2024 marked a pivotal year in the cybersecurity landscape, with artificial intelligence (AI) emerging as both a powerful ally and a formidable adversary. While AI-powered tools have significantly enhanced threat detection and response capabilities, they have also empowered cybercriminals with sophisticated techniques. To gain more insight into the cybersecurity landscape (including trends beyond AI), DevPro Journal recently spoke with a few experts who shared their thoughts.
The Impact of AI on CyberSecurity
Mario Vargas Valles, VP Global Technology Alliances at Protegrity:
“As we look toward 2025, I see AI transforming the cybersecurity landscape in exciting ways. Enhanced threat detection with tools like Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) will help us proactively identify and address vulnerabilities by simulating cyber-attack scenarios, letting us strengthen our defenses before threats strike.
“Automation will be another game-changer, especially in incident response. By handling routine security tasks like monitoring and responding to low-level threats, AI will allow us to streamline remediation at both the physical and logical levels, making data protection faster and more efficient.
“I also anticipate AI-driven advances in encryption, potentially developing stronger algorithms that secure data both at rest and in transit. Privacy-preserving data analysis is on the horizon too, with differential privacy techniques allowing us to analyze data without compromising individual privacy.
“AI’s ability to read and interpret compliance requirements through Natural Language Processing (NLP) will help ensure regulatory alignment, adding layers of security across regions and industries. And as regulations tighten globally, AI itself will need to meet high transparency standards, actively supporting data governance with automated discovery, classification, and quality control processes.
“In short, these innovations are poised to make data protection smarter, faster, and more secure — taking us into a new era of proactive data defense.”
Chase Doelling, Principal Strategist at JumpCloud:
“In 2024, the most transformational shift in cybersecurity came from AI— but it was double-sided. From an automation perspective, AI made real headwinds in areas like threat detection and patch management. At the same time, there’s no question it introduces new attack vectors. For MSPs and their clients, AI-powered tools can help detect threats faster and more accurately, and fill resource gaps, but they also equip cybercriminals with incredibly powerful tools that can be used for sophisticated phishing and adaptive malware attacks.
“In response, we’re seeing organizations centralize their tech stack to guard against AI and other rising threats—and increasingly turning to MSPs to strengthen security posture. While there’s a lot of uncertainty, this presents a great opportunity for MSPs; a recent survey found that over half of organizations report having better security due to their MSP, and over two-thirds plan to increase their MSP investment over the next six months. As AI accuracy improves and more organizations roll out AI initiatives, it will become more important than ever for MSPs to demonstrate they put a premium on being clear-eyed about both AI’s potential and its pitfalls.”
Privacy Concerns Will Begin to Phase Out Social-Based Authentication Methods, Paving the Way for Biometrics.
Bhavani Vangala, VP of Engineering at Onymos:
“Over the past year and a half, numerous questions have been raised about data privacy and sharing within the tech industry. These concerns have emerged around AI model training—as highlighted by questions directed at Zoom in 2023 and LinkedIn in 2024—and marketing customization and targeting, as well as general data sharing and privacy practices. For example, what occurs when you link your Gmail or Facebook account to another application or website for easier and quicker login? This action creates a connection between those accounts and the new one you set up for online shopping, streaming, and more. It potentially grants access to view and collect information related to your purchases, preferences, and, in some instances, personal details such as phone numbers, addresses, and payment methods. There is also the question of what happens when—not if —a login is compromised. Could hackers or other bad actors access these accounts and information? All of these questions and concerns around data privacy and sharing will prompt users in 2025 to use social-based login methods less frequently, leading to the adoption of safer, more secure methods like biometrics and two-factor authentication.”
Security at the Edge
Bruce Kornfeld, Chief Product Officer at StorMagic:
“As edge infrastructure expands, the associated attack surface will also grow, necessitating heightened security measures. By 2025, CIOs must adopt comprehensive security frameworks that address vulnerabilities at the edge without compromising overall IT integrity.”
