Ransomware has permanently changed how security leaders think about risk. Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report found that ransomware was involved in 44% of all breaches. For small and midsize businesses, the problem is big; ransomware was involved in nearly nine out of 10 breaches, compared to it playing a role in 39% of incidents among large organizations. Many of these attacks begin by breaching privileged accounts and identity infrastructure, targeting identity because of its reach and influence. Compromising identity infrastructure such as  Active Directory enables adversaries  to escalate privileges and block legitimate users from their own systems within minutes. Even when ...