Executive summary

Think of modern cybercriminals and nation-state actors as their own version of an elite heist crew. Instead of cracking safes, they’re assembling malicious proxy networks and accelerating operations with generative AI. For business leaders, especially CISOs and cybersecurity leaders, it’s now critical to gain upstream visibility into cyber operations before attackers reach the perimeter.

2025: Year in review

Cyber threats in 2025 were shaped less by individual malware families and more by the infrastructure attackers built, borrowed, and hid within. Obfuscation networks and botnets became foundational tools, with multi-layered chains of compromised routers, SOHO devices, Internet of Things (IoT)
hardware, and virtual servers blending malicious activity into everyday traffic. Their constant churn complicated attribution and overwhelmed traditional detection models.

Executive summary The 2026 Lumen Defender

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