Patch or perish: Vulnerability exploits now dominate intrusions

Cisco Talos' Q4 2025 analysis finds exploited vulnerabilities drove nearly 40% of intrusions—often exploited within hours of disclosure (examples: Oracle EBS, React2Shell)—with phishing accounting for 32% of access cases and ransomware declining to 13%; the report urges rapid patching, MFA and fraud detection, limiting internet exposure of vulnerable endpoints, and improved logging to aid response.