Why Timely Patching and Credential Management Still Define Cybersecurity Success

With the exponential advancement of cybersecurity technologies and the emerging adoption of modern threat detection systems, organizations have invested billions of dollars in cutting-edge defensive capabilities. In fact, the cybersecurity industry is projected to reach a global market cap of $156.51 billion by the end of 2025, with an expected annual growth of 5.94% until 2030.

Despite these technological and monetary leaps, fundamental baseline security failures continue to plague cybersecurity effectiveness worldwide, costing millions of dollars annually and compromising critical infrastructure across countries. The disconnect between advanced security investments and basic security hygiene creates a paradox: organizations deploy fortress-like perimeters while leaving elementary vulnerabilities and security best practices unaddressed.

Verizon's 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) underscores the paradox. Unpatched vulnerabilities and credential abuse remain the primary exploit of successful cyberattacks. The DBIR findings serve as an essential reminder that no amount of innovative security technology can compensate for poor fundamental practices. Upholding cybersecurity best practices and responding to threats is particularly difficult in environments that manage embedded devices, IoT systems, and critical infrastructure, where even timely patch management poses unique challenges. Yet, as these systems become increasingly connected, ensuring secure operations will be essential to operational excellence.

Key Cybersecurity Findings for 2025

Despite modern security technology advancements, there has been a concerning escalation in the number of successful attacks exploiting basic attack vectors — the vectors security professionals have battled for decades to eliminate. The exploitation of known vulnerabilities experienced another year of growth as the initial access point for breaches, accounting for 20% of all incidents. Representing a substantial 34% increase from 2024, attackers continue to succeed in exploiting unpatched systems despite widespread awareness of best practices for vulnerability management. More significantly, the exploitation of unpatched vulnerabilities is becoming as prominent as credential abuse, which remains the most common attack vector across all breach categories.

Basic attack methods, those requiring minimal sophistication and exploiting fundamental security gaps, remain dominant. With 60% of breaches involving a human element, the data underscores the relationship between technical vulnerabilities and human factors in successful cyberattacks. This combination creates a compound effect, making unpatched systems exponentially more vulnerable when combined with compromised credentials or human error.

The impact is real, with ransomware attacks demonstrating the devastating consequences of these fundamental failures. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) bear a disproportionate burden, with ransomware-related breaches at an alarming 88% overall. In contrast, larger organizations with more robust security infrastructures still face significant challenges, with ransomware comprising 39% of their breach incidents. Vulnerability exploitation and credential abuse are the primary enablers for the most destructive cyberattacks, resulting in operational disruption, financial losses, and long-term reputational damage across organizations of all sizes.

Challenges for Embedded Device Security

Embedded devices present unique vulnerabilities that amplify the fundamental security challenges highlighted in the DBIR findings. Unlike traditional IT infrastructure, embedded systems often operate in environments where routine patching can be complex and time-consuming. Security cameras, access control systems, industrial sensors, and industrial network infrastructure devices frequently remain unpatched for extended periods due to concerns about system stability, operational continuity, and the specialized expertise required to deploy updates safely.

The complexity of device ecosystems in physical security applications compounds these challenges substantially. Modern security installations typically integrate devices from multiple vendors, each with distinct update mechanisms, maintenance windows, and compatibility requirements. Organizations must navigate varying firmware update processes, vendor support lifecycles, and interoperability concerns that often delay the deployment of critical security patches.

Delayed patch deployment remains particularly entrenched in embedded device management. Many organizations defer patching due to legitimate concerns about introducing system instability or creating issues that could disrupt critical functions. This risk-averse approach, while understandable from an operational perspective, creates persistent vulnerabilities that attackers consistently exploit.

In practice, this heterogeneous landscape creates a patchwork of security postures, with some vulnerabilities mitigated and others left unaddressed. As a result, a single unpatched device can compromise the integrity of the entire network.

OTA Updates and Avoiding the Homegrown Trap

When implemented correctly, over-the-air (OTA) updates can provide a streamlined and secure approach to modern embedded device patch management. The remote patching capabilities via OTA updates enable addressing vulnerabilities quickly across distributed device deployments without requiring physical access or extended maintenance windows. For security infrastructure spanning multiple locations, OTA updates solve the fundamental challenge of timely patch deployment while maintaining operational continuity.

