Introduction
The CrowdStrike 2026 Global Threat Report offers one of the clearest pictures available of how the cyber threat landscape is evolving. Drawing on trillions of security events and real-world incident investigations, the report highlights how attackers are adapting their tactics faster than many organisations are adapting their defences.
One phrase defines the report’s conclusions: the rise of the evasive adversary.
Modern attackers are not simply trying to break into systems. They are learning how to move quietly, exploit trust, and operate inside environments without triggering traditional security alerts. For organisations of every size, the implications are significant.
Below we examine the key insights from the report and what they mean for organisations looking to strengthen their cyber resilience.
What Is the “Agentic Era” in Cyber Security?
One of the concepts highlighted in the CrowdStrike 2026 Global Threat Report is the emergence of what it describes as the agentic era.
This refers to the growing use of artificial intelligence systems that can act autonomously to complete tasks. Rather than simply generating text or answering questions, agentic AI systems are able to analyse information, make decisions, and execute actions across multiple digital systems.
Many organisations are now using AI agents to support areas such as software development, data analysis, customer services, and operational workflows.
However, the same technological shift is also influencing the cyber threat landscape.
Threat actors are beginning to use AI systems to automate reconnaissance, generate phishing campaigns, develop malware, and assist with post exploitation activity. In some cases, attackers are experimenting with AI driven tools that can perform elements of an attack chain with minimal human involvement.
This creates two important security considerations.
First, attackers are able to operate faster and at greater scale than before.
Second, AI systems themselves are becoming part of the attack surface, meaning organisations must also consider how their AI tools and data pipelines are protected.
While fully autonomous cyber-attacks remain limited today, the report suggests that this trend will continue to accelerate as AI technology evolves.
Attack Speed Is Increasing Dramatically
One of the most striking findings from the report is how quickly attackers now move once they gain access.
The average breakout time, the time between initial compromise and lateral movement within a network, has dropped to just 29 minutes. In some cases, attackers moved from initial access to attempting data exfiltration in under four minutes.
This fundamentally changes the nature of cyber defence.
Organisations can no longer rely on manual detection processes or delayed incident response. Effective security now depends on continuous monitoring, automated detection, and rapid response capability.
Speed has become the defining factor in modern cyber defence.
Identity Has Become the Primary Attack Surface
Another key finding is that attackers are increasingly operating without traditional malware.
In fact, the report found that 82 percent of detections were malware free.
Instead of deploying malicious software, attackers are using legitimate credentials and trusted systems to move within networks. This includes:
• Stolen login credentials
• Compromised identity providers
• Abuse of SaaS integrations
• Legitimate administrative tools
Because these activities often resemble normal user behaviour, they are much harder to detect using traditional security tools.
For organisations, this reinforces the importance of identity security, access monitoring, and behavioural detection.
AI Is Accelerating Attacks
Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping the cyber threat landscape.
The report notes an 89 percent increase in attacks by AI enabled adversaries. While AI has not yet created entirely new attack techniques, it is dramatically accelerating existing ones.
Threat actors are using AI to:
- Generate convincing phishing campaigns
- Translate attacks into multiple languages
- Assist malware development
- Automate reconnaissance and research
This allows attackers to scale their operations far more quickly than before.
Defenders must therefore operate at similar speed, using automation, analytics, and integrated security platforms to detect threats earlier.
Cloud and SaaS Environments Are Increasingly Targeted
As organisations continue to adopt cloud platforms and SaaS applications, attackers are following them.
The report highlights a 37 percent increase in cloud focused intrusions. Many of these attacks exploit identity weaknesses or misconfigurations in cloud environments.
Cloud environments create complex security challenges because they involve shared responsibility between organisations and service providers.
Visibility across identity, cloud services, and endpoint environments is now essential to maintaining a strong security posture.
Edge Devices Are Becoming a Strategic Entry Point
The report also highlights a growing focus on network edge infrastructure.
Devices such as VPN gateways, firewalls, and internet facing appliances are increasingly targeted by attackers, particularly state sponsored threat groups.
These systems are often overlooked in security monitoring and may lack the visibility that exists for endpoints or cloud workloads.
As a result, attackers are able to gain persistent access to networks by exploiting vulnerabilities in perimeter infrastructure.
For organisations, maintaining rapid patching processes and monitoring edge infrastructure is now a critical component of cyber resilience.
Supply Chain Attacks Continue to Expand
Another key theme is the continued growth of software supply chain attacks.
Rather than targeting organisations directly, attackers increasingly compromise software providers, development environments, or code repositories. This allows them to deliver malicious code through legitimate software updates or trusted platforms.
These attacks exploit the fundamental trust organisations place in their technology providers.
As a result, supply chain risk management and vendor security assessments are becoming increasingly important parts of cyber security strategy.
Key Cyber Security Trends from the CrowdStrike 2026 Global Threat Report
| Threat Trend | What It Means |
| Attack breakout time averaging 29 minutes | Security teams must detect and respond far faster than traditional processes allow |
| 82 percent of attacks are malware free | Identity security and behaviour monitoring are becoming critical |
| AI enabled attacks increased by 89 percent | Automation is allowing attackers to scale operations rapidly |
| Cloud focused intrusions increased by 37 percent | Organisations must strengthen cloud visibility and access control |
| Zero day exploitation increased by 42 percent | Rapid patching and vulnerability management are essential |
| Edge devices heavily targeted | Perimeter infrastructure such as VPNs and firewalls must be actively monitored |
What This Means for Organisations
Taken together, the findings of the CrowdStrike report highlight a clear shift in how cyber-attacks are conducted.
Attackers are becoming:
- • Faster
• More automated
• More identity focused
• Less reliant on malware
• More capable of operating across multiple environments simultaneously
For organisations, this means cyber security must move beyond isolated tools and reactive processes.
Effective protection increasingly requires a unified security approach that provides visibility across identities, endpoints, cloud environments, and networks while enabling rapid detection and response.
A Final Thought
Cyber security is no longer simply about preventing attacks. It is about ensuring organisations can detect, respond, and recover quickly when attacks inevitably occur.
Reports such as the CrowdStrike Global Threat Report provide valuable insight into how the threat landscape is evolving. The organisations that take these insights seriously will be far better positioned to manage risk, maintain operational continuity, and protect the trust placed in them by their customers.
As a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) working with technologies such as CrowdStrike, Amicis Group helps organisations translate threat intelligence into practical cyber resilience.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of your cyber security posture, or explore how these trends may affect your organisation, our team would be happy to help.
You are welcome to call us on 0333 305 5348 or contact us via our Contact Us page to arrange a conversation..
