KrakenLabs Research Highlights 2025: The Shifts That Redefined the Threat Landscape

KrakenLabs' 2025 threat review describes an industrialized, AI-enabled cybercrime ecosystem in which commercialized malware-as-a-service (e.g., Olymp Loader), pay-per-install distribution (LabInstalls), and Initial Access Brokers (e.g., Belsen Group selling FortiGate access) scaled attacker capabilities; identity abuse, SaaS/third‑party trust exploitation, and convergence of hacktivism with profit-driven extortion (e.g., BQTLock) drove many high-impact incidents, while leaks (Black Basta) and targeted destructive operations (Nobitex) underscored both human and geopolitical dimensions of risk.