The data-driven insights from Red Report 2025 paint a vivid picture of the cyber threat landscape: credential thieves roaming unchecked, a handful of techniques enabling the vast majority of breaches, and new “heist-style” attack sequences that stress-test any organization’s defense. This alarming surge is one of many insights from the newly released Red Report 2025 by Picus Labs, which analyzed over 1 million malware samples to identify the tactics hackers rely on most. Picus Labs researchers describe a new breed of information-stealing malware – dubbed “SneakThief” – that executes multi-stage, precision attacks resembling a meticulously planned robbery. The Red Report shows that such multi-stage “heist-style” campaigns became increasingly common in 2024, with most malware now performing over a dozen discrete malicious actions to reach its goal. The Red Report 2025 underscores that only a proactive strategy, one that continuously assesses security controls with adversarial exposure validation will enable true cyber resilience. For example, given that just ten techniques cover the vast majority of malicious behavior, security teams should regularly validate that their defenses can detect and block those top 10 ATT&CK techniques across their environment. In fact, the top malicious techniques remained largely “human” in origin (credential theft, injection, etc.), with no new AI-born attack methods appearing in the wild. For readers interested in the full deep dive into these trends and the complete list of recommendations, download the complete Picus Red Report 2025 to explore all the findings firsthand. For example, process injection (T1055) – hiding malicious code by injecting it into legitimate processes – appeared in 31% of malware samples analyzed. With those stolen passwords, attackers can quietly escalate privileges and move laterally through networks, making credential theft an incredibly lucrative stage in the cyber kill chain.
This Cyber News was published on www.bleepingcomputer.com. Publication date: Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:05:17 +0000