'This Is An AI Arms Race' - CrowdStrike Warns Attackers Are Moving Through Networks In Under 30 Minutes And 'Security Teams Must Operate Faster Than The Adversary To Win'
CrowdStrike, Wednesday, February 25th, 2026
Hackers have never moved as fast through corporate networks as they do today, new research has claimed, urging businesses to up their game when it comes to online protection.
The latest CrowdStrike 2026 Global Threat Report found the average breakout time is now just 29 minutes, a 65% increase in speed compared to just a year ago. Hackers are able to do this by employing Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), CrowdStrike said.
Based on internal analysis, the researchers found that the fastest observed breakout ever happened in just 27 seconds. In one intrusion, the process of data exfiltration began four minutes after initial access.