing stricter processes around accessing and securing data. As the volume of data continues to increase, due to growing demand in services such as artificial intelligence (AI), the challenge lies in maintaining a robust and cost-effective data infrastructure. It is essential that businesses begin building resilient ecosystems before regulations are enforced to avoid rushed implementations that increase the risk of vulnerabilities during transition. Lenovo helps businesses do this by providing a comprehensive range of cyber security services, from Security Assessments through to Managed Detection and Cyber Resiliency as-a-service.

Sustainability to drive the future of data centres

As reliance on digital services and artificial intelligence (AI) grows, the energy demands of data centres across the APAC region are rising exponentially. Estimates suggest that AI will add 3 per cent to global electricity demands. In 2025, we will see increased scrutiny on businesses to act in an environmentally sustainable manner, with some markets introducing legislation imposing tighter restrictions on the disclosure of climate risks. For data centres, the challenge will be balancing the need for innovation and scalability with its carbon footprint. Governments and businesses alike will be focusing more on sustainable infrastructure, leveraging new advancements in energy-efficient cooling systems, virtualised server environments and sustainable building materials. For example, Lenovo is taking liquid cooling mainstream with its Neptune Liquid Cooling Ecosystem, enabling up to a 40% reduction in power consumption. We will also see more businesses explore sustainable energy sources, such as wind and solar energy, with 9 out of ten businesses already planning to boost their sustainability-focused IT investments.

Increased scrutiny in AI investment

The APAC region has seen a significant uptake in artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI in 2024, with investments in the region projected to reach $110 billion by 2028. As businesses start to realise the benefits of AI, we will see further growth in the uptake of AI in 2025. This is why Lenovo provides everything businesses need to success with AI, from AI PCs, AI Applications and Hybrid AI Solutions, amongst so much more.

Growing interest and understanding in these technologies will also lead to increased scrutiny from businesses when selecting AI tools. Leaders will not only be considering whether AI tools align with their brand and business model, they will also consider how it can support with regulatory compliance. With governments in markets such as Australia beginning to propose regulations and guidelines on ethical and responsible AI use, we will see more businesses look to AI solutions that align with these requirements from the start, or engage third parties to provide best practice guidance in AI implementation. Further, 2025 will continue to see APAC businesses struggle to address the AI skills gap, after 45 per cent of enterprises struggled to hire talent for AI in the previous year. Businesses must prioritise upskilling and investment in internal training programs to address hiring challenges.

Increased demand for flexible multi-cloud strategies

Fuelled by the volatile and fast-moving technological environment, more businesses across the APAC region are considering adopting multi-cloud strategies to enhance flexibility and scalability, while avoiding vendor lock-in. In 2025, we expect to see this momentum continue, with a growing demand for AI-related cloud solutions, such as those that provide predictive analytics, automation and enhanced customer experiences. For example, Lenovo’s ThinkAgile hybrid cloud solutions are designed to enhance AI performance and cloud agility. However, as shifting between data infrastructure solutions can be complex and costly, business leaders will need to carefully manage migration costs while balancing the long-term benefits of flexibility and scalability.

Edge computing investments to fuel real-time innovation

As industries like manufacturing, telecommunications and government invest more in IoT, 5G technologies and AI, edge implementations have increased significantly. Lenovo’s 2024 CIO Playbook found that edge implementation increased by 25 per cent in the APAC region between 2023 and 2024. As these edge devices generate more data, efficient edge computing solutions will be a critical driver of real-time analytics and operational efficiency in 2025. Flexible combinations of cloud and edge computing will become necessary to enable businesses to process data closer to the source and reduce latency, while also being able to manage larger volumes of data. Lenovo’s ThinkEdge portfolio does just this, while also simplifying the edge-AI journey with purpose-built solutions that offer faster insights, ROI and control.

