Identity Attacks Redefine IR in the Cloud Era

Identity attacks have evolved significantly, forcing security teams to rethink their incident response playbooks. 
 
Previously, compromised credentials were often just one element of a broader system breach, with investigations centered on the organization’s on-premises Active Directory  environment. 
 
Detection and response strategies primarily targeted Active Directory  -related activity within internal networks.
  
Today, the Identity attacks landscape is far more complex. 
 
Identities now extend well beyond traditional infrastructure, encompassing cloud platforms, SaaS applications, and federated identity providers. 

These identities are often created, used, and exploited entirely within a web browser, bypassing legacy perimeter defenses. 
 
Attackers leverage phishing, MFA fatigue, session hijacking, and token theft to infiltrate accounts without triggering classic endpoint or network alerts.
 
The rapid growth of hybrid work, multi-cloud adoption, and SaaS reliance has fuelled identity sprawl, with sprawling accounts, entitlements, and configurations increasing the attack surface. 
 
Misconfigurations, overprivileged accounts, and inadequate visibility into cloud identity activity have made detection and containment more challenging.
 
As a result, incident response teams must adapt by incorporating identity-centric telemetry, continuous authentication monitoring, and automated remediation into their playbooks. 
 
The focus has shifted from solely protecting Active Directory   to defending a distributed, dynamic identity ecosystem where credentials are often the ultimate target.