Top 7 Endpoint Security Risks to Watch in 2025

Over the years, the world has seen increased security breaches and cyber-attacks due to various factors, be it the growth of IoT devices, employee negligence, or the infusion of AI into cyberattacks. Moreover, as businesses have accepted the work-from-home and BYOD model, endpoint devices like laptops and smartphones are more vulnerable than ever.

In such a scenario, you must know the latest security risks to endpoint devices. Only then can you formulate strategies and implement systems to prevent such attacks.

Here are some top endpoint security risks you must watch out for in 2025.

1. Ransomware Targeting Endpoints

Ransomware is a malicious program that is injected into an endpoint device, such as a laptop, PC, or smartphone, through a medium, such as email, website, or flash drive. Once injected, the ransomware can control the device or the entire internal network.

Therefore, one infected device can lead to a leak of the entire business data. The hackers can then ask for a ransom to give control of the data back to the organization, hence, the name.

According to a report, ransomware attacks reduced from 65% in 2023 to 59% in 2024. However, the impact of the attacks has increased 5 times.

Here are some ransomware types you need to be aware of in 2025.

• Crypto ransomware: As the name suggests, this ransomware is used by attackers to ask for ransom in cryptocurrency. The hackers usually encrypt sensitive data, which they decrypt after the ransom is paid. As the crypto is hard to trace, this ransomware is highly preferred.
• Scareware: Scareware is one of the most enjoyable forms of ransomware. Through It, hackers lure users into thinking their endpoint device is infected and encourage them to buy an antivirus through fake messages.
• Fileless Ransomware: This ransomware encrypts the data stored in a device’s memory, making it challenging to detect. It can also encrypt essential information through legitimate applications.

2. AI-based Phishing attacks

Phishing attacks have been bothering businesses for ages, be it an email about your order details or a link to a malicious website. Although organizations have tried hard and long to eradicate phishing from their process completely, hackers always find new ways to penetrate their security defenses. However, introducing AI has given hackers a superpower, as with any other domain.

Artificial Intelligence, when used for phishing, enables hackers to personalize phishing attacks by analyzing large amounts of data from social media, websites, and online forums. These are used to create AI algorithms by identifying user behavior, preferences, interactions, or activities.

The introduction of AI has considerably increased the success rate of phishing attacks compared to previous attacks in which emails were sent anonymously.

Moreover, Generative AI engines like ChatGPT that use Large Language Models (LLMs) are also used these days to create phishing emails. Consequently, as opposed to earlier times, AI-generated content makes the email look genuine and indistinguishable from an authentic email.

3. Mobile Device Mismanagement

Since the advent of COVID-19, a remote work environment has become the new norm for most global businesses. However, this has also increased the number of cyber attacks, as managing mobile devices is difficult. An employee can easily use an insecure wifi connection or open a malicious website for personal use from home. Therefore, efficient mobile device management is essential when implementing BYOD or remote work policies.

However, businesses still make some grave mistakes in managing mobile devices, like –

• not updating the security patches regularly
• not setting app permissions
• not providing a secure VPN connection
• not deploying a strong password policy

For instance, if a user uses an application on the office device for personal use that contains a malicious profile, the hacker can easily compromise the company’s sensitive information.

4. DDoS Attacks

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) is an attack where hackers bombard a business network or website with large traffic volumes to cause disruptions. Hackers inject endpoint devices with malicious programs to make them act as bots. When thousands of endpoint devices are injected, hackers can use these to send simultaneous requests to a specific target (website).

Therefore, you must protect the endpoint devices by educating employees, creating strong password policies, installing an antivirus, and regularly updating the software’s firmware.

5. Evolving Social Engineering Threats

Social Engineering is a mode of cyber attack in which attackers use psychological methods to manipulate humans into compromising their personal or client information.

We are all aware of AI-generated deepfake videos and voice messages that can easily resemble a known individual’s face or voice, enticing you to give out critical pieces of information. Other modes of social engineering include phishing, whaling, honeytrap, vishing (voice phishing), whaling, and pretexting.

Here are some steps to prevent social engineering attacks –

• Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) – MFA is a method that deploys multiple authentication methods during a user login. This adds an extra layer of security as the hackers cannot access your data even if your password is compromised. Other authentication modes can be a token, one-time password, or biometrics.
• Employee Training – Employee training is one of the most critical defenses against social engineering. Many social engineering attacks, such as phishing, spear-phishing, and vishing (voice phishing), deceive employees into revealing sensitive information or performing unauthorized actions.

Comprehensive security training helps employees recognize these tactics and respond appropriately. Training should cover various social engineering techniques, including phishing emails, fake websites, and pretexting (where attackers assume a fake identity to gain information).

6. Internal Threats

The employees of your organization are privy to the company’s private information, like financial, client, or planning. Therefore, most of the time, employees pose data breaches and security threats. These are called insider or internal threats.

It’s not always that the employees are vindictive or need money; sometimes, they can also cause a security incident due to negligence. Other insider threats can be from vendors or ex-employees. According to IBM’s data breach report, the average cost of a data breach by insider threats was estimated at $4.99.

A reliable Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution can prevent internal threats. Moreover, you should implement an employee training calendar to educate employees on the latest threats.

7. Endpoint Security Challenges Due to IoT Devices

According to NetGear’s 2024 IoT Security Landscape Report, IoT devices experience 10 attacks daily.

With the increase in IoT devices all over the world acting as endpoints to a network, hackers now have more opportunities to get control of your businesses’ critical data. This is because most IoT devices have limited computational resources and are not equipped with advanced security features like encryption and authentication. This renders them vulnerable to botnet attacks in which an attacker uses large numbers of hacked IoT devices to perform malicious activities.

To prevent this, organizations can perform network segmentation to keep the IoT devices away from critical systems. In addition, ensuring that antivirus updates are effective and using IoT-specific security solutions will mitigate these devices’ exposure to vulnerabilities.

Secure Your Endpoints for a Worry-free Business Process

Securing your endpoints ensures no malicious hackers can access your business network, preventing financial losses and reputation. However, it can become challenging for a business to keep track of and install security safeguards for all the threats mentioned above.

A more reliable solution for you can be to opt for an MSSP (Managed Security Service Provider). An MSSP takes care of all the endpoint protection responsibilities, such as 24x7x365 device monitoring, upgrades, and support.

Ace Cloud Hosting offers reliable cloud-based managed endpoint security with services like Managed SIEM (Security Information and Event Management), Managed EDR/EPP, 24x7x365 support, and more.