Increased demand for AI-specific infrastructure design

2024 has seen a stronger demand for AI servers, fuelled by the increased adoption of AI and generative AI tools. Research from IDC suggests that nearly half of businesses across APAC are set to increase AI investment by 20% in the coming year. As AI servers consume significantly more power and generate more heat than standard servers, we can expect to see increased demand for AI-specific infrastructure in the coming year. These servers are designed to handle the unique demands of AI workloads, with optimised storage and memory to enable high speed server-to-server communication, scalable storage systems and efficient power management. The challenge for businesses will be on how they manage the high implementation and maintenance costs of this infrastructure. Employing a hybrid cloud strategy, combining on-premises infrastructure with cloud-based AI services can help reduce these costs while providing scalability. Businesses can also leverage solutions such as Lenovo’s Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA to accelerate AI adoption, while also managing operational costs through energy efficient Neptune Liquid Cooling technology.

The data centre business market is poised for growth

The data centre market in Australia has experienced significant expansion due to the rise of data consumption across the region. Forecasts predict that deployable data centre capacity in Australia will more than double by 2030, from 1,350 megawatts in 2024. A key focus for governments and enterprises will be balancing increasing energy demands and operational complexities with growing expectations for AI infrastructure, especially as the Australian government is aiming to achieve 82% renewable energy in electricity grids by 2030.

LogicMonitor

Artificial intelligence (AI) is on the cusp of transformative growth that will bring innovations in AI agents, edge computing, and sustainable energy solutions by 2025. Building on the advancements made in 2024, particularly in large language models (LLMs), these trends promise to enhance efficiency, improve decision-making, and contribute to a more sustainable future. 

Here are three key trends set to shape the AI landscape in 2025: 

1. AI agents will drive the next frontier 

If 2024 was the year of LLMs, 2025 will likely be the year to focus on AI agents. LLMs like ChatGPT can transform industries, but AI agents will advance that. These autonomous AI systems will perform tasks independently, learn from their environment, and adapt to changes. In 2025, AI agents are expected to develop advanced emotional intelligence, interpreting and responding to human emotions effectively.  

Karthik Sj, general manager – AI, LogicMonitor, said, “We’re going to see collaborative AI swarms taking shape, where multiple agents join forces to tackle complex challenges. In research, this could mean exploring numerous hypotheses at once, speeding up discovery. We’ll likely see the first big impacts in healthcare and manufacturing—industries where modeling makes a real difference—but I expect it’ll expand to finance and logistics before long. Employees will start using these digital assistants every day, much like they’re already engaging with tools like ChatGPT.” 

2. AI at the edge will empower devices 

While cloud-based AI has advanced, the future of AI lies at the edge. Edge devices like smartphones and Internet of Things (IoT) devices will process data locally for real-time decision-making, reduced latency, and stronger privacy. By 2025, edge AI-driven predictive maintenance will help businesses to optimise operations through equipment self-diagnosis and automating maintenance workflows to reduce downtime and improve efficiency.

Karthik Sj said, “Edge processing will bring a new depth to augmented reality. Real-time language translations and context-aware information will enhance how we navigate and interact. With data processed directly on the device, applications can respond instantly and securely, delivering a faster, more reliable experience without relying heavily on the cloud.” 

3. Nuclear power will sustain AI data centres  

Karthik Sj said, “As we build more complex AI models, our need for computing power and energy will soar. Nuclear energy will be essential to power our AI data centres sustainably, meeting these demands while cutting carbon emissions. By 2025, we’ll see AI-optimised nuclear reactors boosting safety and efficiency in these facilities, with advanced simulations refining reactor designs and real-time monitoring systems helping maintain peak performance and respond quickly to any anomalies.” 

The future points toward decentralised AI networks, powered by modular nuclear reactors, establishing local AI hubs worldwide. This kind of setup would open powerful computing resources to more people, drive innovation globally, and add resilience against disruptions. Nuclear-powered data centres can run nonstop to meet the demands of large-scale AI infrastructure without leaving a significant carbon impact. 

Karthik Sj said, “Looking at 2025, we’re seeing a shift towards autonomous, efficient, and sustainable technologies driven by advanced AI. It’s an exciting glimpse into how these changes could reshape industries and daily life, blending new insights with clear guidance on what’s ahead. Embracing these innovations means we’re ready to experience some truly profound advancements in AI.” 

