When you turn on the computer in the morning, you don't think about perimeters or firewalls. You are thinking about accessing your emails, internal systems, financial applications, and collaborative tools. Unknowingly, it is exactly this everyday gesture that has become the focus of today's greatest digital threats.
Today, the invaders' favorite door is no longer the protected server, but the unaware user with their vulnerable digital identity. In Brazil and Latin America, protecting access has become the new frontier of cybersecurity – a challenge that, when understood by companies as a strategic priority, will completely change the course of the fight against digital attacks.
Compromised access credentials and phishing have become one of the main intrusion vectors today. Recent studies indicate that at least 74% of security incidents involve some human error or social engineering as the initial vector, with phishing being the most frequent method.
In other words, intruders often deceive employees into revealing passwords or clicking on malicious links, paving the way for the invasion. Furthermore, the abundance of leaked credentials on the internet exacerbates this problem: in 2024, Bitsight recorded 2.9 billion unique compromised credentials, a jump from 2.2 billion in 2023. Furthermore, since April 2024, over 19 billion credentials have been exposed globally.
These data explain why digital identities have become the "gold" for hackers – by gaining unauthorized access to legitimate accounts, they can easily bypass traditional defenses.
From perimeter to Zero Trust: identity-centered prevention
Faced with this problem, many companies in Brazil and also in Latin America are rethinking their defense strategies to place identity at the center of security.
Models and controls once considered advanced are now essential to prevent identity threats before they cause harm. Among the main preventive approaches, such as the Zero Trust approach, which significantly reduces the attack surface by limiting lateral movements of intruders who obtain credentials.
In addition to that, multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds extra layers of security to account access, virtually eliminating attacks that rely solely on stolen or phishing-compromised passwords – something reinforced by recent studies showing that almost all compromised accounts did not use MFA.
Meanwhile, robust identity management policies, such as the principle of least privilege and continuous permission monitoring, drastically reduce the gaps available to cybercriminals. Combined with advanced technologies such as Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) and User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA), capable of detecting abnormal behaviors in real time, these practices enable the anticipation of threats and proactive action, preventing small failures or initial deviations from evolving into serious attacks. Thus, organizations can proactively counter modern threats, consistently strengthening their digital defenses.
Regional risks and the urgency of proactive prevention
Adopting this preventive stance focused on identity is not just a trend, but a strategic necessity. Both Brazil and Latin America face specific challenges: ransomware and espionage groups have Brazil as their preferred target, combining efforts of local and international criminals in complex attacks.
Many of these attacks exploit identity security gaps—whether it's a misconfigured server, a VPN protected only by a password, or untrained users falling for scams. Add to that budget and specialized security personnel constraints that affect several local companies, and we have a scenario where prevention is much more effective than remediation.
A serious breach can cost millions of reais in financial damages, service disruptions, and loss of trust. On the other hand, investing in prevention brings efficiency and safety gains: it reduces the occurrence of incidents (avoiding shutdowns), decreases the time spent on emergency responses and investigations, and protects the organization's reputation.
In the public sector and in SMEs, a preventive approach can free up resources before expenses are made "firefighting" to be invested in innovation and growth, while also ensuring compliance with laws such as LGPD and other data protection regulations.
Identity at the center of the strategy
Strategically, investing in threat prevention is ensuring business continuity and trust. Organizations that adopt strong authentication, Zero Trust policies, and continuous account monitoring create a less attack-prone environment and are better prepared for the future. It is about anticipating the opponent, thwarting their favorite techniques, and thus preventing losses before they occur.
In Brazil and Latin America, where the creativity of cybercriminals keeps growing, this preventive approach offers not only greater security but also increased operational efficiency – after all, it is much more effective to build solid defenses now than to deal with the consequences of an incident later.
Making digital identity protection the cornerstone of security strategy is not just advisable: it is what will differentiate resilient and successful organizations in the era of advanced cyber threats.
by Felipe Guimarães, Chief Information Security Officer – CISO of Solo Iron
