Initial Access Brokers Now Central to Cyberattacks: Report

The market for initial access brokers has expanded rapidly over the past two years, creating a system that allows advanced threat actors to outsource the early stages of an intrusion, according to new research from Check Point. The report says this growth has made it easier for both nation-state groups and criminal actors to breach a larger number of targets. 

Check Point notes that the rise of the IAB economy coincides with the growing use of cyberspace by governments as a tool for projecting power. The firm is urging policymakers and businesses to strengthen identity security, secure software supply chains and improve the resilience of operational technology systems. 

“Once considered peripheral players, IABs have become a critical node in the cyber-criminal supply chain, lowering barriers to entry for sophisticated operations and enabling rapid campaign scaling,” Check Point said. 

By paying IABs to handle initial access at scale, threat actors can move faster and avoid the risks associated with the early stages of an attack. According to the report, “state-backed groups and sophisticated criminal actors can reduce operational risk, accelerate execution timelines, and scale their campaigns across dozens of targets simultaneously.” 

This growing reliance on brokers also complicates attribution. When an IAB is involved, IT teams an

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