Huntsman Security

Regulatory change will focus attention on compliance

With new regulations coming into force, including NIS2 at the end of 2024 and the Digital Operational Resilience Act in January, compliance will be a key focus for 2025. New rules around critical infrastructure, personal privacy rights, and data protection will create tension between many existing corporate business models and legislative compliance. Several matters before international Courts for non-compliance with current cyber security regulations will help establish the regulatory guardrails for in 2025.

AI will challenge cyber security

Cyber criminals are already using AI to enhance phishing emails, find vulnerabilities and exploit code, while defenders adopt AI techniques to better detect and understand threats. At the same time, easy access to AI in business could open new threats. To avoid this, the AI sector must become more disciplined in 2025, with the provenance of the data and AI “assistance” becoming important considerations to add transparency around how AI is assisting specific cyber security activities.

Secure-by-Design

Secure-by-Design will bring big changes in 2025. Software design and development activities, alongside manufacturing facilities and the processes within them; some are already being hardened and made more resilient. As such, Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) frameworks will need to adapt, to accommodate the oversight of quality processes as they shift from a “nice to have” to a requirement. Secure-by-Design uplift programs will be worth watching throughout the year.

The rise of Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM)

In 2025, organisations will shift towards newer risk assessment models that measure cyber resilience against best-practice guidelines. Threat Exposure Management will see some organisations introduce automated processes to identify the vulnerabilities relating to their IT assets and systems, prioritise importance, and “mobilise” mitigation efforts to limit the risk of disruption from anticipated threats.

Anthony Spiteri, Regional CTO APJ, Veeam

AI middleware companies to bridge the gap in AI adoption

In 2025, we will see more businesses engaging AI middleware companies to help faster adoption of secure, responsible and efficient AI solutions. Middleware simplifies the adoption process by allowing different systems to communicate seamlessly, reducing the need for in-house AI expertise. According to IDC, investments in AI and generative AI (gen AI) will continue to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 24% from 2023 to 2028. By leveraging third-party expertise, organisations reduce the risks associated with AI development and improve time to market.

Middleware also helps maintain ethical standards without the need for in-house AI specialists. This is significant, as the Australian government is imposing stricter regulations around the responsible and ethical use of AI, through initiatives such as the recently announced AI guardrails. With the rise of AI middleware solutions, businesses will see a marked increase in the volume and complexity of data they need to handle. This surge will drive a greater need for robust data management practices, ensuring that critical AI datasets are well-protected and retained securely. As companies scale AI applications, the ability to efficiently manage and safeguard this expanding data pool will become essential to building a resilient AI strategy.

Repatriation of data from the public cloud to on-premise

A number of businesses are expected to move workloads from the public cloud back to on-premises data centres to manage costs and improve efficiencies. This is the essence of data freedom – the ability to move and store data wherever you need it, with no vendor lock-in.

Organisations that previously shifted to the public cloud now realise that a hybrid approach is more advantageous for achieving cloud economics. While the public cloud has its benefits, local infrastructure can offer superior control and performance in certain instances, such as for resource-intensive applications that need to remain closer to the edge. We can also now consume and operate on-premises infrastructure with the same tooling and level of automation previously restricted to the public cloud. Gartner says that many companies are re-evaluating their data strategies after seeing the full implications of shifting workloads, which has led to a renewed interest in hybrid and multi-cloud models. Factors such as market uncertainty, evolving licensing structures, and regulatory considerations will also influence this shift, as businesses seek data strategies that are adaptable while optimising access and data sovereignty. As a result, businesses are seeking more flexible and scalable solutions, such as multi-cloud or hybrid-cloud approaches.

However, any shift in data infrastructure poses risks, including data loss or corruption. With increasing concerns around moving data safely and with integrity, many businesses will turn to vendors, such as Veeam, who already have data resilience ingrained within its backup and recovery solutions.

An increasingly sophisticated AI-powered threat landscape

Bad actors will continue to look to profit from complex attacks on AI, specifically deepfakes and AI-powered phishing attacks. For instance, deepfakes are increasingly being used to impersonate executives or public figures, leading to fraud and misinformation while AI has been leveraged to craft convincing phishing emails that mimic personal language and tone. As these threats become more commonplace, businesses are expected to adopt more proactive cybersecurity strategies and advanced identity validation methods, such as voice authentication.

