IR and MDR Cases Highlight Attackers Are Exfiltrating Data in Just Three Days

Compromised Credentials Top Root Causes for Second Year

OXFORD, U.K. — 4月 2, 2025 —

Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today released the 2025 Sophos Active Adversary Report, which details attacker behavior and techniques from over 400 Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and Incident Response (IR) cases in 2024. The report found that the primary way attackers gained initial access to networks (56% of all cases across MDR and IR) was by exploiting external remote services, which includes edge devices such as firewalls and VPNs, by leveraging valid accounts.

The combination of external remote services and valid accounts aligns with the top root causes of attacks. For the second year in row, compromised credentials were the number one root cause of attacks (41% of cases). This was followed by exploited vulnerabilities (21.79%) and brute force attacks (21.07%).

Understanding The Speed of Attacks

When analyzing MDR and IR investigations, the Sophos X-Ops team looked specifically at ransomware, data exfiltration, and data extortion cases to identify how fast attackers progressed through the stages of an attack within an organization. In those three types of cases, the median time between the start of an attack and exfiltration was only 72.98 hours (3.04 days). Furthermore, there was only a median of 2.7 hours from exfiltration to attack detection.

“Passive security is no longer enough. While prevention is essential, rapid response is critical. Organizations must actively monitor networks and act swiftly against observed telemetry. Coordinated attacks by motivated adversaries require a coordinated defense. For many organizations, that means combining business-specific knowledge with expert-led detection and response. Our report confirms that organizations with proactive monitoring detect attacks faster and experience better outcomes,” said John Shier, field CISO.

Other Key Findings from the 2025 Sophos Active Adversary Report:

  • Attackers Can Take Control of a System in Just 11 Hours: The median time between attackers’ initial action and their first (often successful) attempt to breach Active Directory (AD) - arguably one of the most important assets in any Windows network – was just 11 hours. If successful, attackers can more easily take control of the organization.
  • Top Ransomware Groups in Sophos Cases: Akira was the most frequently encountered ransomware group in 2024, followed by Fog and LockBit (despite a multi-government takedown of LockBit earlier in the year).
  • Dwell Time is Down to Just 2 Days: Overall, dwell time – the time from the start of an attack to when it is detected – decreased from 4 days to just 2 in 2024, largely due to the addition of MDR cases to the dataset.
  • Dwell Time in IR Cases: Dwell time remained stable at 4 days for ransomware attacks and 11.5 days for non-ransomware cases. 
  • Dwell Time in MDR Cases: In MDR investigations, dwell time was only 3 days for ransomware cases and just 1 day for non-ransomware cases, suggesting MDR teams are able to more quickly detect and respond to attacks.
  • Ransomware Groups Work Overnight: In 2024, 83% of ransomware binaries were dropped outside of the targets’ local business hours.
  • Remote Desktop Protocol Continues to Dominate: RDP was involved in 84% of MDR/IR cases, making it the most frequently abused Microsoft tool.

To shore up their defenses, Sophos recommends that companies do the following:

  • Close exposed RDP ports
  • Use phishing-resistant multifactor authentication (MFA) wherever possible
  • Patch vulnerable systems in a timely manner, with a particular focus on internet-facing devices and services
  • Deploy EDR or MDR and ensure it is proactively monitored 24/7
  • Establish a comprehensive incident response plan and test it regularly through simulations or tabletop exercises

Read the full It Takes Two: The 2025 Sophos Active Adversary Report on Sophos.com.

ソフォスについて

ソフォスは、サイバー攻撃に打ち勝つための高度なセキュリティソリューションのグローバルリーダーです。2025年2月にセキュアワークスを買収し、MDRを中心にAIに最適化されたサービス、テクノロジー、製品を提供するサイバーセキュリティ業界の先駆者として、新たな展開を迎えました。ソフォスは現在、28,000以上の組織をサポートする世界最大のMDR(Managed Detection and Response)プロバイダーとなりました。ソフォスのポートフォリオには、先進的エンドポイントやネットワーク、メール、クラウドセキュリティが含まれ、Sophos Centralプラットフォームを通じて統合的防御を提供しています。セキュアワークスは、Taegis、ID脅威検出と対応(ITDR)、次世代 SIEM、リスク管理、包括的なアドバイザリーサービスを提供しています。ソフォスは、これらすべてのソリューションを、世界中のリセラーパートナー、マネージドサービスプロバイダー(MSP)、マネージドセキュリティサービスプロバイダー(MSSP)を通じて提供することで、フィッシング、ランサムウェア、データ盗難、などの日常的なサイバー犯罪や、国家主導型サイバー攻撃から世界60万以上の組織を守っています。このソリューションは、Sophos X-Opsによる脅威インテリジェスと、新たに統合されたCounter Threat Unit (CTU) のデータによって強化されます。ソフォスは英国オックスフォードに本社を置いています。詳細は www.sophos.com をご覧ください。