2025 Year in Review: AI Everywhere, Regulation Tightening, Fundamentals Still King

2025 was the year AI became standard equipment on both sides of the cybersecurity divide. Attackers used AI to generate perfect phishing, clone voices, and automate vulnerability discovery. Defenders used AI to detect anomalies, automate response, and predict threats. The arms race accelerated.

Meanwhile, regulations caught up with reality. HIPAA, SEC, and bar association rules all tightened. And the practices that implemented the basics, our same five recommendations from 2016, continued to weather the storms.

Year in Review by Industry

Healthcare

The aftermath of Change Healthcare continued to reshape healthcare cybersecurity. Proposed HIPAA Security Rule updates would make encryption, MFA, and network segmentation mandatory. The industry is still rebuilding trust and infrastructure.

Legal

Law firms became the #1 ransomware target. AI in eDiscovery matured but created new privilege risks. Courts expanded AI disclosure requirements. Bar associations issued comprehensive AI ethics guidance.

Financial

AI bookkeeping tools proliferated, creating new data privacy questions. SEC enforcement of cyber disclosure rules began. Wire fraud continued climbing with AI voice cloning as a primary tool.

Dental

AI-powered patient communication tools raised HIPAA compliance questions. Open Dental security hardening became a priority. OCR enforcement continued against small practices.

Themes for 2026

AI deepfakes will become routine social engineering tools
Regulatory requirements will expand and enforcement will intensify
Post-quantum cryptography adoption will begin at enterprise scale
Supply chain security will become a board-level priority
Cyber insurance requirements will drive security investments

The Fundamentals: Year Ten

Next year marks a decade of this blog. The same five recommendations from day one remain the most effective defense against the most sophisticated attacks of 2025:

Enable MFA on everything
Maintain tested, offline backups
Patch within 48 hours
Train your team quarterly
Have a written incident response plan

Technology evolves. Threats evolve. The fundamentals endure. See you in 2026.