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SonicWall, a partner-first cybersecurity provider, recently released a report on cyber threats that found misconfigurations are driving a surge in cyberattacks in 2025.
9.5 million attacks linked to misconfigurations and basic errors this year
According to the new brief, misconfigurations have been the cause of 9.5 million cyberattacks in the first half of 2025. Basic errors, such as default passwords, exposed admin panels, and authentication failures, are driving breaches.
“While the cybersecurity industry often focuses on zero-day exploits and advanced persistent threats, attackers are still finding success through simple missteps,” said Doug McKee, executive director of threat research at SonicWall. “The fact that misconfigurations remain one of the leading causes of breaches shows that organizations need better visibility, consistent processes, and operational support to avoid repeating the same mistakes.”
The report found that nearly 70 percent of organizations surveyed faced at least one authentication bypass attempt between January and June of this year. Incidents were frequently linked to long-standing vulnerabilities, which attackers will continue to exploit years after initial discovery.
Consulting firms accounted for 46 percent of all misconfiguration-related detections, a disproportionate amount, according to SonicWall.
Directory access, data exposure, and authentication failures result in 88 percent of misconfigurations
The report also states that approximately 88 percent of misconfigurations were in three categories: directory access misconfigurations (45 percent), accidental data exposure (24 percent), and authentication failures (19 percent).
“Misconfigurations are not obscure technical flaws; they are operational challenges that persist because they are difficult to manage at scale,” said McKee. “SonicWall is committed to helping organizations overcome these challenges with a combination of technology, people, and processes that reduce complexity and strengthen protection.”
The report also cites Gartner research, which suggests that by the end of 2025, 99 percent of cloud security failures will be attributed to customer-side misconfigurations, and 80 percent of data breaches will share the same root cause. It states that most organizations have acquired the necessary tools and hired capable personnel; however, they’re lacking consistent processes and workflows for effective security.
How to solve these misconfiguration gaps
Not all is lost, as SonicWall includes a few steps within the report on how to best approach this issue.
According to SonicWall, you need disciplined execution of proven practices, including:
- Starting with identity and access fundamentals, single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) remain effective in reducing credential-based attacks. Implementing role-based access controls to prevent privilege creep and setting up monitoring for unusual login patterns are critical, along with choosing a unified identity provider.
- Build security into your applications from the ground up: Having input validation, server-side access controls, and proper session management built into applications is beneficial. They can be used to establish baseline behavior patterns and identify anomalies before they escalate into incidents.
- Treat configuration management as an ongoing discipline: Configuration management shouldn’t be treated as a one-time project, and organizations should invest in tools that automatically enforce configuration baselines and catch unauthorized changes in real-time. Set up policy templates and schedule regular audits.
- Be honest about your operational capabilities: SonicWall states that breaches can occur because organizations lack the proper staff or expertise to utilize the right technology. Organizations should consider co-managed or fully managed services that can fill the gaps.
Having the right tools for cyber resilience is crucial for organizations, and some of the best tools come from partnerships within the channel. Read more about Cohesity and Semperis partnering on cyber resilience and ID security.
