Remote access and trusted administrative tools play a central role in how organizations operate today. According to Blackpoint Cyber’s 2026 Annual Threat Report, they are also increasingly central to how intrusions begin.

Informed by analysis of thousands of security investigations conducted during the reporting period, the report highlights a shift in attacker behavior. Rather than relying primarily on vulnerability exploitation, threat actors frequently gained access by using valid credentials, legitimate tools, and routine user-driven actions.

The report examines these patterns, documents where intrusion activity was disrupted, and presents defensive priorities derived from analyzed incident response outcomes observed throughout 2025.