Bottom line: According to Picus Labs’ Blue Report 2026, organizations block attacks at the network perimeter almost flawlessly, but lose detection as soon as attackers move quietly into the internal network.
The new Blue Report 2026 from Picus Labs, based on more than 338 million simulated attacks in real customer environments, shows that organizations are defending the network perimeter more effectively than ever before. At the same time, detection inside networks is increasingly failing because attackers are deliberately relying on stealthy techniques.
In the first half of 2026, Picus Labs evaluated over 338 million real-world attack simulations in production customer environments and summarized the results in the Blue Report 2026. According to the report, average prevention effectiveness at the edge reaches one of the best measured values ever recorded. Attacks that generate classic signatures, loud exploits, or known malware patterns are reliably blocked by current security controls.
However, the report makes clear that this success at the perimeter does not carry over into internal networks. Once attackers have overcome the first line of defense and start moving laterally, detection mechanisms fail significantly more often in many of the environments examined. According to Picus Labs, the cause lies in the fact that successful attackers are increasingly relying on techniques that trigger no alarms — for example, by using legitimate tools, inconspicuous protocols, and gradual, low-noise movement through the infrastructure.
For CISOs, this signals a shift in risk assessment: investments in perimeter protection pay off measurably, but they must not obscure the fact that internal visibility has, in many places, failed to keep pace. Anyone relying on the effectiveness of edge controls without equally testing detection capability within the internal network — for example, regarding lateral movement, privilege escalation, and command-and-control communication — may be overestimating the actual resilience of their own environment.
This has practical implications for prioritizing security programs: regular breach-and-attack simulations that map not only perimeter defense but also explicitly post-exploitation scenarios provide more reliable insights into real detection capability than pure prevention metrics. The Picus Labs report suggests establishing this as a fixed component of validating detection-and-response capabilities, rather than relying solely on metrics for attack defense at the border.
Source: thehackernews.com · Published August 12, 2026
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