As safety professionals, it is simple to get caught up in a race to counter the most recent superior adversary strategies. But essentially the most impactful assaults usually aren’t from cutting-edge exploits, however from cracked credentials and compromised accounts. Regardless of widespread consciousness of this risk vector, Picus Safety’s Blue Report 2025 reveals that organizations proceed to wrestle with stopping password cracking assaults and detecting the malicious use of compromised accounts.
With the primary half of 2025 behind us, compromised legitimate accounts stay essentially the most underprevented assault vector, highlighting the pressing want for a proactive method targeted on the threats which can be evading organizations’ defenses.
A Wake-Up Name: The Alarming Rise in Password Cracking Success
The Picus Blue Report is an annual analysis publication that analyzes how properly organizations are stopping and detecting real-world cyber threats. In contrast to conventional experiences that focus solely on risk traits or survey information, the Blue Report relies on empirical findings from over 160 million assault simulations carried out inside organizations’ networks around the globe, utilizing the Picus Safety Validation Platform.
Within the Blue Report 2025, Picus Labs discovered that password cracking makes an attempt succeeded in 46% of examined environments, practically doubling the success price from final 12 months. This sharp enhance highlights a elementary weak spot in how organizations are managing – or mismanaging – their password insurance policies. Weak passwords and outdated hashing algorithms proceed to depart vital methods weak to attackers utilizing brute-force or rainbow desk assaults to crack passwords and achieve unauthorized entry.
On condition that password cracking is among the oldest and most reliably efficient assault strategies, this discovering factors to a critical problem: of their race to fight the most recent, most subtle new breed of threats, many organizations are failing to implement sturdy primary password hygiene insurance policies whereas failing to undertake and combine trendy authentication practices into their defenses.
Why Organizations Are Failing to Forestall Password Cracking Assaults
So, why are organizations nonetheless failing to stop password cracking assaults? The foundation trigger lies within the continued use of weak passwords and outdated credential storage strategies. Many organizations nonetheless depend on simply guessable passwords and weak hashing algorithms, usually with out utilizing correct salting strategies or multi-factor authentication (MFA).
In truth, our survey outcomes confirmed that 46% of environments had at the very least one password hash cracked and transformed to cleartext, highlighting the inadequacy of many password insurance policies, significantly for inside accounts, the place controls are sometimes extra lax than they’re for his or her exterior counterparts.
To fight this, organizations should implement stronger password insurance policies, implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all customers, and usually validate their credential defenses. With out these enhancements, attackers will proceed to compromise legitimate accounts, acquiring easy accessibility to vital methods.
Credential-Primarily based Assaults: A Silent however Devastating Risk
The specter of credential abuse is each pervasive and harmful, but because the Blue Report 2025 highlights, organizations are nonetheless underprepared for this type of assault. And as soon as attackers acquire legitimate credentials, they will simply transfer laterally, escalate privileges, and compromise vital methods.
Infostealers and ransomware teams ceaselessly depend on stolen credentials to unfold throughout networks, burrowing deeper and deeper, usually with out triggering detection. This stealthy motion throughout the community permits attackers to keep lengthy dwell occasions, undetected, whereas they exfiltrate information at will.
Regardless of this ongoing and well-known problem, organizations proceed to prioritize perimeter defenses, usually leaving id and credential safety ignored and under-funded consequently. This 12 months’s Blue Report clearly reveals that legitimate account abuse is on the core of contemporary cyberattacks, reinforcing the pressing want for a stronger concentrate on id safety and credential validation.
Legitimate Accounts (T1078): The Most Exploited Path to Compromise
One of many key findings within the Blue Report 2025 is that Legitimate Accounts (MITRE ATT&CK T1078) stays the most exploited assault approach, with a really regarding 98% success price. Because of this as soon as attackers achieve entry to legitimate credentials, whether or not by way of password cracking or preliminary entry brokers, they will swiftly transfer by way of a corporation’s community, usually bypassing conventional defenses.
Using compromised credentials is especially efficient as a result of it permits attackers to function below the radar, making it tougher for safety groups to detect malicious exercise. As soon as inside, they will entry delicate information, deploy malware, or create new assault paths, all whereas seamlessly mixing in with professional person exercise.
The best way to Strengthen Your Defenses In opposition to Credential Abuse and Password Cracking
To guard in opposition to more and more efficient assaults, organizations ought to implement stronger password insurance policies and implement complexity necessities, whereas eliminating outdated hashing algorithms in favor of safer alternate options. Additionally it is important to undertake multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all delicate accounts, guaranteeing that even when credentials do develop into compromised, attackers cannot simply use them to entry the community with out a further verification step.
Often validating credential defenses by way of simulated assaults is essential to figuring out vulnerabilities and guaranteeing that your controls are performing as anticipated. Organizations additionally must improve their behavioral detection capabilities to catch anomalous actions tied to credential abuse and lateral motion.
Moreover, monitoring and inspecting outbound visitors for indicators of information exfiltration and guaranteeing that information loss prevention (DLP) measures are each in place and working successfully are vital to defending your delicate data.
Closing the Gaps in Credential and Password Administration
The findings within the Blue Report 2025 present that, sadly, many organizations are nonetheless weak to the silent risk of password cracking and compromised accounts. And whereas strengthening perimeter defenses continues to be a precedence, it is also clear that core weaknesses lie in credential administration and inside controls. The report additionally highlighted the truth that infostealers and ransomware teams are leveraging these gaps successfully.
In the event you’re able to take proactive steps to harden your safety posture, cut back your publicity, and prioritize your vital vulnerabilities, the Blue Report 2025 gives invaluable insights to indicate you the place to focus. And at Picus Safety, we’re at all times blissful to speak about serving to your group meet its particular safety wants..
Do not forget to get your copy of The Blue Report 2025 and take proactive steps right now to enhance your safety posture.
