Expect bigger and bolder cyber attacks in 2025, warns Fortinet

Doros Hadjizenonos, regional director for Southern Africa at Fortinet.

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Cyber criminals are expected to launch bigger and bolder attacks in 2025, warns cyber security firm Fortinet.

According to its latest threat predictions report, cyber criminals will execute more targeted and harmful strikes, cyber crime-as-a-service (CaaS) groups will become more specialised, and cyber criminal playbooks will combine digital and physical threats.

Fortnitet expects that CaaS groups will increasingly embrace specialisation, focusing on providing offerings that target just one segment of the attack chain.

In addition, since most organisations rely on multiple cloud providers, attackers will look to leverage cloud-specific vulnerabilities.

Cyber crime strategies are expected to keep advancing, combining digital and real-world threats.

Says Fortinet: “Cyber criminals continually advance their playbooks, with attacks becoming more aggressive and destructive. We are already seeing some cyber crime groups physically threaten an organisation’s executives and employees in certain instances, and we anticipate that this will become a regular part of many playbooks.

“We also anticipate that transnational crime – such as drug trafficking, smuggling people or goods, and more – will become a regular component of more sophisticated playbooks, with cyber crime groups and transnational crime organisations working together.”

These tools will make their way to the dark web marketplace, says Fortinet.

“A seemingly endless number of attack vectors and associated code are now available through the CaaS market, such as phishing kits, ransomware-as-a-service, DDoS-as-a-service, and more. While we are already seeing some cyber crime groups rely on AI to power CaaS offerings, we expect this trend to flourish.

“We anticipate that attackers will use the automated output from LLMs to power CaaS offerings and grow the market, such as taking social media reconnaissance and automating that intelligence into neatly packaged phishing kits.”

Fortinet anticipates that global cyber security companies and defence initiatives will collaborate to introduce more anti-adversary frameworks. Just as attackers continually evolve their strategies, the cyber security community at large can do the same in response. Pursuing global collaborations, creating public-private partnerships, and developing frameworks to combat threats are all vital to enhancing collective resilience.

Doros Hadjizenonos, regional director for Southern Africa at Fortinet, comments: “South Africa, with its growing digital economy and increasing adoption of cloud services, faces a heightened risk of sophisticated cyber attacks targeting critical sectors like finance, retail, and government. The rise of specialised cybercrime-as-a-service and the targeting of cloud environments are particularly relevant here.

“To mitigate these risks, South African businesses must prioritise robust cyber security frameworks, including advanced threat intelligence, automation, and partnerships across industries,” he adds.