Report Finds Surge In Malware-Free Cyberattacks And AI-Driven Threats In 2024
SiliconANGLE, Monday, March 3rd, 2025
A new report out today from CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. highlights how cyberthreats evolved significantly in 2024, with attackers shifting toward malware-free intrusions, artificial intelligence-assisted social engineering and cloud-focused vulnerabilities.
The 11th annual 2025 CrowdStrike Global Threat report details a surge in alleged China-backed cyber activity, an explosion in 'vishing,' or voice phishing, and identity-based attacks and the growing role of generative AI in cybercrime.
In 2024, CrowdStrike found that 79% of cyber intrusions were malware-free, compared with 40% in 2019. Attackers were found to be increasingly leveraging legitimate remote management and monitoring tools to bypass traditional security measures. And the breakout time - the time it takes for an attacker to move laterally within a compromised network after gaining initial access - dropped to 48 minutes in 2024, with some attacks spreading in under one minute.