Sophos has released the 2026 Sophos Active Adversary Report. It reveals that 67% of all incidents investigated by Sophos Incident Response (IR) and Managed Detection and Response (MDR) teams last year were rooted in identity-related attacks. The findings highlight how attackers continue to exploit compromised credentials, weak or missing multifactor authentication (MFA), and poorly protected identity systems – often without needing to deploy new tools or techniques.
Key findings include:
- A shift from exploited vulnerabilities toward compromised credentials, with brute-force activity (15.6%) drawing almost level with exploitation (16%) as an initial access method.
- Median dwell time declined to three days. This was driven by attackers’ movements, but also by defenders reacting more swiftly. This was particularly notable in MDR environments.
- Attackers are getting faster at reaching Active Directory (AD). Once an attacker is inside an organization, it takes them just 3.4 hours to get to the AD server.
- Ransomware remains a firmly off-hours activity. 88% of ransomware payloads are deployed during non-business hours. Similarly, 79% of data exfiltration actions take place in off-hours.
• Lack of telemetry undermines defence efforts. Missing logs due to data retention issues doubled over last year. This rise was largely driven by firewall appliances where the default was only seven days, and in some cases, 24 hours.
The report shows a continued rise in attacks rooted in identity compromise, including stolen credentials, brute-force activity, and phishing. While exploited vulnerabilities remain a factor, attackers increasingly rely on valid accounts to gain initial access, allowing them to bypass traditional perimeter defences. There was also a lack of MFA in 59% of cases, facilitating the abuse of stolen and compromised credentials to penetrate an organization.
The most concerning finding in the report has actually been years in the making: the dominance of identity-related root causes for successful initial access. Compromised credentials, brute-force attacks, phishing, and other tactics leverage weaknesses that can’t be addressed by simple patch hygiene. Organizations must take a proactive approach to identity security.
John Shier, Field CISO and lead author of the report
No evidence that AI is changing attacks
Despite widespread predictions, Sophos found no evidence of a major AI-driven transformation in attacker behaviour. While generative AI has increased the speed and polish of phishing and social engineering, it has not yet produced fundamentally new attack techniques.
Defensive actions
Based on the findings of the report, Sophos recommends that organizations:
- Deploy phishing-resistant MFA and validate its configuration
- Reduce exposure of identity infrastructure and internet-facing services
- Patch known vulnerabilities promptly, especially on edge devices
- Ensure 24/7 monitoring through MDR or equivalent capabilities
- Preserve and retain security logs to support rapid detection and investigation.
