Influx of zero-day exploits in 2025 examined

Cybernews reports that mounting software complexity, AI usage, supply chain dependencies, and evolving threats were noted by BeyondTrust Chief Security Advisor Morey Haber to fuel the escalation of zero-day exploits in 2025.

Both nation-state and cybercriminal actors have been competing for zero-day exploits to compromise identity platforms, cloud services, and operational technology systems, according to Haber, who said that even less sophisticated threat actors could discover and refine zero-days.

On the other hand, increasing zero-day exploits have been attributed by Acronic TRU Senior Security Researcher Ilia Dafchev to the continuously expanding attack surface brought upon by the implementation of more edge devices alongside legacy systems. With illicit actors leveraging zero-days alongside supply chain and identity compromise, as well as privilege escalation and lateral movement, network defenders have been urged by Haber to adopt zero-trust security.

"Least privilege, robust segmentation, and continuous identity verification become essential to prevent lateral movement and the spread of the breach," Haber added.