Ethical Hacking News
A recent report from Verizon's 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report highlights the growing threat of machine credential abuse and third-party exposure. To effectively defend against modern threats, organizations must adopt a unified approach that governs every identity together.
The threat landscape has shifted towards identity security, with machine identities, AI-powered systems, and third-party partnerships creating complex vulnerabilities. Breaches tied to third-party access have doubled year-over-year, with attackers exploiting machine credentials and ungoverned accounts to gain access and exfiltrate data. Organizations must govern all identities — human, non-employee, and machine — within a unified security strategy to defend against modern threats. Third-party risk is a significant concern, with poor lifecycle management creating opportunities for breaches. Machines are an even faster-growing risk than human identities, requiring attention from traditional identity security tools. A unified approach that governs every identity together is essential to defend against modern threats and close critical gaps in defenses.
In recent years, the threat landscape has undergone a significant shift, and one of the most critical areas of concern is identity security. The rise of machine identities, AI-powered systems, and the increasing reliance on third-party partnerships have created a complex web of vulnerabilities that traditional human-centric models are no longer equipped to handle.
The latest report from Verizon's 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) highlights the growing threat of machine credential abuse and third-party exposure. According to the report, breaches tied to third-party access doubled year-over-year, jumping from 15% to 30%. In parallel, attackers increasingly exploited machine credentials and ungoverned machine accounts to gain access, escalate privileges, and exfiltrate sensitive data.
This trend is not confined to any one industry, with healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and the public sector all reporting major incidents stemming from third-party exposure. The message is clear: it's no longer enough to protect your employee users alone. To truly defend against modern threats, organizations must govern all identities — human, non-employee, and machine — within a unified security strategy.
Third-party risk has become a significant concern, with the expansion of partnerships driving efficiency but also creating sprawling identity ecosystems that are ripe for exploitation. Poor lifecycle management, such as leaving contractor accounts active after a project ends or granting excessive privileges to business partners, can lead to breaches.
Machine identities are an even faster-growing risk than human identities, with service accounts, bots, RPAs, AI agents, and APIs forming the digital workforce. However, most traditional identity security tools still treat machines like second-class citizens. This lack of attention has led to credential-based attacks becoming a top initial access method, with attackers targeting ungoverned machine accounts for entry.
The stakes are growing, but most organizations are not equipped to handle this new reality. Fragmented identity governance is no longer a weakness but a liability. Managing employees in one silo, third-party users in another, and machines — if at all — in a third leaves cracks wide enough for attackers to walk through.
To effectively defend against modern threats, organizations must adopt a unified approach that governs every identity together. Consolidating identity security across employees, contractors, partners, service accounts, bots, and AI agents closes critical gaps, boosts visibility, and hardens defenses when it matters most.
The Verizon 2025 DBIR report serves as a wake-up call for organizations to reassess their identity security strategies and adopt a more comprehensive approach. By recognizing the importance of machine identities and third-party risk management, organizations can take proactive steps to fortify their defenses and prevent breaches.
In conclusion, the evolving landscape of identity security demands that organizations rethink their approaches to protect against modern threats. A unified strategy that governs every identity — human, non-employee, and machine — is no longer optional but essential for survival in today's digital era.
Related Information:
https://www.ethicalhackingnews.com/articles/The-Evolving-Identity-Landscape-How-Machine-Identities-are-Redefining-Security-ehn.shtml
https://thehackernews.com/2025/05/third-parties-and-machine-credentials.html
Published: Tue May 6 07:51:09 2025 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
