Obrela, a managed detection and response (MDR) provider, says the global threat landscape is shifting away from noisy, high-volume attacks toward quieter intrusions that start with stolen credentials and stick around longer.
That’s the headline takeaway from the company’s 2025 Digital Universe Report, which argues that identity has become the new front door for attackers — think credential abuse, privilege escalation, and lateral movement once they’re inside. The practical impact: fewer obvious red flags, more targeted damage.
The report also claims security teams are getting better at separating signal from noise. Obrela says overall alert volume is down while confirmed incidents are up, which it frames as improved detection maturity rather than a sudden surge in attacker success.
On industry targeting, retail and e-commerce jump to the top of the list, with financial services close behind. Education and asset management are also seeing increased activity, according to the report’s sector breakdown.
Why this matters: as attackers lean harder on identity and early-stage access, many of the familiar defenses — blocking known malware and cleaning up obvious infections — don’t catch the first steps. The report’s advice is predictable but sensible: invest in identity security, behavioral analytics, and continuous monitoring so your team can spot a valid login doing suspicious things before it turns into a full breach.
Obrela is a cyber risk management and MDR company that publishes the annual Digital Universe report based on incident and telemetry data from its customer environments.
