Cybersecurity Policy Report, Profit Motive Drives Most Cyber Attacks, Microsoft Finds, (Oct 17, 2025)
More than half of the cyber attacks over the past year were conducted for profit rather than nation-state espionage, according to an annual Digital Defense Report published yesterday by Microsoft Corp.
“Nation-state threats remain a serious and persistent threat, but most of the immediate attacks organizations face today come from opportunistic criminals looking to make a profit,” the report says.
“Advances in automation and readily available off-the-shelf tools have enabled cybercriminals—even those with limited technical expertise—to expand their operations significantly,” Amy Hogan-Burney, Microsoft’s vice president–customer security & trust, said in a blog post.
“The use of AI has further added to this trend with cybercriminals accelerating malware development and creating more realistic synthetic content, enhancing the efficiency of activities such as phishing and ransomware attacks. As a result, opportunistic malicious actors now target everyone—big or small—making cybercrime a universal, ever-present threat that spills into our daily lives,” Ms. Hogan-Burney said.
“In our sixth annual Microsoft Digital Defense Report, which covers trends from July 2024 through June 2025, we highlight that legacy security measures are no longer enough; we need modern defenses leveraging AI and strong collaboration across industries and governments to keep pace with the threat,” she said.
Nation-state cyber threats haven’t disappeared, but nation-states have increasingly leveraged the cyber criminal ecosystem, she noted.
“Amid the growing sophistication of cyber threats, one statistic stands out: more than 97% of identity attacks are password attacks. In the first half of 2025 alone, identity-based attacks surged by 32%. That means the vast majority of malicious sign-in attempts an organization might receive are via large-scale password guessing attempts. Attackers get usernames and passwords (‘credentials’) for these bulk attacks largely from credential leaks,” Ms. Hogan-Burney said.
The report recommends that the U.S. and allied governments look for ways to deter cyber attacks. “Defensive actions alone to protect critical infrastructure are unlikely to deter nation-state threat adversaries,” it says.
“These are politically motivated activities that must be addressed with political solutions as well,” it adds. “To protect critical infrastructure, political institutions, and civilian systems, governments must build frameworks that signal credible and proportionate consequences for malicious activity that violates international rules.”
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