The Identity Economy

Cybercrime has evolved. Attacks that once relied on brute-force or network vulnerabilities now revolve around something far more valuable and far easier to exploit: Identity.

Across today’s digital landscape, identity credentials—usernames, passwords, tokens, and access rights—are
the currency of choice for bad actors and the cornerstone of modern attacks. 

While security conversations continue to focus on exploits and endpoints, IAM remains one of the most overlooked and underfunded areas of cybersecurity strategy.

In this BeyondID report,  we introduce the concept of Identity Exploit Vectors (IEVs)—the systemic weaknesses in IAM practices, policies, and tools that attackers consistently use to gain entry, escalate privileges, and move laterally across networks. We also delve into how AI adds to the complexity, supercharging phishing, mimicking user behavior, and automating discovery of access paths.