Overview

• Microsoft warns that adversaries are using generative and autonomous AI to automate phishing, scale social engineering and adapt malware in real time.
• Identity compromise remains the top vector, with phishing and social engineering linked to 28% of breaches and unpatched web assets to 18%, while the United States led observed attacks ahead of the UK, Israel and Germany and government, IT and research sectors comprised 45% of incidents.
• Additional entry points include external remote services at 12% and supply chains at 3%, with attackers increasingly abusing managed service providers, remote monitoring tools, CI/CD pipelines and cloud backups.
• Microsoft outlines five urgent actions for leaders: elevate cyber risk to the board, enforce phishing‑resistant MFA, map and monitor cloud workloads, join intelligence‑sharing networks, and start AI and quantum risk planning.
• Multi‑factor authentication prevents over 99% of unauthorized access attempts, yet adoption remains uneven across organizations.