IR and MDR Cases Highlight Attackers Are Exfiltrating Data in Just Three Days

Compromised Credentials Top Root Causes for Second Year

OXFORD, U.K. — Abril 2, 2025 —

Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today released the 2025 Sophos Active Adversary Report, which details attacker behavior and techniques from over 400 Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and Incident Response (IR) cases in 2024. The report found that the primary way attackers gained initial access to networks (56% of all cases across MDR and IR) was by exploiting external remote services, which includes edge devices such as firewalls and VPNs, by leveraging valid accounts.

The combination of external remote services and valid accounts aligns with the top root causes of attacks. For the second year in row, compromised credentials were the number one root cause of attacks (41% of cases). This was followed by exploited vulnerabilities (21.79%) and brute force attacks (21.07%).

Understanding The Speed of Attacks

When analyzing MDR and IR investigations, the Sophos X-Ops team looked specifically at ransomware, data exfiltration, and data extortion cases to identify how fast attackers progressed through the stages of an attack within an organization. In those three types of cases, the median time between the start of an attack and exfiltration was only 72.98 hours (3.04 days). Furthermore, there was only a median of 2.7 hours from exfiltration to attack detection.

“Passive security is no longer enough. While prevention is essential, rapid response is critical. Organizations must actively monitor networks and act swiftly against observed telemetry. Coordinated attacks by motivated adversaries require a coordinated defense. For many organizations, that means combining business-specific knowledge with expert-led detection and response. Our report confirms that organizations with proactive monitoring detect attacks faster and experience better outcomes,” said John Shier, field CISO.

Other Key Findings from the 2025 Sophos Active Adversary Report:

  • Attackers Can Take Control of a System in Just 11 Hours: The median time between attackers’ initial action and their first (often successful) attempt to breach Active Directory (AD) - arguably one of the most important assets in any Windows network – was just 11 hours. If successful, attackers can more easily take control of the organization.
  • Top Ransomware Groups in Sophos Cases: Akira was the most frequently encountered ransomware group in 2024, followed by Fog and LockBit (despite a multi-government takedown of LockBit earlier in the year).
  • Dwell Time is Down to Just 2 Days: Overall, dwell time – the time from the start of an attack to when it is detected – decreased from 4 days to just 2 in 2024, largely due to the addition of MDR cases to the dataset.
  • Dwell Time in IR Cases: Dwell time remained stable at 4 days for ransomware attacks and 11.5 days for non-ransomware cases. 
  • Dwell Time in MDR Cases: In MDR investigations, dwell time was only 3 days for ransomware cases and just 1 day for non-ransomware cases, suggesting MDR teams are able to more quickly detect and respond to attacks.
  • Ransomware Groups Work Overnight: In 2024, 83% of ransomware binaries were dropped outside of the targets’ local business hours.
  • Remote Desktop Protocol Continues to Dominate: RDP was involved in 84% of MDR/IR cases, making it the most frequently abused Microsoft tool.

To shore up their defenses, Sophos recommends that companies do the following:

  • Close exposed RDP ports
  • Use phishing-resistant multifactor authentication (MFA) wherever possible
  • Patch vulnerable systems in a timely manner, with a particular focus on internet-facing devices and services
  • Deploy EDR or MDR and ensure it is proactively monitored 24/7
  • Establish a comprehensive incident response plan and test it regularly through simulations or tabletop exercises

Read the full It Takes Two: The 2025 Sophos Active Adversary Report on Sophos.com.

Acerca de Sophos

Sophos es un líder mundial e innovador de soluciones de seguridad avanzadas para derrotar a los ciberataques. La compañía adquirió Secureworks en Febrero 2025, uniendo a dos pioneros que han redefinido la industria de la ciberseguridad con sus innovadores servicios, tecnologías y productos nativos optimizados para IA. Sophos es ahora el mayor proveedor de Detección y Respuesta Gestionados (MDR), dando soporte a más de 28.000 organizaciones. Además de MDR y otros servicios, la cartera completa de Sophos incluye endpoint, red, correo electrónico y seguridad en la nube líderes en la industria que interoperan y se adaptan para defender a través de la plataforma Sophos Central. Secureworks ofrece el innovador Taegis XDR/MDR, líder del mercado, detección y respuesta a amenazas de identidad (ITDR), capacidades SIEM de última generación, riesgo gestionado y un conjunto completo de servicios de asesoramiento. Sophos vende todas estas soluciones a través de su red de partners, proveedores de servicios gestionados (MSP) y proveedores de servicios de seguridad gestionados (MSSP) en todo el mundo, defendiendo a más de 600.000 organizaciones en todo el mundo del phishing, ransomware, robo de datos y otros ciberdelitos state-sponsored cotidianos. Las soluciones se basan en la información sobre amenazas histórica y en tiempo real de Sophos X-Ops y la recién añadida Counter Threat Unit (CTU). Sophos tiene su sede en Oxford, Reino Unido. Más información en es.sophos.com.