5 Threats That Defined Security In 2025
Dark Reading, Monday, December 29th, 2025
2025 included a number of monumental threats, from global nation-state attacks to a critical vulnerability under widespread exploitation.
2025 marked yet another busy year in security, between big attacks, government shakeups, and dangerous flaws that echo of the past.
The moments that defined this year were impactful but felt evenly spread across the year. Early in 2025, we saw China-nexus advanced persistent threat (APT) Salt Typhoon continue its assault against telecom companies as part of its espionage operations.
In the summer and into the fall, we saw the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) face budgetary cuts and layoffs, fallout from President Trump's commitment to slim the US government at any cost. And just this past month, React2Shell was disclosed to the public - a vulnerability in React with a CVSS score of 10 that echoed of the now-infamous Log4Shell.