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Gen Reveals Cybersecurity Predictions for 2025
Thursday, December 12, 2024
AI will begin to blur reality, data theft will pave the way for identity theft, and scams will become hyper-personalized and data-driven following a year of large-scale breaches
TEMPE, Ariz. and PRAGUE, Dec. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Gen(TM) (NASDAQ: GEN), a global leader dedicated to powering Digital Freedom through its family of Cyber Safety brands, today released its top cyberthreat predictions for 2025. Gen cybersecurity experts predict the next phase of AI and deepfakes, a shift in data theft towards full-scale identity theft, ultra-sophisticated scams and new tactics for financial theft.
"After a monumental year in AI - and a somewhat catastrophic year in breaches - we believe we'll see significant shifts in both scams and digital identity risks in 2025," said Siggi Stefnisson, Cyber Safety CTO at Gen. "Cybercriminals will capitalize on large breaches to either steal identities outright or utilize the information to create hyper-personalized and believable scams. AI will exasperate the issues, not only helping criminals make their scams more sophisticated, but also forcing people to question how the technology is shaping human thought. It's sure to be a year of change, and it will be more important than ever for people to be protective of their digital lives."
Gen's Top Cyber Predictions for 2025:
1. AI will start to blur everyday reality. Large Language Models (LLMs) will
begin to create hyper-personalized experiences as people work more with
AI. In late 2024, over 200 million people used ChatGPT on a weekly basis.
While convenient, these technologies will likely begin shaping individual
perceptions and reality, prompting ethical discussions on AI's impact on
human thought. As AI becomes more integrated into complex areas like
parenting and education, ethical concerns about its role in society will
grow. We can anticipate more debate addressing the technology's
boundaries and influence on personal development. The European Union and
several US states have already introduced legislation to advance AI
protections, and we expect that there will be increased activity across
the US and around the world in the coming year.
2. Deepfakes will become unrecognizable. AI will become sophisticated enough
that even experts may not be able to tell what's authentic. People will
have to ask themselves every time they see an image or watch a video: is
this real? Unfortunately, people with bad intentions will take advantage.
This can be as personal as a scorned ex-partner spreading rumors via fake
photos on social media or as extreme as governments manipulating entire
populations by releasing videos that spread political misinformation. As
deception becomes increasingly sophisticated, verifiable digital
credentials - a combination of verifiable information used together as a
digital authenticity signature - will evolve into powerful tools for
proving what's real. As our realities become increasingly blurred by AI,
this is an example of how to help ensure AI is used as a force for good,
providing a critical foundation for maintaining trust online.
3. Data Theft leads to surge in Identity Theft. Following a year of
consistent, large-scale breaches, we will continue to see a significant
rise in identity theft. Criminals will stitch together personal
information extracted from data breaches, publicly available sources, and
information stolen from devices to create comprehensive profiles of
individuals, putting individuals at higher risk of identity theft. This
will fuel sophisticated extortion attempts and enable attackers to
convincingly impersonate trusted companies, especially those previously
compromised.
4. Scams enter the era of hyper-personalization. We expect a shift towards
hyper-personalized, human-centric methods that manipulate human behavior
rather than exploiting traditional technological vulnerabilities. Armed
with personal data from past breaches and dark web exchanges, attackers
will develop hyper-targeted strategies to deceive their victims, similar
to the sextortion campaign we uncovered in the US and Canada in 2024
which used Google Street View images to startle victims. Combining
psychological insights and social engineering, these schemes will disarm
people, deploying convincing phishing and fraud tactics across platforms
like social media and messaging apps. Hyper-personalized, human-targeted
methods will make it incredibly difficult to distinguish between
legitimate communications and scams.
5. Financial Theft takes on new forms. We anticipate a notable surge in
financial theft, driven by increasingly sophisticated mobile banking
threats and the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies. Fraudsters will
employ advanced techniques like deepfaked celebrities promising high ROI
on their fake investment platforms, universal income announced by
voice-cloned government officials or fake giveaways to deceive investors
and traders alike. The CyrptoCore campaign in 2024 showed signs of this
future trend, taking over a million dollars from victims in just a few
days leveraging Elon Musk deepfakes as a lure. Additionally, cybercrime
and the physical world will collide as there are more cases of street
muggers forcing people to unlock their phones and provide access to
financial apps to transfer funds to attacker-controlled accounts.
How People Can Prepare:
-- Stay informed - Scan the news and trusted security blogs to learn about
the latest large-scale scams and data breaches.
-- Surf safely - Using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is one of the best
ways to help protect your data and private information online.
-- Remain skeptical - If it seems too good to be true, it usually is. Stop
and think before you click on links or share information online.
-- Double-check - Before you click on a link or share your personal or
banking information, verify the source by searching their site directly.
Norton Genie can also help you detect if a message is a scam.
-- Use trusted security tools - Having all-in-one security like Norton 360
Deluxe or Avast One can help you protect your devices, personal
information, and online privacy.
-- Be prepared in case you're impacted - If your information ends up in the
wrong hands, the best thing you can do is be alerted so you can take
action. Tools like Dark Web Monitoring scan the dark web on your behalf
and products like LifeLock can assist you if your identity is
compromised.
To learn more about Gen's 2025 Predictions, keep an eye on Gen LinkedIn and read the 2025 Predictions Blog.
About Gen
Gen(TM) (NASDAQ: GEN) is a global company dedicated to powering Digital Freedom through its trusted Cyber Safety brands, Norton, Avast, LifeLock, Avira, AVG, ReputationDefender and CCleaner. The Gen family of consumer brands is rooted in providing safety for the first digital generations. Now, Gen empowers people to live their digital lives safely, privately, and confidently today and for generations to come. Gen brings award-winning products and services in cybersecurity, online privacy and identity protection to nearly 500 million users in more than 150 countries. Learn more at www.GenDigital.com.
Brittany Posey
Courtney Rowles
Gen
Edelman for Gen
Press@GenDigital.com Courtney.Rowles@edelman.com
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gen-reveals-cybersecurity-predictions-for-2025-302322167.html
SOURCE Gen Digital Inc.
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