The average time it takes a cyber adversary to move laterally within a compromised network has dropped to a startling 48 minutes, with the fastest recorded breakout clocking in at just 51 seconds. Those figures, drawn from CrowdStrike’s newly released 2025 Global Threat Report , paint a picture of an adversary class that is faster, more sophisticated, and increasingly reliant on identity-based attacks rather than traditional malware. The annual report, which draws on trillions of security events observed across CrowdStrike’s customer base and threat intelligence operations, has become one of the cybersecurity industry’s most closely watched barometers. This year’s edition underscores a fundamental transformation in how threat actors operate — one that should concern every CISO, board director, and IT security professional tasked with defending enterprise networks.…