Cryptocurrency infrastructure and smart contracts are feared to be the next big ‘market’ for cyberattacks amidst skyrocketing prices of flagship digital currencies such as bitcoin, betting on the ‘Trump’ factor, industry experts said.
Interestingly, large language models (LLMs) are also anticipated to be subject to widespread cyberattacks in 2025, potentially involving real data extraction, even as hopes are diminishing on the emergence of new AI tools to help cybersecurity.
Bitcoin prices, trading at $97,500 in the morning hours on Wednesday, hit its all-time high of $100,000 last week amidst investor frenzy on a continued bull run in the flagship digital currency on expectations of the US President-elect Donald Trump unveiling a slew of industry-friendly policies.
Trump’s proposed moves on adopting bitcoin as part of the US strategic reserves and roping in Paul Atkins and tech investor David Sacks – two figures known for their support of cryptocurrency – are expected to help shape his crypto policy agenda.
“We can expect an increase in attacks on cryptocurrency infrastructures and smart contracts, especially in light of skyrocketing bitcoin values,” Andrey Leskin, CTO of Qrator Labs, a leading global player operating in the field of network security solutions, told Arabian Business.
“This will likely result in a rise in cyber extortion attempts that demand payment in bitcoins too,” he said.
Sector experts said besides the increased threat of cyberattacks, the hype on bitcoin prices built around the Trump proposals on making the digital currency a part of strategic reserves in the US will have serious implications for the greenback and gold as well.
“Establishing a national bitcoin reserve will have an underlying impact on the US dollar, if the reserve is set up using printed currency, as it might debase the greenback,” Maksym Sakharov, Co-Founder and board member of WeFi, a decentralized finance system, told Arabian Business.
“However, if the government chooses to stockpile bitcoin using its gold reserve, the projected debasement will be transferred to gold. This might offer a strong advantage to bitcoin as its value will soar, leaving other countries exposed to their devalued gold holdings,” Sakharov said.
Looming cyberattacks test AI tools
Leskin said the rising fears of cybercriminals targeting cryptocurrency infrastructures and LLMs in the next wave of attacks come in the wake of the cybersecurity industry increasingly becoming more sceptical about the hoped-for AI tools for more effective cybersecurity.
“The initial excitement surrounding them will finally diminish [in 2025], as no significant breakthroughs have occurred over the last two years,” he said while predicting how cybersecurity is likely to evolve in 2025.
The technical chief of Qrator Labs, which helps businesses protect their applications and infrastructure, however, said the cybersecurity industry might start to see some useful solutions for monitoring and threat detection next year.
“Nevertheless, these solutions are unlikely to sustain the current hype around AI, as they will not serve as a silver bullet or magic pill for the industry’s issues,” he said.
Leskin also cautioned that in 2025 or early 2026, the industry could see the first reports of significant attacks on large language models (LLMs), potentially involving real data extraction.
“This threat has been in the air for the past two years, especially with the widespread integration of chatbots into various products and services.
“But now it seems more real than ever,” he said.
Serious threat of ‘deepfakes’ spreading to businesses
Another trend industry experts and insiders are anticipating in the coming year is the spread of generative AI-based ‘deepfakes’ into the business sector in a big way.
One of the most dangerous tools using generative AI is deepfakes, which can convincingly mimic a person’s voice, face, and other personal attributes.
Leskin said this will be a concern not only for individuals but for companies too in 2025.
“Employees might receive calls from what appears to be their boss’ number (which can be faked) demanding that they take specific actions,” he said.
The specific actions could include sending a valuable letter or performing certain tasks.
“These instructions could sound as if they were told by an actual boss, and this may pose a serious and dangerous threat to business.”
The Qrator Labs CTO also predicted further delay in the arrival of the much-talked about quantum computer.
“While many people are discussing the expected arrival of a quantum computer in 2025, we have our doubts.
“We believe the significant event in the field of quantum cryptography – a method for securing communications based on the principles of quantum physics – will finally emerge in 2026,” Leskin said.
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