October: Europe’s Cybersecurity Month 2025

The Future Ahead: Cybersecurity 2025 – Awareness and Defense in a Fragile Digital World 

We live in a world where our voices can be cloned from just a few seconds of audio, where cybercrime revenues surpass the global drug trade, and where we still don’t have enough people trained to defend us. 
Yet awareness may be the first step toward a solution. The problem isn’t technology itself – we already have sophisticated tools capable of detecting and blocking attacks in real time. The real issue is that many organizations still haven’t made cybersecurity a top strategic priority. They often lack the trained professionals to manage it effectively, or the internal processes needed to respond quickly when systems signal that something is wrong. 

2025 has taught us that cybersecurity can no longer be treated as a purely technical problem solvable with more firewalls and antivirus software. It’s a civilizational challenge – one that demands new ways of thinking, new skills, and new forms of cooperation. 
The question isn’t whether we’ll face more cybersecurity crises, but whether we’ll be ready when they come. And for now, that answer is still being written. 

 

 

October: Europe’s Cybersecurity Month 

Every October, Europe dedicates an entire month to cybersecurity awareness. The European Cybersecurity Month (ECSM), promoted by ENISA and the European Commission, aims to educate citizens and businesses on digital risks and promote safer online behavior. 
The theme for 2025 is phishing, the world’s most widespread social engineering technique. Most cyberattacks still begin with a deceptive email or message. Attackers no longer target firewalls – they target people’s trust, habits, and moments of distraction. 

Henna Virkkunen, the EU’s Vice President for Technological Sovereignty and Security, summarized it perfectly: 

“Cybersecurity isn’t just about technology. It’s a shared responsibility. By staying vigilant and adopting simple protection measures, we can all help build a safer digital future.” 

In a world where a single click can open the door to a crisis, the ECSM’s goal is to make digital security a daily habit. 

 

Cybersecurity 2025: Between Awareness and Vulnerability 

In recent years, the cyber threat landscape has changed dramatically. 
According to Mandiant’s M-Trends 2025 Report, cybercriminals are steadily moving away from malware as their main entry point. Attacks increasingly rely on stolen credentials (16 %), targeted phishing (14 %), or exploitation of known vulnerabilities (33 %) in exposed systems. 
This shift highlights that the real power of modern threats no longer lies in malicious code alone, but in the ability to infiltrate networks using the same trusted connections and identities companies rely on every day. 

Meanwhile, the professionalization of cybercrime has turned the dark web into a global market for illicit services. “Access brokers” now sell credentials, network footholds, and even custom-made attack kits. Cybercrime is no longer a hobby – it’s an industrial, scalable, and profitable business. 

And with the rise of generative AI, the line between reality and forgery has blurred. In 2024, voice phishing attacks surged, while deepfakes enabled criminals to replicate executives’ voices and faces to trick employees into authorizing multimillion-dollar transfers. In one of the most striking incidents, an employee of the engineering firm Arup in Hong Kong attended a video call with what appeared to be the company’s CFO and other executives – all generated by AI – and was convinced to authorize fifteen bank transfers. The Arup case – where $25 million was stolen through a deepfake video conference – is just the tip of the iceberg. 

 

The Cloud Paradox 

The cloud was supposed to be the ultimate solution to security challenges – managed by experts, always updated, infinitely scalable. Instead, cloud computing has become one of the main sources of cyber risk. 
Organizations are reporting a steady rise in cloud security alerts and an increase in high-severity threats. As digital services expand, security management grows increasingly complex: too much data, too many access points, too little control. 
The problem isn’t the cloud itself, but how we use it. Moving everything to the cloud without proper governance and clear protection criteria simply shifts the risk elsewhere without truly reducing it. 

That’s why many organizations are embracing zero trust strategies, where every access – even internal – must be authenticated, monitored, and minimized. 

 

Zero Trust and Endpoint Security: A New Frontier 

Zero trust security is emerging as the dominant paradigm: trust no one, verify everything. 
In practice, this means integrating multi-factor authentication (MFA), identity and access management (IAM), and data encryption at every level – from servers to endpoints. 
The goal is to reduce the attack surface, prevent lateral movement, and protect data even when the perimeter is compromised. 
But achieving this requires consistency and visibility: it’s not enough to deploy an antivirus or EDR. Organizations need an integrated ecosystem that protects endpoints, identities, and data in a coordinated way. 

