Adam Yeomans98% of Attacks Are Preventable

Microsoft's Digital Defence Report delivers a startling conclusion: proper implementation of basic security hygiene prevents 98% of attacks. Yet Positive Technologies reports that 93% of penetration tests successfully breach organisational defences using elementary techniques.

This disconnect between what works and what we implement defines the cybersecurity sophistication paradox.

The Elementary Attack Vectors That Still Work

Despite advancing technology, the most successful attack vectors remain embarrassingly basic:

Credential-Based Attacks: Account for 16% of breaches and take 292 days to identify and contain. Attackers don't need sophisticated techniques when users employ identical passwords across personal and professional accounts.

Unpatched Vulnerabilities: 40% of exploited vulnerabilities are four years old or more. Attackers target the window between patch availability and deployment.

Human Engineering: 68% of breaches involve human elements through social engineering, privilege misuse, or simple error. The psychology hasn't changed despite technological advancement.

The Prevention Stack That Actually Works

Organisations with the lowest breach rates implement these four foundational controls:

1. Comprehensive Asset Visibility You cannot protect what you don't know exists. IBM's research shows 40% of breaches involve data across multiple environments, with 35% involving shadow data that correlates to 16% higher breach costs.

2. Working EDR Deployment Beyond purchasing licenses and installing agents, successful EDR requires phased deployment, configuration optimisation, and continuous tuning. Many organisations have EDR deployed, but it’s either poorly configured or not functioning correctly.

3. Systematic Patch Management Risk-based prioritisation with automation transforms patch management from manual burden to systematic process. Critical vulnerabilities affecting internet-facing systems demand patches within seven days without exception.

4. End-of-Life Equipment Management Legacy systems accumulate vulnerabilities without remediation options. Vendors cease security updates, creating permanent attack vectors that sophisticated detection cannot address.

The ROI Reality Check

Consider the mathematics: basic security hygiene costing hundreds of thousands annually versus advanced detection platforms costing millions. Prevention eliminates incidents whilst detection only reduces impact after compromise occurs.

With breach costs averaging $4.88 million and increasing 10% annually, prevention programmes provide demonstrable ROI that detection platforms struggle to match.

Implementation Priorities

Start with asset discovery across your entire environment—on-premise, cloud, and hybrid. Implement automated discovery combining network-based scanning, agent-based reporting, and API integrations.

Deploy EDR systematically with proper configuration rather than broad installation with default settings. Begin with critical systems and expand methodically.

Establish automated patch management with risk-based prioritisation. Critical vulnerabilities demand immediate attention whilst low-severity patches can follow scheduled maintenance windows.

Document and plan end-of-life system replacement before vulnerabilities accumulate beyond remediation.

Learn how BGF Investment Management achieved comprehensive asset visibility across their complex environment, or discover how ThreatAware's Continuous Controls Monitoring transforms security hygiene from manual processes to automated validation.

Beyond Technology: Cultural Change

The sophistication paradox persists because organisational culture celebrates detecting sophisticated attacks rather than preventing basic ones. Security teams gain recognition for incident response rather than incident prevention.

Change requires leadership messaging that emphasises prevention over detection consistently. Celebrate metrics like "days without security incidents" rather than "mean time to detection".

Microsoft's research isn't vendor marketing; it's empirical analysis of millions of attacks. The 98% statistic represents an achievable reality when organisations implement proven fundamentals rather than chasing advanced threats.