The year 2025 marks a turning point for cybersecurity. The sophistication of threats, combined with the complexity of corporate infrastructures, has created a scenario where risk is no longer occasional but constant. We are no longer talking about isolated incidents, but about persistent and adaptive campaigns that exploit every possible vulnerability, from highly targeted social engineering (spear phishing), through supply chain attacks, to advanced persistent threats (APT) and ransomware capable of spreading almost invisibly.
The traditional response, based on defenses and reactive actions after an occurrence, is outdated. Companies need to transition to an approach sustained by continuous compromise intelligence, capable of identifying malicious activities in real time based on concrete evidence.
Within this context, there are five central challenges that determine the success or failure of a security operation in 2025, which are:
1 – The overload of irrelevant alerts: The volume of security data generated by tools such as SIEMs, EDRs, and firewalls is massive. According to a report by Gartner, a research and consulting firm, 75% of these alerts are false positives or irrelevant. The problem is not just analyst fatigue, but the real risk that a critical incident may be lost in the noise.
A company that integrates a continuous compromise system can find that about 80% of its SIEM alerts do not represent a real threat. By filtering and prioritizing relevant events, it is possible to reduce the average response time by up to half. This shows that the battle is not for more data, but for more qualified data.
2 – The lack of real visibility: Digital transformation has dissolved the concept of perimeter. Today, the attack surface includes mobile devices, cloud environments, remote endpoints, and hybrid networks. Traditional tools, designed to monitor fixed boundaries, fail to detect lateral movements, beaconing, or discrete connections with command-and-control servers.
A study by the Ponemon Institute, an independent research institute, found that 56% of data breaches are caused by failures in visibility and rapid response capability. The solution lies in continuously monitoring all network communications, regardless of origin or destination, allowing the identification of anomalous behaviors before they become critical incidents.
3 – The shortage of qualified professionals: The global deficit of cybersecurity specialists exceeds 3.5 million, according to Cybersecurity Ventures, a research firm specializing in cybersecurity. This bottleneck means that many companies operate with reduced and overburdened teams, increasing the risk of errors and delays.
By automating detection and prioritizing real threats, it is possible to alleviate this pressure. Organizations that have adopted continuous compromise intelligence report reductions of up to 60% in response time, freeing up human resources to act more strategically.
4 – Tools that do not communicate with each other: In their efforts to protect themselves, companies accumulate various solutions: SIEM, EDR, DLP, antivirus, firewalls, and NDR, but without integration, these tools create data silos that hinder event correlation and delay decisions.
The key lies in platforms capable of natively integrating with existing ecosystems, such as Splunk, QRadar, Elastic, Palo Alto, Fortinet, Checkpoint, and SOARs. Thus, security ceases to be a disconnected mosaic and begins to operate as a single organism, with a continuous flow of information and shared context.
5 – The reactive response to incidents: Perhaps the most critical challenge is the reactive posture. I notice that in many companies, the average time to detect a critical threat still exceeds 200 days. This delay is practically an invitation for attackers to exploit the compromised infrastructure to the fullest.
With continuous compromise intelligence, this window can drop to less than five minutes. The difference is not just technical; it is strategic. An almost immediate detection not only reduces damage but also allows containing the attack before it generates legal, financial, and reputational repercussions.
What effective cybersecurity demands in 2025
Overcoming these challenges requires more than technology; it demands a change in mindset. It is necessary to adopt a defense model that eliminates noise, prioritizing truly relevant events and discarding false positives; ensures total visibility, regardless of where assets and users are located; optimizes human resources, automating processes and freeing specialists for strategic tasks; unifies the security ecosystem, integrating tools for coordinated response; and maintains constant vigilance, reducing the exposure window from months to minutes.
In 2025, the ability to detect, understand, and act swiftly in the face of a threat is not a competitive differentiator; it is a prerequisite for survival. Companies that understand this now will not only be protected against the current scenario but also prepared for what is to come.
Wilson Piedade is Chief Operating Business at Oakmont Group, focused on developing new business models and partnerships seeking competitive differentiation and better results.
