A key takeaway from M-Trends 2025 is that attackers are seizing every opportunity to further their objectives. One way they are doing this is through the use of infostealer malware, which is increasingly being used to enable intrusions using stolen credentials. Another growing trend is the targeting of unsecured data repositories, which is brought on by the lack of basic security hygiene. Additionally, attackers are exploiting the gaps and risks introduced as organizations continue their migrations to the cloud.

The most common way attackers breached organizations in 2024 was through exploits, which we observed as the initial infection vector in 33% of our investigations. The financial sector continues to be the most targeted industry, making up a little more than 17% of our investigations. Global median dwell time has risen to 11 days from 10 days in 2023. This marks the first increase since the publication of the inaugural M-Trends in 2010 but is still below the 16 days reported in 2022. In M-Trends 2025, we take a look at how adversary notifications—notably in ransomware incidents—influence the global median dwell time metric.