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Increase in Stealthy Persistence and Evasion Techniques for Data Extortion

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1 unique sources, 1 articles

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Threat actors are increasingly favoring stealthy persistence and evasion techniques to silently exfiltrate data for extortion. According to Picus Security's Red Report 2026, attackers are blending in with legitimate traffic and operating through trusted processes to stay hidden from network defenders. Process injection remains the top malicious technique, enabling attackers to hide malicious code inside legitimate applications. Additionally, attackers are routing command-and-control (C2) traffic through high-reputation services like OpenAI and AWS to evade detection. The use of 'data encrypted for impact' has dropped by 38% annually, indicating a shift towards silent data exfiltration. The report also highlights sophisticated evasion techniques such as LummaC2 infostealer malware, which uses trigonometry to detect sandbox environments and avoid detonation. Virtualization/sandbox evasion is now the fourth most prevalent MITRE ATT&CK technique observed.

Timeline

  1. 10.02.2026 16:00 1 articles · 9h ago

    Picus Security Reports Increase in Stealthy Persistence and Evasion Techniques

    Picus Security's Red Report 2026 reveals that threat actors are increasingly using stealthy persistence and evasion techniques to silently exfiltrate data for extortion. The report highlights the use of process injection, C2 traffic routing through high-reputation services, and sophisticated evasion techniques like LummaC2 infostealer malware. The shift towards silent data exfiltration is evident, with a 38% annual drop in the use of 'data encrypted for impact.' The report also notes the rising complexity of malware, which now carries out an average of 14 malicious actions and 12 ATT&CK techniques per sample.

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