Farnell’s new interview series, “Top Tech Voices”, kicks off 2025 by asking acknowledged cybersecurity expert, Professor Victoria Baines: What are the most significant emerging cybersecurity threats that businesses should be aware of in 2025?

Baines has a rich history in cybersecurity, having started her career in the police force and since having served as Facebook's Trust & Safety Manager for EMEA, where she supported efforts to eradicate criminal activity online on both policing and policy levels, amongst other noticeable achievements in security.

Farnell President, Rebeca Obregon, said, “Professor Baines is one of the world’s leading authorities in the field of online trust, safety and cybersecurity. Her extensive research in the field and the insights she gains from it are critically important to some many aspects of our professional, business and personal lives. We are delighted that she agreed to share her thoughts about 2025, and beyond, with our audience.”

Baines is consistently ranked among the leading women in cybersecurity and has provided expertise to international organisations, such as Interpol and UNICEF. She also led the Strategy team at Europol's European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) where she spearheaded initiatives like Project 2020, which examined the future of cybersecurity. In addition, she has also made significant presentations to the UN, the Council of Europe, and the European Commission.

She frequently contributes to major broadcast media outlets on digital ethics, cybercrime and the misuse of emerging technologies, including Extended Reality and Artificial Intelligence. Her areas of research include electronic surveillance, cybercrime futures, and the politics of security. Works by Baines have been published on cyberspace governance, online surveillance, the future of cybercrime and the politics of security.

Hosted by award-winning AI Content and Prompt Engineering Strategist, Georgia Lewis Anderson, among the topics Baines covers in the latest episode are:

The emerging cybersecurity threats that businesses should be looking out for in 2025 and how new technologies like AI and machine learning are being leveraged in attempts to thwart in-house and in-cloud security measures and how organizations as well as remote workers can defend against them.
The risks associated with the adoption of IoT devices and the increasing number of specific cyberthreats that are facing them.
The increase in ransomware attacks, including those from inside an organisation, and how businesses can prepare for and respond effectively.
If the rapid gains in quantum computing will render current security practices obsolete.
Connected devices raise questions of data privacy challenges, so how do regulations like GDPR influence IoT security practices and what can organisations do to enhance data privacy for IoT users?
What are the future trends in IoT cybersecurity that industry professionals should be mindful of? And how will the expectations for heightened security, consumer and otherwise, be met as IoT becomes more prevalent, or will they?

"The potential global impact of the cybersecurity issues Victoria discusses cannot be overstated,” said Obregon, “Her impeccable credentials more than qualify her as a Top Tech Voice and I encourage everyone with a stake in data security, which is all of us, to listen to what she has to say. It could save your business.”

This second episode of Top Tech Voices can be viewed by clicking here. Up-to-date information about previous episodes in the Top Tech Voices series, further dates, times and topics can also be found via the link.