Uptake of AI-powered solutions to prevent and prepare for cyberattacks is also expected to increase. For example, VeeamONE Veeam Intelligence can help organisations proactively analyse backup data to identify anomalies and assess vulnerabilities, providing actionable insights that allow businesses to mitigate threats. AI-driven threat detection also alerts security teams of high-priority vulnerabilities in real time, enabling faster responses and efficient containment of any attacks. This shift underscores the view that data resilience needs to be championed at the executive level, with leaders prioritising robust data governance and protection frameworks that align with business resilience goals.

The rise of AI-focused leadership roles

Unsurprisingly, the continuous profileration of data into 2025 will see the introduction of new AI-focused roles. Chief AI Officers (CAIOs) are responsible for overseeing the ethical, responsible and effective use of AI across organisations and bridging the gap between technical teams and key stakeholders. Such talent is also responsible for the strategic use of such technologies to drive scale and impact. This evolution will mark the increasing integration of data resilience in the boardroom. CAIOs will work alongside Chief Data Officers and Data Privacy Officers, whose roles are expanding to include responsibilities around ensuring data integrity, recoverability, and alignment with AI initiatives. Together, companies can drive impact and innovation through AI while safeguarding critical data assets.

Preparing for the unknown: a year of realisation, regulations and resilience

2025 will be a year of realisation for many organisations as many are still underprepared to recover efficiently from cyber incidents. According a recent report, only 50 per cent of Australian business leaders were confident in their staff’s ability to tackle a cyber incident effectively. However, with the growing risk of AI-powered cyber threats and the push for stricter cyber regulations, such as the proposed Cyber Security Bill in Australia, more businesses will take a proactive approach towards resiliency. This will extend beyond basic cybersecurity training for employees to encompass proactive threat detection using AI-driven solutions, as well as a robust backup and data recovery strategy. End-to-end data resiliency solutions, such as those provided through the Veeam Cyber Secure Program, will play an instrumental role in helping businesses feel confident and prepared for any threat ahead.

Vinay Samuel, CEO and founder of Zetaris.

2025 will be the year of Automation of Everything, business model shifts, and emergence of the atomic lakehouse.

• Given the extreme level of geopolitical and economic uncertainty, Australian businesses operating in the United States and globally in 2025 will redefine business models that are rapid pivot ready. Plan B will be locked and loaded as a secret shadow business model.
  
  
• 2025 will be known as the year of ‘The Automation of Everything’. Automation of every facet of business will accelerate, and the role of the human in the loop will be further refined. Soft skills like problem solving, thinking outside the box, communication, collaboration and teamwork will be prized more than ever before as more recognition of AI’s current limitations are more widely understood.
  
  
• As the use of AI accelerates globally in 2025, Zetaris predicts more Australian organisations will totally rethink their business models and strategic approaches. They will unlock AI capability in new ways and increase the speed of AI market opportunities and revenue streams. This will result in senior business leaders allocating more specific goals and KPIs to derive more value from AI projects.
  
  
• Zetaris reports that 2025 will see the demise of reliance on chat-bots and funding for chat-bot projects will diminish. Australian organisations will be shifting quickly from a chat-bot focus to projects that target more mature role-based AI capabilities.
  
  
• Customer experience and the customer journey throughout the whole touchpoint lifestyle will be redefined using AI as the main interface in 2025 and beyond. AI at the edge will become critical to meeting customer experience goals, which will drive massive infrastructure demand in the form of compute at the point of inference (at the edge).
  
  
• 2025 will see the acceleration data projects leveraging lakehouse technologies to fuel AI’s widespread adoption, including at source where the data is created. A shift towards a federated model of data management in 2025 will see the emergence of the ‘atomic lakehouse’ as the industry shifts further away from the centralised model; towards the notion of many data stores, streams, lakes and databases, and files being coordinated and analysed for AI and other decision support models.
  
  
• In 2025, we will see a continued emphasis as organisations strive to align more strategically to environmental reporting and align brands more strongly with sustainability initiatives. This will include a stronger focus and unlocked funding to turbocharge development of more sustainable technology architectures that reduce the complexity and compute time to extract real-time, rapid and accurate data insights and reduce electricity duplication and waste.

Last Updated on October 20, 2025 by Nick Ross