5 ways to harden your network against the new speed of AI attacks

**Executive summary:** Mandiant's 2025 survey (summarized by ZDNET) warns that enterprise intrusions are accelerating: attackers now hand off compromised environments in seconds, zero-day exploitation windows have shrunk, and AI is being weaponized for reconnaissance and social engineering; ransomware groups are also targeting backup and virtualization layers to destroy recovery capabilities. The report highlights high-risk vectors—exploits and interactive voice-based social engineering targeting help desks—long dwell times for espionage, and recommends stronger identity controls, decoupled/immutable backups, extended logging, and behavior-based detection.