2025 Predictions

With 2025 just around the corner, we have once again reached out to our deep bench of experts to read the tea leaves and give us a sense of the trends and themes that they expect to see emerging in the new year. Here’s what the Netskope experts think is in store for next year:

2025 will be the year of AI safety and security

David Fairman, CIO & CSO APAC: “Over the past two years, organizations have been experimenting with AI. As a result, the harms and vulnerabilities are now better understood and the negative consequences have been seen in the wild. Organizations will now prioritize building capabilities and risk management processes to address these sorts of issues prior to production implementation at scale. AI safety focuses on preventing accidents, misuse, or other harmful consequences arising from AI, while AI security focuses on protecting the AI from adversarial attacks and compromise.  In 2025, there will be a race to the top for both AI safety and security which will lead to competitive advantage for organizations by building trust with consumers and delivering the expected business outcomes.” 

Treating LLMs with a grain of salt

Mark Day, Chief Scientist: “A recent paper I read made the point that large language models (LLMs) often generate BS, in the technical philosophical sense of the term. LLMs and BS-ers alike are indifferent to the truth of what they say. With this in mind, I think that “treating LLMs as a BS-er” is a pretty helpful rule of thumb for resolving various questions about applicability or whether AI will take over the world. 

My prediction is that this perspective will become more widespread, possibly even mainstream, in 2025. I think it’s important to underscore that this is not an argument that AI is useless–far from it. I think this underscores that AI has an odd utility that doesn’t quite align with things we’re usually asked to consider. “What are the tasks that can be delegated to an excellent BS-er?” is probably not part of most management training, but it does seem kind of important now and will arguably become more important in 2025.”

The rise of agentic AI

Neil Thacker, CISO EMEA: “In 2025, the next iteration of genAI will see agentic AI (AI that can autonomously make decisions and take actions to meet goals) becoming more common in organizations.  Security and privacy professionals will need to better understand how to secure agentic AI end-to-end and ensure data is AI ready, protect reasoning engines, and protect generated outputs similarly to their current AI systems. The challenge is that agentic AI will require fully automated protections to support business autonomy, which is still only an aspiration for many organizations.”

The CIO will take on the role of Chief AI Officer

Mike Anderson, CIO & CDO: “By 2025, the CIO will increasingly assume the role of Chief AI Officer, overseeing both IT and AI initiatives as businesses fully integrate AI into their strategies. As the leader responsible for driving operational agility, digital transformation, and measurable business outcomes, the CIO will expand their focus to include end-to-end AI strategy—embedding AI across business units to enhance customer experience, streamline operations, and fuel growth. This dual role solidifies the CIO’s position at the forefront of innovation, blending technology management with AI leadership to guide the company in unlocking new value and staying competitive in an AI-driven landscape.”

A transition to post-quantum cryptography

Rehman Khan, Chief Information Security Architect, Head of Security Architecture and Engineering: “In 2025, quantum computing is poised to reach a significant milestone: the potential to compromise widely-used encryption standards such as AES. This technological leap will necessitate the immediate development and adoption of quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms, some already available such as Crystals-kyber, Falcon and Sphincs+.

Organizations worldwide will need to transition to this post-quantum cryptography in a quest to safeguard a broad spectrum of digital communications, from personal emails to high-stakes financial transactions. As the quantum computing era dawns, the urgency to fortify our digital infrastructure against potential threats is paramount. The next few years will be critical in developing and implementing robust, quantum-resistant security measures.” 

Want to hear more talk about trends for 2025? Check out the 2025 Predictions episode of Security Visionaries with Kiersten Todt, President at Wondros and former Chief of Staff for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).