Organizations facing these challenges often consider developing custom OTA solutions tailored to their specific operational requirements. The allure of building homegrown systems centers on the perceived advantages of complete control over the update process, customization for unique device configurations, and integration with existing management platforms. Building an OTA update system appears cost-effective and technically feasible, particularly for organizations with strong internal development capabilities.

The reality of OTA update implementation, however, reveals significant challenges that often undermine the intended security benefits. Common failure points include network connectivity issues, incomplete update installations, device bricking during failed updates, and inadequate verification mechanisms that fail to confirm authenticity or successful patch deployment. The technical obstacles of OTA updates frequently result in partially updated systems that may introduce new vulnerabilities while failing to address the original security concerns.

The technical limitations of homegrown OTA systems consistently expose organizations to greater security risks than the vulnerabilities they attempt to address. Custom solutions typically lack basic security, such as role-based access control (RBAC), audit logging, and encryption, that protect against human error in the OTA process and ensure only verified and protected rollouts occur. Furthermore, homegrown OTA systems rarely include robust rollback mechanisms essential for recovery from failed updates; instead, they rely on basic revert processes that may leave devices in unstable or vulnerable states. Insufficient testing frameworks compound these risks, as homegrown systems rarely incorporate the comprehensive validation protocols necessary to ensure update integrity across diverse device configurations and network conditions. Limited scalability further restricts these solutions, creating bottlenecks when organizations need to deploy critical security patches rapidly across large device populations.

Resource allocation presents an additional challenge: developing and maintaining custom OTA capabilities divert security teams from their primary focus: threat detection and response. Organizations investing in homegrown solutions often discover that the ongoing maintenance, testing, and enhancement requirements consume resources that could be more effectively applied to proven security practices and purpose-built enterprise solutions that offer comprehensive update management, extensive testing protocols, and reliable rollback capabilities.

Credentials Management and Vulnerabilities

Credential abuse is the primary enabler of exploiting unpatched systems, creating a dangerous multiplier effect in which compromised credentials give attackers legitimate access to vulnerable devices. As revealed in the DBIR findings, attackers consistently combine credential abuse with vulnerability exploitation to maximize their success rates and minimize detection risks. When weak or compromised credentials grant access to unpatched embedded devices, attackers can execute privilege escalation attacks, install persistent backdoors, and move laterally through network infrastructure with minimal resistance.

Shared service accounts used for maintenance and monitoring devices compound these risks by creating single points of failure that can compromise multiple systems simultaneously.  Credential vulnerabilities become exponentially more dangerous when combined with unpatched devices that lack basic security controls and monitoring capabilities of their own, common in embedded systems.

Robust, purpose-built OTA update solutions address both vulnerability management and credential security through comprehensive access controls and authentication mechanisms. Enterprise-grade OTA update platforms implement role-based access control (RBAC) systems that restrict permissions and capabilities while maintaining detailed audit trails of all access and actions. Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds an extra layer of security by requiring device verification, preventing unauthorized access to the system. Coupling 2FA with integrated security measures, such as code signing for update verification and encryption for further security, demonstrates how purpose-built solutions address the interconnected nature of vulnerability management and credential security, providing holistic protection that homegrown solutions typically cannot match.

Fundamentals First, Innovation Second

With the proliferation of embedded systems and IoT devices over the last decade, mirroring the rise in cybersecurity investments and technology, it can be easy to overlook cybersecurity fundamentals. New AI tools, innovative technologies, and system integrations are released every day; countless new demands must be met to maintain device security. However, the data clearly shows that the baseline best practices of timely patch management remain the primary requirement for secure operations.

With unpatched vulnerabilities and credential abuse still the leading cause of breaches in 2025, it is more important than ever for OEMs to implement robust OTA update systems that reinforce baseline security and prepare for the next level of requirements that will emerge alongside novel developments. By implementing robust OTA update capabilities as a foundation, OEMs will eliminate the top threats posed by unpatched vulnerabilities and credential mismanagement, freeing up bandwidth to focus on product development and future innovation while ensuring embedded cybersecurity best practices.