Cybersecurity defenders have once again been shown that relying on reactive defenses is no longer enough.
According to a recent report highlighted by Infosecurity Magazine, nearly 30 percent of known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs) were attacked before they were publicly disclosed or on the same day they were reported in 2025. This marks a significant increase from 23.6 percent in 2024, showing that threat actors are accelerating how fast they weaponize vulnerabilities.
Why This Matters for Business Owners
Traditionally, organizations have relied on a detect and respond model. In this approach defenders wait for vulnerabilities to be published as Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs), map them against their environment, and then prioritize patching. But when nearly one in three exploitable flaws are attacked before public disclosure, this model breaks down. Attackers are getting their strikes in before defenders even know a threat exists.
The VulnCheck State of Exploitation 2026 report noted that in 2025 there were 884 vulnerabilities identified with evidence of exploitation for the first time, a 15 percent increase over the previous year. Attackers are targeting a broad range of technologies, including network edge devices like firewalls and VPNs, content management systems, and open source software. Operating systems in particular were frequently hit by zero-day and one-day exploits before or immediately after disclosure.
The Speed of Exploitation Has Outpaced Detection
The fundamental issue is speed. Threat actors are leveraging automation, shared exploit tools, and even AI-assisted techniques to weaponize vulnerabilities within hours or maybe even minutes of discovery. Attacks no longer wait for a CVE to be published before they strike. Based on broader industry insights, this trend has been building for years: a CSO Online analysis found that zero-day and one-day exploits accounted for around a third of all exploited vulnerabilities in early 2025, leaving defenders with almost no time to patch or mitigate.
For business leaders who manage technology risk, the implication is clear: patching windows have shrunk dramatically. Security teams that depend on standard vulnerability management and reactive detection will frequently be outpaced by attackers. Businesses need security solutions that protect systems before threats execute, not after.
Detect and Respond Is No Longer Enough
The detect and respond paradigm assumes that security tools will identify malicious activity and alert defenders, who then investigate and remediate. This model has been the backbone of many enterprise security strategies. But with zero-day and one-day exploits surging, defenders are spending more time chasing alerts and less time preventing initial compromise. By the time threats are detected, attackers may already have footholds, stolen data, or deployed ransomware.
Relying solely on detection and response leaves businesses vulnerable to rapid strikes that don’t leave clear signatures until it is too late. Especially as ransomware groups and advanced persistent threat (APT) actors use these fast-moving vulnerabilities as entry points, the traditional model is no longer sufficient.
The Case for Isolation and Containment
What is needed instead is a shift toward prevention-first security. That means isolating critical applications and containing potential attacks at the endpoint so that even if an exploit occurs, it cannot escalate or spread laterally through your network.
AppGuard is an endpoint protection solution with a proven track record for exactly this kind of defense. For over 10 years, AppGuard has been protecting high-risk environments by stopping unknown threats through isolation and containment rather than waiting to detect them. It creates an execution boundary around trusted code and prevents untrusted or unknown code from causing harm. This capability is precisely what businesses need today, security that doesn’t wait for signatures or indicators of compromise, but proactively prevents exploitation behaviors from executing.
Real Protection in a Rapid Threat Landscape
With zero-day exploits being weaponized faster than ever; often before defenders know they exist; adopting a security solution that assumes attackers will bypass traditional defenses is critical. AppGuard’s isolation-first model stops exploitation techniques at the endpoint level, effectively neutralizing threats that would evade detection or arrive before patches are applied.
This approach gives organizations a true defensive advantage in an era where patch timelines and vulnerability disclosures no longer align with attacker activity.
Call to Action
Business leaders can no longer afford to wait for alerts and spend valuable time reacting to threats that have already struck. It is time to rethink how security is delivered and move from a model of detect and respond to one built on isolation and containment. Talk with us at CHIPS to learn how AppGuard can help protect your organization from this new reality. Discover how a long-proven, prevention-first approach can keep your business secure against zero-day and rapidly exploited vulnerabilities.
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