What are the cybersecurity trends in Switzerland in 2025?
In 2024, Switzerland saw an upsurge in cyberattacks, with increasingly sophisticated incidents and alarming figures. What can we learn from this? How should companies and critical infrastructures prepare for these new threats? Malicious AI, increasingly targeted ransomware, tighter regulations: Lionel Ducommun, Cyber Project Manager, deciphers the trends of 2025.
In 2024, Switzerland saw a notable increase in cyber attacks, with statistics and notable incidents underlining the importance of increased vigilance when it comes to cybersecurity.
Among the 2024 statistics on cyberattacks in Switzerland, here are the elements we feel are relevant to note:
- the Federal Office of Cybersecurity (FOCS) recorded 63,000 cyber incidents, some 13,000 more than the previous year. This is equivalent to one notification every eight and a half minutes.
- Prevalence of fraud: Two-thirds of reports concerned fraud, with 60% linked to telephone scams where criminals posed as Swiss authorities.
- Increase in phishing: Phishing attempts have also increased, with almost 12,000 cases reported in 2024, an increase of around 2,500 on the previous year.
From global figures to concrete experience
Given these global figures, it’s not always easy to appreciate the impact of these attacks on businesses. To give you a clearer idea, here are a few examples of attacks faced by Swiss companies in 2024 (Source: vd.ch):
- Attack on Hoerbiger: the Swiss industrial group Hoerbiger has been targeted by the Akira ransomware, resulting in the theft of over 50 GB of sensitive data.
- Fraud foiled in Basel-Landschaft: An attempt to defraud the Basel-Landschaft tax authorities has been foiled, preventing data theft.
- Cloning of Dieci AG website: Cybercriminals have cloned the dieci.ch website in order to steal credit card information via fraudulent advertisements.
- DDoS attack against Swisscom: Swisscom has suffered a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, disrupting its payment Services, notably Twint.
These incidents illustrate the growing diversity and sophistication of cyber threats in Switzerland, affecting critical infrastructures, businesses and private individuals alike.
What are the trends in 2025?
Let’s now map out the trends for 2025, which the figures for the previous year and the evolution of cyber criminals’ strategies and tools help us to identify.
1. A race against the automated threat
In 2025, cybersecurity is entering a new era. Cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated, more targeted and largely automated thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). Faced with these growing threats, it is imperative for companies and institutions to strengthen their defense strategies.
According to Forbes newspaper, 2025 will see an increase in attacks orchestrated by malicious AI capable of bypassing traditional detection systems. Ransomware will become more precise, exploiting vulnerabilities in real time and personalizing its strategies according to targets.
2. Critical infrastructures also under pressure
Companies aren’t the only ones concerned, and ethics no longer have a place, even in Switzerland. As a reminder, in 2023, Rolle hospital was the victim of a cyberattack that paralyzed its IT system for several days, jeopardizing patient care. These incidents underline the vulnerability of critical infrastructures, which will have to adopt reinforced protection strategies by 2025.
3. How much awareness is there in Switzerland?
Cyber risks remain the top priority for 65% of Swiss executives, a figure well above the global and European averages (57%), according to a study by PwC Switzerland. This growing concern is reflected in increased investment: in 2024, 70% of Swiss companies increased their cybersecurity budget, and 67% plan to increase this spending further in 2025.
4. Technical and regulatory responses
To deal with these new threats, an integrated approach is essential. Zero Trust strategies, which require systematic verification of network access and activity, have become essential. In addition, companies need to invest in AI-based detection systems, capable of analyzing suspicious behavior in real time and automatically blocking threats.
In 2025, the European Union will implement the NIS2 (Network and Information System Security) directive, aimed at reinforcing the level of cybersecurity of member countries’ economic and administrative infrastructures. This framework requires the entities concerned to adopt legal, technical and organizational measures tailored to the risks to which they are exposed. The aim is to raise their overall level of protection and increase their operational resilience in the face of growing cyber threats.
Switzerland will have to adapt its regulations to keep pace with these requirements, but this does not appear to be a constraint, since already 28% of Swiss executives see these regulations as a means of creating clear guidelines for innovation and technological transformation, thus strengthening business resilience.
5. Cybersecurity, a strategic and competitive lever
Cybersecurity is now perceived as a key differentiating factor for companies. In Switzerland, 55% of organizations consider it to play a central role in building customer trust, a figure close to the global average of 57%. Companies that integrate cybersecurity into their overall strategy are better positioned in the face of Competition, and gain in credibility.
“It’s no longer just about protection. Cybersecurity has become a decisive differentiating factor,” explains Urs Küderli, Partner at PwC Switzerland. Companies therefore need to go beyond mere compliance and consider digital resilience as a sustainable strategic advantage.
Anticipating and insuring for survival
Cybersecurity in 2025 will therefore no longer be a mere technological concern, but an inescapable strategic issue that will even be regulated by a legal framework in Europe with NIS2. Investing in training and AI technologies is becoming crucial to guaranteeing business resilience in the face of ever more sophisticated threats. Finally, cyber insurance, as the final link in the chain of management of this specific risk, is still too little used by Swiss companies, despite the fact that its coverage and conditions are often very advantageous.
It’s time for action: anticipating and insuring yourself means (perhaps) surviving.