Why falling behind means leaving your business, your data, and your future unprotected.
Last week, a startup lost €4 million because a junior engineer left an AWS key exposed on GitHub. You think it won’t happen to you? So did they.
This article isn’t just information. It’s your wake-up call. If you lead a team, manage a product, or protect a business—this is what you need to know now.
🤖 AI in Cybersecurity: Your Smartest Defender—or Your Worst Enemy?
AI and ML are transforming cybersecurity. But here’s the twist: they’re helping attackers just as fast.
Hot Take: The biggest threat isn’t AI replacing jobs. It’s AI helping hackers outsmart your entire security stack.
What’s happening now:
Real-time anomaly detection flags behavioural shifts before breaches occur.
AI-powered email scanners detect micro-patterns in phishing attempts.
AI-driven Security Operations Centres (SOCs) utilise natural language to draft incident reports and suggest remedial actions.
But attackers fight back with:
Deepfake voice phishing
GenAI-written malware
Prompt injection attacks on LLMs
💬 Quick win:
Check if your org’s public chatbots are prompt-injection safe.
If you don’t know what that means, you’re overdue for a breach review.
☁️ Cloud Security Isn’t Optional—It’s Existential
Cloud-native infrastructure gives speed, but often at the cost of security visibility.
Contrarian Insight: Cloud isn’t inherently less secure—it’s just less understood. Most breaches aren’t from cloud flaws. They’re from poor implementation.
What’s new in 2025:
SASE & SSE frameworks combine identity, access, and network security into one architecture.
Zero Trust Cloud: Every identity, device, and session is continuously verified.
Cloud-native SIEMs like Panther and Chronicle replace clunky on-prem dashboards.
🔍 Case in Point:
A European fintech was fined €1.2M after a DORA compliance audit revealed IAM misconfigurations in their Azure setup. They used default roles and had no logs on API calls.
✅ Pro tip: If you’re still using VPNs and static roles, your architecture is already legacy.
🔐 Zero Trust Is the Only Trust That Works
In today’s world, location means nothing. Trust must be earned at every step.
Modern Zero Trust systems include:
Micro-segmentation of networks
Contextual access (time, location, behaviour)
Behavioural biometrics (typing speed, mouse movement)
🔒 Google’s BeyondCorp model has removed all reliance on VPNs by validating device state + user risk at every login attempt—globally.
💡 Want this implemented in your org? We break it down step-by-step inside the Chef’s Table.
🧨 Ransomware & Phishing: More Targeted Than Ever
Ransomware now uses double extortion: encrypt + leak threat.
Phishing isn’t spam—it’s CEO impersonation via voice clones.
2025 tactics to defend:
Immutable, offline backups
Real-time phishing simulation training
EDR platforms with AI-powered detection
Role-based access & network segmentation
💥 Case Study: 3CX Supply Chain Breach
Hackers embedded malware into a VoIP software update. Thousands of customers were compromised, including governments. The attack vector? A compromised dependency.
If you don’t have a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM), you don’t know what’s inside your own systems.
📊 Quick Action Checklist for June 2025
✅ Review and rotate IAM credentials
✅ Test SBOMs and verify package integrity
✅ Run a phishing simulation for key departments
✅ Audit AI chatbot access permissions
✅ Segment production environments from analytics tools
Our subscribers get a pre-filled, industry-specific checklist every month.
🧾 Regulation: The Rules Just Changed
📌 NIS2 and DORA are redefining legal exposure for EU companies.
These aren't advisory—they’re mandatory, with multi-million euro fines at stake.
Smart orgs don’t wait. They treat compliance as a security multiplier and use it to stand out in vendor reviews.
🔒 Want our DORA readiness playbook? It’s inside the Chef’s Table.
📣 Like what you're reading?
Forward this to your CISO, your CTO, or your CEO.
They’ll thank you for being one step ahead.
🔮 What’s Next?
Coming in next week’s Chef’s Table:
Cybersecurity for Product Managers: What You Should Care About
👉 Subscribe to get it first.
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