The Picus Labs Blue Report 2026 analyzed over 338 million attack simulations run in production environments from January to June 2026, mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework. The study found that perimeter defenses block 69% of attacks, matching the 2024 peak. However, post-compromise blocking effectiveness is significantly lower at 37%, indicating attackers' actions after gaining authenticated access are less likely to be stopped. Quiet discovery and credential collection actions are blocked only 10% of the time, allowing attackers to operate stealthily. Logging of attacks is at a four-year high with 58% of attacks logged, but only 14% trigger alerts, suggesting detection engineering gaps. The detection rates vary by attack method; for example, Mimikatz is blocked 94% of the time when targeting LSASS memory but only 3% when targeting the registry, indicating defenses rely on signature detection rather than behavioral analysis.

The findings indicate that while perimeter defenses are relatively effective at blocking attacks, post-compromise detection and blocking are substantially weaker, allowing attackers to perform actions with less chance of being stopped. Low alerting rates despite high logging mean that many attacks go unnoticed in real time, increasing risk of prolonged attacker presence and data compromise. The variability in detection effectiveness by attack method suggests that current defenses may miss novel or stealthy techniques, increasing the likelihood of successful post-compromise activities.

This report does not describe a specific vulnerability or exploit but provides empirical data on defense effectiveness. Organizations should focus on improving post-compromise detection capabilities, enhancing alerting mechanisms to convert logged events into actionable detections, and adopting behavioral detection methods rather than relying solely on signature-based defenses. No specific patches or fixes apply. The data underscores the importance of detection engineering and continuous improvement of security monitoring.