- What: A new report indicates attackers are shifting from ransomware encryption to stealth tactics, optimizing for residency rather than disruption.
- Impact: Organizations need to adapt their defenses to detect and prevent stealthy attacks that prioritize long-term presence over immediate disruption.
For years, ransomware encryption functioned as the industry’s alarm bell. When systems locked up, defenders knew an attack had occurred. Not anymore. New empirical data show that attackers are actively dismantling that signal. According to Picus Security’s Red Report 2026, adversaries are no longer optimizing for disruption; they’re optimizing for residency. Based on a thorough analysis of more than 1.1 million malicious files and 15.5 million adversarial actions from 2025, this year’s report documents a … More → The post The era of the Digital Parasite: Why stealth has replaced ransomware appeared first on Help Net Security .