Cybersecurity's Identity Crisis: Why Trust Can No Longer Begin and End at Login
TechTarget, Tuesday, August 19th, 2025
Authentication is only a snapshot in time, so trust must be continuously verified through behavioral signals.
Tata Communications cybersecurity VP Vaibhav Dutta argues that the most damaging breaches now involve attackers entering through the front door with valid credentials, as seen in recent attacks on the UK Foreign Office and local councils.
Phishing, infostealer malware, session hijacking, and credential harvesting have made legitimate account access easy to acquire, and the UK's Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025 found phishing affected 85% of organizations that experienced a breach.
Authentication only confirms that correct credentials were presented at one moment, so continuous trust models should reassess risk as behavior changes. Machine learning can flag deviations from an established baseline, catching attackers who blend into normal operations rather than breaking in.