The Picus Blue Report 2026, based on 338 million attack simulations, reveals that while perimeter defenses are improving, internal security remains highly vulnerable to quiet, non-signature-based cyberattacks.

Key Points

• Average perimeter prevention effectiveness rose to 69%, but post-compromise defenses blocked only 37% of attacker actions.
• Reconnaissance and credential harvesting remain largely undetected, with success rates for blocking these activities as low as 10% to 22%.
• Malware prevention based on indicators of compromise (IOCs) dropped to 50%, down from 71% in 2024.
• Despite increased logging, only 14% of simulated attacks triggered an actionable security alert.
• Ransomware prevention is declining, with top families blocked less than 38% of the time due to reliance on outdated signature-based detection.

Why it Matters

The report highlights a critical disconnect where organizations prioritize loud, signature-based perimeter defenses while leaving internal networks exposed to sophisticated, behavioral-based threats. This trend suggests that current security investments are failing to address the full attacker lifecycle, necessitating a shift toward continuous, TTP-based validation to identify and close internal gaps.