8 Cybersecurity Considerations for 2025
What Every Organization Needs to Know
In an AI‑dominated world, cybersecurity is no longer just a technology issue—it’s a strategic priority that impacts every corner of the business. The actions and recommendations outlined in this article are drawn from KPMG’s global report, “8 Key Cybersecurity Considerations.”
According to the report, CISOs face growing challenges—from quantum threats and deepfakes to talent shortages and regulatory pressures. In this article, we explore the eight key considerations KPMG highlights for strengthening cybersecurity in 2025 and how you can start applying them today.
1. The Ever‑Evolving Role of the CISO
Today’s CISO is part strategist, part diplomat, part crisis‑manager. Regulatory scrutiny and personal liability are rising, yet many traditional security tasks are being distributed across the organization.
Success means:
• Clarifying authority so CISOs can act decisively in an incident.
• Embedding security talent within DevOps and business units to spread accountability.
• Building influencing skills—because you’ll spend as much time convincing the board as configuring firewalls.
2. The Power of the People
More than half of organizations cite skills shortages as their top cyber challenge.
To turn employees from “weakest link” into your first line of defense:
• Launch immersive training (simulated phishing, gamified challenges).
• Partner with HR on career paths and flexible work to retain Gen Z and Millennials .
• Build an annual “cyber influencer” program—champions in each department who raise awareness day‑to‑day .
3. Embed Trust as AI Proliferates
AI systems only deliver when fed high‑quality data—but only 24 percent of firms have a true data‑centric culture . At the same time, AI introduces new risks: bias, regulatory non‑compliance, “shadow AI” sprawl.
To stay ahead:
• Govern your data: automate classification, validation and cleansing pipelines.
• Define AI policies: set clear rules for procurement, usage and monitoring of both in‑house and third‑party AI .
• Red‑team your models: stress‑test for adversarial inputs, privacy leakage and drift.
4. Harness AI for Cyber: Racing Ahead vs. Racing Safely
AI can supercharge threat detection and response, but only if the basics are in place.
Before wide AI rollout:
• Nail patch management, encryption, and IAM hygiene.
• Upskill your SOC on prompt engineering and model evaluation.
• Pilot AI on low‑risk tasks (log triage, alert prioritization) and expand gradually.
5. Platform Consolidation: Embrace the Potential, Recognize the Risks
Maintaining 20+ point‑solutions leads to integration headaches, blind spots and ballooning costs. Consolidation can simplify operations and feed unified data into AI—but beware of vendor lock‑in and concentration risk.
Best practice:
• Hybrid approach—use a core platform for fundamentals, then plug in best‑of‑breed tools for specialized needs.
• Phased migration—start with identity or endpoint, validate, then absorb SIEM, XDR, etc.
• Continuous monitoring—track performance and interoperability post‑consolidation.
6. The Digital Identity Imperative
Identity is the new perimeter—but deepfakes and machine identities complicate verification.
To get ahead:
• Treat machine identities (IoT, service accounts) with the same rigor as human credentials.
• Adopt biometric+behavioral multi‑factor methods.
• Drive interoperability through shared classification and engagement rules with data teams .
7. Smart Security for Smart Ecosystems
From medical devices to industrial control systems, “Smart‑X” products demand security by design throughout their lifecycle.
Key steps:
• Embed cyber teams in product design sprints.
• Maintain a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) to track component vulnerabilities.
• Regularly penetration‑test IoT endpoints under real‑world conditions.
8. Resilience by Design
Cyber resilience means you prepare for—and bounce back from—major incidents. With average breach costs near US$5 million, resilience is non‑negotiable.
Build resilience by:
• Comprehensive asset management—you can’t protect what you don’t know.
• Crisis drills—run full‑scale simulations across IT, OT and business teams.
• Supply‑chain scrutiny—treat third‑party security gaps as top‑tier risks .
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this content are strictly personal and do not reflect the opinions or positions of any company I am currently associated with or have been affiliated with in the past.
Source: https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/cn/pdf/en/2025/04/cybersecurity-considerations-2025.pdf
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