Episode 182: Patching Crisis — Vulns Now #1 Attack Vector (2026 Verizon DBIR)

About this episode

The episode discusses the findings of the 2026 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, highlighting the shift in attack vectors from credential abuse to vulnerability exploitation.

Hosts Brad Causey and Spencer Alessi break down the 2026 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, focusing on the findings that actually matter for IT and security teams. The biggest surprise: vulnerability exploitation has overtaken stolen credentials as the top initial access vector, accounting for 31% of attacks, while credential abuse dropped to just 13%. This completely flips the script on years of "identity is the new perimeter" thinking. Topics covered include: Vulnerability explosio...

People in this episode

Hosts: Brad Causey, Spencer Alessi

Topics covered

• vulnerability exploitation
• data breach
• initial access vector
• IT security
• credential abuse
• Verizon DBIR

Keywords

• vulnerabilities
• data breaches
• security teams
• attack vectors
• Verizon DBIR
• credential abuse
• IT security

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Verizon

More episodes of The Cyber Threat Perspective

• Episode 184 | Active Directory Isn't Dead. It's Just Undefended. · June 11, 2026 · 29 min
• Episode 183 | OWASP Top 10 Part 2: Security Misconfigurations That Get You Hacked · June 5, 2026 · 29 min
• [Replay] Episode 159: How to Break Into Cybersecurity — What Actually Works · May 20, 2026 · 45 min
• Episode 181: AI Zero Days (Google Threat Intelligence Report) · May 12, 2026 · 41 min
• Episode 180: Cybersecurity Echo Chambers — How to Think Critically in a Hype-Driven Industry · May 7, 2026 · 29 min
• Episode 179: OWASP Top 10 Part 1 - Broken Access Control, IDOR, and CORS Explained · April 30, 2026 · 29 min