2026 SANS Identity Threats Report: Why Attacks Still Work

The SANS 2026 Identity Threats & Defenses analysis argues that identity attacks persist because credential exposure—via infostealers, breached passwords, compromised browsers, MFA fatigue, and token abuse—occurs upstream of authentication; organizations often detect attacks quickly but fail to contain them because attackers use legitimate credentials and trusted flows across hybrid environments, so defenses must shift to continuously identify and block exposed credentials and reduce reliance on long-lived authentication.