BeyondID, a KeyData Cyber company, has officially published the results from a new groundbreaking new report, which reveals that identity credentials are now quickly becoming the primary currency of today’s cybercrime.
Going by the available details, this particular report treads up a long distance to details how identity credentials, including usernames, passwords, tokens, and access rights, are now the “currency of choice” for attackers, thus presenting an urgent need for organizations to prioritize identity-first security strategies.
More on the same would reveal that, named as The Identity Economy: How Gaps in Identity Management Enable and Sustain Cybercrime, the given research explored the ways in which attackers would exploit systemic weaknesses across identity and access management (IAM) systems, why identity has become the most overlooked area of security investment, as well as how businesses can strengthen defenses against increasingly AI-powered threats.
Not just that, the survey in question would also go on to introduce the concept of Identity Exploit Vectors (IEVs), which happens to be a systemic weaknesses in IAM practices that attackers consistently exploit, while simultaneously providing actionable steps to close these gaps.
Talk about the given study on s slightly deeper level, we begin from the fact that identity credential theft now impacts more than 9 in 10 companies. In fact, the given number makes it the most widespread security problem across industries.
Next up, BeyondID discovered how attacks using stolen credentials are the most common initial vector, and at the same time, they are also the longest lasting. We get to say the latter part because these attacks would last for an average of 10 months before detection.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in those 60% of stolen credentials that can be traced to internal actors, most often through inadvertent mistakes.
Hold on, we still have a couple of bits left to unpack, considering we haven’t yet touched upon AI emerging as a force multiplier. This translates to how the technology powers, at the moment; more convincing phishing, automation of credential harvesting, and even targeting of agentic AI identities that carry their own access risks.
Rounding up highlights would be a particular piece of finding which deems financial services and healthcare to be among the most frequently breached industries, with the U.S. healthcare sector reporting a breach affecting 500+ individuals nearly every business day.
Founded in 2017, BeyondID’s rise up the ranks stems from empowering organizations to control access to applications, data, networks, and devices, facilitating continuous regulatory compliance, as well as ensuring seamless user experiences.
The company’s excellence in what it does can also be understood once you consider it has, thus far, created Secure Total Experiences for organizations like Inception Health, Johnson Financial Group, Biogen, Northern Trust, and Cone Health etc.
“Identity has become the new perimeter, yet many organizations still underestimate its role in sustaining the global cybercrime economy. Cybercrime once relied on brute force or network flaws, but now depends on identity,” said Arun Shrestha, CEO of BeyondID. “The stakes have never been higher; yet identity remains one of the most overlooked areas of cybersecurity investment. This report is a wake-up call to prioritize identity as a front-line defense, not a backend concern.”