Thailand’s journey to digital transformation is reshaping the way government agencies and organizations protect themselves, said Piya Jitnimit, country manager for Thailand at Palo Alto Networks. (Photo: 123RF)
A single, unified data security platform to address evolving security threats, large-scale deepfakes and the advent of quantum-resistant defenses are among the cybersecurity trends in 2025, says global cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks.
By 2024, organizations in the Asia-Pacific region have integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into their business processes, including cybersecurity, leading to an AI arms race between organizations and their adversaries.
However, a recent PwC report found that more than 40% of executives are unaware of the cyber risks posed by emerging technologies like generative AI (GenAI).
“By 2025, the Asia-Pacific region will face a perfect storm of AI-based cyber threats, increasing in scale, sophistication and impact,” said Simon Green, president of Asia-Pacific and from Japan at Palo Alto Networks.
The days of fragmented security approaches are over and organizations must look to unified platforms powered by transparent and trusted AI to stay ahead.
As quantum attacks loom and deepfakes become common tools of deception, companies will innovate or risk being overtaken by their adversaries.
“Those who fail to adapt risk not only breaches, but also irreparable damage to their reputation and resilience.” said Mr. Green.
Thailand’s journey to digital transformation is reshaping the way government agencies and organizations protect themselves, said Piya Jitnimit, country manager for Thailand at Palo Alto Networks.
He added that AI and quantum computing have intensified cyber threats, making them more complex and serious.
Mr Piya said AI and quantum computing have intensified cyber threats.
It is essential that organizations prioritize ethical AI practices, ensuring responsible development and use of AI technologies.
“In the future, the platform will play a central role in cybersecurity. By consolidating IT devices and security tools into a unified platform, it will make it more effective and efficient,” said Mr. Piya.
Five trends
Palo Alto Networks said its 2025 forecasts provide essential guidelines for organizations to shape their cybersecurity strategies and maximize the potential of AI technologies.
The first trend in cyberinfrastructure will be centered around a single, unified data security platform.
In 2025, organizations will face increasing complexity by reducing the number of cybersecurity tools and moving to a unified platform for better visibility and control. The current shortage of cyber skills will drive this change.
The unified platform will provide complete visibility across code repositories, cloud workloads and networks, creating a more streamlined security system.
Converging all security layers on a unified platform will optimize resources, improve overall efficiency and enable organizations to build more resilient and adaptive defenses against evolving threats.
The second trend will see deepfakes become more widespread in Asia-Pacific, as they are already being used for nefarious purposes in the region. Although some have been used to spread political disinformation, the most effective attacks have targeted companies for financial gain, such as a Hong Kong engineering company employee duped into transferring millions of dollars to a scammer who used deepfakes to impersonate the CFO and management team during a video conference.
The use of audio deepfakes will also become more prevalent in these attacks, as available technology allows for highly credible voice cloning.
The third trend concerns quantum resistance defenses. Quantum computing projects are growing in the region, with significant investment from governments and venture capital firms.
Although quantum attacks against widely used encryption methods are not yet possible, state-backed threat actors are expected to step up their “harvest now, decrypt later” tactics, targeting sensitive data for decryption later, when quantum technology advances.
This presents significant risks to governments and businesses, potentially threatening civilian and military communications, critical infrastructure, and security protocols for financial transactions over the Internet.
To effectively counter these threats, all organizations must adopt quantum-resilient defenses.
The fourth trend is transparency, which will be key to maintaining customer trust in the AI era.
Lawmakers in the Asia-Pacific region will continue to prioritize ethics, data protection and transparency. Transparency of AI model operations, including data collection, training datasets, and decision-making, will be crucial to building trust.
The latest trend sees an increased focus on product integrity and supply chain security in 2025. Organizations will prioritize product integrity and supply chain resilience, in conducting in-depth risk assessments, addressing liability and legal implications of business interruptions and reviewing insurance arrangements.
