COMMENTARY: If there’s just one takeaway from 2024’s escalating cyber threats, technological mishaps, and emergence of AI at-scale, it’s this: the industry can't stay complacent in 2025.
From the widespread fallout of Crowdstrike’s untested software update to the national security implications of the Salt Typhoon telecom breaches to the evolving sophistication of AI-driven cyberattacks, organizations have been forced to confront the fragility of their digital ecosystems. The only viable response: improve operational resilience by fostering a culture of proactive risk management and strengthening cyber defenses.
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Here are five events, trends, and incidents from 2024 and the corresponding implications that should spur organizations to embrace innovation, enhance collaboration, and fortify systems against an increasingly complex and interconnected threat landscape:
- Faulty software update leads to global IT outages, exposes testing gaps: In July 2024, a flawed update to CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor software caused widespread crashes across 8.5 million Windows systems. Critical services in aviation, finance, healthcare, and emergency response were severely disrupted.
Implications: Despite a swift and proficient response from Crowdstrike, this incident exposed the dire consequences of insufficient software testing and inadequate quality assurance. Moving forward, organizations are likely to adopt stricter update protocols, conduct more rigorous pre-release testing, and prioritize contingency planning. It also underscores the need for robust incident response strategies to quickly mitigate and recover from software-related business disruptions.
- Hackers breach U.S. telecoms, underscoring national security risks: In October 2024, the Chinese hacking group Salt Typhoon infiltrated major U.S. telecom providers. This breach compromised systems tied to federal wiretap operations and may have exposed sensitive communications involving political figures.
Implications: The event highlights critical vulnerabilities in national communication infrastructures. It should drive increased investment and upgrades in telecom security and stricter oversight to safeguard sensitive systems. Furthermore, this breach likely amplifies international discussions about cybersecurity norms and intensify diplomatic tensions around state-sponsored cyberattacks.
- Massive ransomware attack reveals gaps in healthcare cybersecurity readiness: Major U.S. healthcare technology firm Change Healthcare was crippled in February by a ransomware attack orchestrated by the threat group BlackCat (ALPHV). The attack disrupted services for weeks and resulted in a $22 million ransom payment.
Implications: The attack highlights the potential impact of cybersecurity vulnerabilities in healthcare operational systems, specifically the gaps in defending against and recovering from highly targeted ransomware campaigns. Repercussions are likely to include regulatory bodies enforcing stricter data protection and incident reporting frameworks, and healthcare organizations adopting proactive measures to defend against ransomware.
- AI-powered cyber attacks surge, challenging traditional defenses: Cybercriminals leveraged artificial intelligence in 2024 to amplify the sophistication of phishing schemes and malware, allowing them to evade traditional detection mechanisms. Underscoring the trend, the FBI warned the public in December 2024 about financial fraud schemes using AI generated text, images, videos and vocal cloning.
Implications: This trend necessitates integrating AI into cybersecurity defenses to counter these threats. Organizations will need to innovate rapidly, implementing AI-enhanced risk and threat detection along with remediation capabilities. At the same time, the rise of AI in both offensive and defensive operations brings a number of challenging topics to the forefront, particularly around the weaponization of AI, transparency and accountability, and autonomy and control.
- Data breaches surge, highlighting global exposure management weaknesses: Data breaches hit unprecedented levels in 2024, with billions of records compromised across industries such as healthcare, finance, and technology.
Implications: The scale and volume of data breaches highlight gaps in exposure management and the critical need for comprehensive data protection. Organizations will likely invest heavily in security testing, encryption, access controls, and employee training, and regulators are likely to respond with more stringent privacy laws, emphasizing the importance of transparency and timely breach notifications.
These five events remind us that cybersecurity is not an isolated IT function, but a fundamental pillar of business survival and trust. The lessons from 2024 cyber events — whether software failures, sophisticated breaches, or the disruptive potential of AI — are clear: something must change.
Organizations must prioritize a proactive, layered approach to exposure management, foster collaboration internally, and remain agile in adapting to risks and evolving threats. Security teams need to act decisively—innovate, invest, and fortify—to ensure organizational resilience in an increasingly volatile digital world.
Yoran Sirkis, chief executive officer, Seemplicity
SC Media Perspectives columns are written by a trusted community of SC Media cybersecurity subject matter experts. Each contribution has a goal of bringing a unique voice to important cybersecurity topics. Content strives to be of the highest quality, objective and non-commercial.
