In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats, staying ahead of malicious actors is crucial now more than ever. Unit 42, the threat intelligence arm of leading cybersecurity provider, Palo Alto Networks, today published its 2024 Incident Response Report, examining data from all the incidents in 2023 its threat teams responded to. The data paints a concerning picture of escalating cyber threats, revealing a significant decrease in the time between compromise and data exfiltration. In fact, 45% of cases in 2023 saw attackers exfiltrate data in less than a day after compromise, with the median time dropping from 9 days in 2021 to just 2 in 2023. Other key findings from the report include: