Cybercrime and Sexual Harassment Surge in 2025 Crisis Report

The Institute for Crisis Management tracked 1.23 million crisis news items in 2025, down about 8% from the prior year. The drop masks a sharp shift in composition.

Cybercrime accounted for 25.44% of all tracked items, up from roughly 13% in 2024. That category alone dwarfed every other. Mismanagement came second at 19.03%, followed by sexual harassment at 15.26% – a jump from 2.08% the year before. Discrimination and labor disputes rounded out the top five at 8.59% and 7.46%.

“The cybercrime category increased exponentially,” said Deborah Hileman, ICM’s CEO. She attributed the sexual harassment surge to wider use of the #metoo tag. “Some categories prove unpredictable,” she added.

ICM defines a “smoldering crisis” as a problem management ignores or leaves unresolved until it explodes. Those predictable, preventable crises made up 65% of all items tracked, consistent with prior years. The report argues that most of the damage was avoidable.

Hileman urged boards to invest in crisis planning and training. “The investment in preparedness is pennies compared to the cost of failure to manage crisis effectively,” she said.

The report, now in its 36th year, is free to download. ICM also offers a crisis communication certification course in July and October.

For business leaders, the takeaway is straightforward: cyber risk and workplace conduct claims are growing faster than the overall crisis count. Companies that treat those as smoldering issues – rather than one-off events – are the ones that will contain the damage before it hits the headlines.