Click, Call, Compromise: Hackers Continue to Evolve Tactics
Microsoft’s annual cyberthreat assessment reveals a 32% rise in identity-based attacks in 2025, primarily due to stolen credentials. Infostealers, traditionally post-exploitation tools, are now used as initial access payloads, fueling a cybercrime underground with specialized roles. Despite sophisticated counter-hacks, Microsoft emphasizes that multifactor authentication (MFA) can prevent over 99% of identity compromise attacks.