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GTT’s cyber security experts take a look at the challenges and developments for 2025 and share of what they see as the most important predictions.

Erik Nordquist, Global Managed Security Product Director, GTT : in 2025, network security investments will shift distinctly toward incident response and detection.

Hacked without a Clue

My 2025 prediction for distributed enterprises? You will get hacked. But what’s even more unsettling is not knowing when it happens. The longer an attacker remains in the system–intruder dwell times can range from several weeks to months and even over a year–the more costly and damaging these "silent breaches" become. Such attackers will be like that house guest who crashes on your couch and never leaves–except they’ll be stealing computing resources, exfiltrating data, finding deeper network vulnerabilities, and even planting backdoors for future access.

The Skills Gap Will Leave Businesses Exposed—AI-Driven Security Could Make It Worse

With security talent both scarce and costly, companies will keep leaning on automated defenses. But many will learn the hard way that even the best tools are only as good as the people setting them up. As attacks get more complex, the demand for skilled, affordable experts will far exceed supply, leaving a critical gap in oversight and exposing businesses to serious risks if they can’t bridge the divide.

Network Security Budgets Will Pivot from Prevention to Incident Response

In 2025, network security investments will shift distinctly toward incident response and detection. Once primarily used by large enterprises, incident response plans and third-party retainers will become priorities for businesses of all sizes. As threats grow more sophisticated, companies will invest heavily in solutions that quickly identify breaches and contain them. While endpoint and firewall protection will remain critical, security budgets will increasingly focus on rapid detection and agile response, reflecting a shift away from pure prevention.

Zero Trust Adoption Will Accelerate as Breaches Become Inevitable

While Zero Trust adoption will still face hurdles—i.e., complex integration, resource demands, and workforce training—2025 will mark a tipping point driven by a surge in breaches across industries. Nothing motivates like pain: organizations hit by attacks will recognize the critical need for containment strategies, prioritizing Zero Trust architectures to limit attacker access and prevent lateral movement. As breaches make Zero Trust a necessity rather than a luxury, companies will push forward, balancing urgency with the realities of implementation.

AI-Driven "Deep Phishing" Will Redefine Targeted Attacks

In 2025, expect a surge in "deep phishing" attacks—AI-powered campaigns that take spear phishing to a new level of sophistication by using deepfake technology. Unlike traditional phishing or even spear phishing, deep phishing leverages synthetic media to create hyper-realistic impersonations of trusted individuals, such as executives or colleagues, engaging targets with personalized audio or video messages that build a false sense of security. This AI-driven approach will make it nearly impossible for recipients to recognize malicious intent, leading to a sharp rise in successful breaches and signaling the need for advanced detection methods to counteract these highly targeted attacks. Educating employees to recognize these attacks is absolutely essential.

Dave Fraser, VP of Security, GTT : By 2025, network security will shift from trying to prevent every breach to identifying and responding to them as quickly as possible.

AI Will Fuel a New Wave of Malware, Lowering the Bar for Attackers

In 2025, expect to see more threat actors using AI to create sophisticated malware, lowering the technical bar for launching cyberattacks. With AI, you don’t have to be a skilled coder—anyone with malicious intent can now produce powerful malware quickly and at scale, even tapping into deepfake audio for phishing. To defend against these AI-powered threats, organizations will need to match the speed and agility of attackers or risk falling behind in this new era of accessible cyberweaponry.

Network Security Will Focus on Rapid Response Over Prevention

By 2025, network security will shift from trying to prevent every breach to identifying and responding to them as quickly as possible. With threats becoming more complex and inevitable, businesses will prioritize layered defenses that enable fast, effective incident response. Organizations will expect their teams and providers to act swiftly, with protocols that assume a breach is a matter of when, not if.

Compliance Pressure Will Push for Stronger Cyber Hygiene

In 2025, stricter regulations across the EU, U.S., and U.K. will make service providers more accountable for cyber hygiene. New mandates, like the EU’s NIS2 Directive and U.S. FCC requirements, will raise cybersecurity standards, particularly in telecom and critical services. Providers will need to adapt quickly to these national and international rules or face penalties as governments push for stronger network security.

Remote Work Will Accelerate Zero Trust Adoption Through Established Security Foundations

In 2025, remote work will drive Zero Trust adoption as companies build on existing VPNs, endpoint protection, and central logging capabilities already in place for hybrid setups. These foundations will simplify Zero Trust implementation, enabling seamless, consistent security and monitoring across home and office environments.

Darren Wolner, Product Management, Managed and Professional Services, GTT : Automation Will Be Your First Responder

As cyber threats multiply and the network attack surface continues to expand due to growing reliance on hybrid workforces, IoT, cloud services and more, data-driven and AI-infused automation will serve as the primary frontline defense. Such systems will act instantly and autonomously, analyzing data patterns to combat threats without requiring human intervention. They will also allow networks to be more adaptable as automated defenses learn from every new incident to evolve in real time. This will allow organizations to be faster, smarter, and more precise in their responses to emerging threats.

AI Will Take On the Basics, But Security Pros Will Need to Adapt Quickly

By 2025, AI will be handling routine cybersecurity tasks, freeing professionals to focus on complex analysis and strategic threat response. To be clear, this shift won’t eliminate the need for skilled experts. Instead, it calls for new expertise in threat intelligence interpretation and strategic thinking. With AI covering the basics, cybersecurity teams will need to use the time gained to adapt swiftly to evolving threats while fully leveraging the latest AI capabilities to keep defenses strong.

SASE and SD-WAN Adoption Will Accelerate, But Full Transformation is Years Away

In 2025, demand for secure, flexible network solutions like SASE and SD-WAN will keep growing, yet many companies will remain in mid-transition. Post-COVID digital transformation and rising cybersecurity threats are certainly driving this shift, but widespread adoption will take resources and time. API automation and AI-driven solutions will be essential in advancing network resilience, paving the way for more autonomous, adaptive defenses. So, there’s still a long runway ahead, but these technologies will continue to grow as businesses catch up.

AI Demand Will Drive a New Era of High-Capacity, Low-Latency Network Design

In 2025, the rapid growth of generative AI and AI-driven workflows will push companies to build stronger, faster networks that can handle massive data loads with minimal delay. To keep up, organizations will lean on edge computing and distributed architectures, boosting network performance for hybrid work and cloud environments. AI will play a dual role, not only increasing the need for more powerful networks but also helping network operators fine-tune performance. With AI-driven monitoring and adaptive optimization, networks will become smarter and more efficient, ready to support the high demands of modern AI applications.