MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations What They Really Show About Security
MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations What They Really Show About Security When most executives hear “MITRE...
Attackers continue to rely on simple, repeatable weaknesses that organizations leave exposed. Credentials that still work, cloud permissions that were never reviewed, and integrations that quietly expand access remain some of the easiest paths in. These low-hanging fruits exist because identity, cloud, SaaS, and operational security are often managed separately, creating gaps attackers can move through with ease.
Let’s take a closer look at the low-hanging fruits attackers are most likely to exploit in 2026.
Stolen credentials continue to dominate breach investigations because they provide attackers with immediate and legitimate access. Threat actors collect usernames and passwords from past breaches, malware logs, and phishing campaigns, then reuse them across cloud portals, VPNs, and SaaS platforms.
Once attackers authenticate successfully, they avoid many traditional security controls. Activity appears legitimate, logs show valid users, and alerts often fail to trigger. Even when organizations deploy multi-factor authentication, attackers bypass it using social engineering, session theft, or token reuse.
Identity systems now function as primary gateways into enterprise environments. When organizations protect infrastructure but fail to continuously monitor identity behavior, attackers gain access without resistance.
Internet-facing systems such as VPNs, remote access gateways, and management consoles remain high-value targets because they sit at the edge of enterprise networks. These systems often lag behind in patching due to operational dependencies and change management delays.
Attackers automate scanning to identify vulnerable versions and exploit publicly available code within days of disclosure. A single compromised edge device can provide deep network access without interacting with users or endpoints.
The continued exploitation of these systems highlights a persistent gap between vulnerability awareness and remediation execution.
Phishing remains effective in 2026 because attackers adapt faster than defensive training programs. Modern campaigns rely on QR codes, voice impersonation, and MFA fatigue techniques rather than traditional email lures.
Attackers exploit psychological pressure and routine behavior. Repeated MFA prompts lead users to approve requests out of frustration. Convincing voice calls persuade employees to share information or approve access. These techniques bypass technical safeguards by targeting decision-making under stress.
As long as organizations treat phishing as an email problem instead of a behavioral and identity risk, attackers will continue to succeed.
Cloud misconfigurations remain one of the easiest paths into enterprise data because cloud environments grow faster than security governance. Public storage, excessive identity permissions, exposed APIs, and missing logging controls provide attackers with immediate opportunities.
Threat actors scan cloud environments for misconfigurations that require no exploitation. When they find exposed resources, they access data directly or escalate privileges using legitimate service permissions.
Because cloud activity appears normal by default, these intrusions often persist undetected for long periods.
SaaS platforms rely heavily on third-party integrations that use OAuth tokens and delegated access. These tokens often grant broad permissions and bypass reauthentication mechanisms.
When attackers compromise a connected application, they inherit its access rights to core platforms such as email, file storage, or CRM systems. Security controls do not trigger because authentication already occurred.
This makes SaaS ecosystems particularly vulnerable when organizations secure primary applications but fail to govern connected services and token lifecycles.
Default passwords and publicly accessible admin interfaces remain common across IoT, OT, and specialized enterprise systems. Attackers rely on automated scanners to identify these systems and attempt known credential combinations.
Once attackers gain administrative access, they create persistence, deploy backdoors, and pivot into connected networks. These attacks succeed because asset ownership is unclear and security oversight often stops at traditional IT boundaries.
The persistence of default credential exploitation reflects systemic weaknesses in secure deployment practices.
Attackers exploit vulnerabilities as long as they remain present in production systems. Many organizations defer patching older systems due to compatibility concerns or operational risk.
Public exploits for these vulnerabilities remain widely available and easy to automate. Attackers use scanning tools to identify exposed systems and compromise them without specialized skills.
This pattern shows that vulnerability age does not reduce risk. Unpatched systems remain reliable entry points regardless of when flaws were discovered.
Attackers increasingly target help desks and support teams to bypass security controls. By impersonating employees or vendors, they request password resets, MFA changes, or new device enrollment.
These attacks succeed because verification procedures vary, escalation paths differ, and service continuity often takes priority over security validation. A single successful interaction can neutralize multiple layers of defense.
Operational workflows now represent a critical part of the attack surface.
These low-hanging fruits persist because organizations design security in isolated layers. Identity protection, cloud security, vulnerability management, and human processes operate independently.
Attackers exploit the gaps between these layers rather than breaking individual controls. They move through trusted identities, unpatched systems, misconfigured services, and procedural weaknesses.
Fragmentation creates opportunity.
Modern intrusions rarely rely on a single failure. They succeed by moving across identity, cloud, SaaS, infrastructure, and human workflows that are secured in isolation.
The CONNECT framework outlines how organizations can close these gaps and reduce real risk in 2026.
C – Continuous Identity Validation
Identity no longer represents a one-time decision at login. Credentials, sessions, device trust, and privilege levels must be evaluated continuously as conditions change. This includes monitoring session behavior, token usage, and privilege escalation to ensure that access remains justified throughout its lifetime. Without continuous validation, stolen or abused identities become durable footholds rather than short-lived incidents.
O – One View of Risk
Risk does not live in a single domain. Endpoint alerts, cloud misconfigurations, SaaS permissions, identity activity, and operational events must converge into a shared risk context. When signals remain siloed, attack paths remain invisible. A unified risk view exposes how small issues combine to form meaningful compromise paths that individual tools fail to reveal.
N – Normal Behavior Baselines
Modern attacks often look legitimate at first. Security decisions must be informed by how users, systems, and services typically behave across time. Establishing behavioral baselines for access patterns, privilege use, service interactions, and workflows allows teams to detect subtle deviations that static rules and thresholds routinely miss.
N – Narrowed Exposure Windows
Risk is not defined solely by severity. It is defined by how long exposure persists. Misconfigurations, excessive access, unpatched systems, and risky integrations must be identified and reduced quickly. Shortening exposure windows limits attacker dwell time and removes reliable entry points before they can be exploited repeatedly.
E – Enforced Ownership
Every identified risk must map to a responsible owner with authority to act. Findings that lack ownership tend to linger across reporting cycles without resolution. Enforced ownership ensures that risks move from awareness to action, closing the gap that attackers routinely exploit between discovery and remediation.
C – Coordinated Response
Effective defense requires synchronized action across identity, cloud, endpoint, and operational controls. Response efforts must account for how attackers move laterally and escalate privileges, not just how individual alerts are resolved. Coordinated response prevents containment in one area while exposure persists in another.
T – Trusted Operations
Help desks, integrations, automation, and third-party workflows are now frequent attack targets. Trust must be continuously verified within operational processes, not assumed. Strong verification, consistent controls, and auditability across these workflows prevent attackers from bypassing technical defenses through procedural weaknesses.
Conclusion
The most reliable attack paths in 2026 are not hidden or complex. They are familiar weaknesses that remain available because they sit across identities, cloud services, SaaS platforms, and operational processes that are secured separately. Attackers do not need to break defenses when they can move through what already exists.
Reducing risk requires more than identifying issues. It requires connecting signals, shortening exposure time, and responding in a way that reflects how attacks actually unfold across environments. When risks are viewed in isolation, they persist. When they are understood in context, they can be removed before they are reused.
Effective cybersecurity is measured by what never happens. When access is continuously validated, operational trust is verified, and weaknesses are addressed quickly, the easiest paths disappear. That is what changes the outcome in 2026.
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