 

The Double-Edged Sword of Artificial Intelligence 

Artificial intelligence is already a key ally in cyber defense. It analyzes logs, detects anomalies, and identifies suspicious behaviors. Yet it’s also becoming a weapon for attackers. 
Generative models are now used to craft highly convincing phishing emails, localized in multiple languages and tailored to specific victims. The same AI tools can generate malicious code, analyze vulnerabilities, and create exploits in real time. 

The future of cybersecurity will be a battle between AIs – those that attack and those that defend. 
The most resilient organizations will be those that train their own models on proprietary data, maintaining control over sensitive information and preventing its use in external AI systems. 

 

The Human Factor: The Real Attack Surface 

According to the ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study 2024, the world needs more than 4.7 million additional cybersecurity professionals to close the skills gap – a gap that continues to grow each year. 
Technology alone isn’t enough: awareness, continuous training, and coordinated response processes are essential. 
Many data breaches stem from human error or lack of awareness. A single misplaced click or shared password can compromise an entire system. 
That’s why initiatives like the European Cybersecurity Month aren’t just symbolic – they are practical tools to strengthen collective resilience. 

 

The New European Compliance Era: DORA and NIS2 

2025 marks the full implementation of two key digital security regulations: DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) and NIS2 (Network and Information Security Directive). 
Both frameworks redefine cybersecurity accountability, moving it from IT departments to executive leadership. 

Under Article 5 of DORA, company boards hold ultimate responsibility for ICT risk management – they must define, approve, and oversee security policies, ensuring executives possess adequate cybersecurity knowledge. 
NIS2, meanwhile, expands security obligations to a broader range of sectors and critical service providers. Non-compliance can result in fines of up to 2% of annual revenue. 

Both directives send a clear message: cybersecurity is no longer optional – it’s a core business requirement. 

 

Preparing for the Future: From Data Protection to Digital Sovereignty 

“Digital sovereignty” is becoming a strategic priority. European organizations are striving to regain control over their data and critical infrastructure. 
This means favoring on-premise or sovereign cloud solutions, adopting post-quantum encryption, and ensuring data remains within GDPR-compliant jurisdictions. 

Quantum-resistant encryption, such as the CRYSTALS-Kyber algorithm standardized by NIST, is now essential to protect data that must remain confidential for decades. So-called “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks are already happening – criminals collect encrypted data today, waiting for future quantum power to unlock it. 

Adopting post-quantum encryption now means not only protecting the present but securing the future of your organization. 

 

From Theory to Practice: The Role of Integrated Solutions 

The challenges of 2025 demand unified protection platforms capable of defending data wherever it resides – in the cloud, on devices, or within enterprise workflows. 

• RemoteGrant operates at the endpoint level, blocking ransomware, unauthorized access, and accidental deletions. Its granular data loss prevention (DLP) policies protect files in real time, preventing modifications or exfiltration even by compromised legitimate software. 

• FileGrant extends protection to shared and archived files with quantum-proof encryption based on CRYSTALS-Kyber and the patented Lock&Go system, which enforces encrypted downloads even for file owners. Every sharing action is tracked, every access is revocable in real time, and protection against AI-driven data scraping and screenshots is automatic. 

Both solutions integrate seamlessly with AIGrant, the intelligent engine that automatically classifies sensitive data and activates zero trust protections in real time, enforcing access rules consistent with company policies. 

This coordinated approach – combining endpoint protection, data encryption, and intelligent access control – represents the most effective defense model against today’s evolving threats. 

 

A Future We Must Build Together

Cybersecurity isn’t a destination – it’s a journey. Every October, Europe’s cybersecurity month, reminds us that awareness is the first line of defense, and that technology alone is never enough. 
We need a shared culture of digital risk, where every user, every company, and every institution plays its part. 

Our digital future will only be as safe as our ability to build it together – with responsibility, innovation, and collaboration. 
Threats will continue to evolve, but so will our intelligence – both human and artificial. 

The question remains the same: Will we be ready for the next attack? 
The answer, ultimately, depends on us.