Vulnerability exploitation has officially become the leading cause of cybersecurity breaches for the first time in nearly two decades, according to the latest Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) released by Verizon. The findings highlight how artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the threat landscape, enabling attackers to weaponize software flaws faster than security teams can respond.

The 19th edition of the DBIR revealed that 31% of all recorded breaches now begin with vulnerability exploitation, surpassing stolen credentials as the most common attack entry point. Researchers warned that AI-driven automation is dramatically reducing the time between vulnerability disclosure a...