Initial Access Brokers (IABs) have become a cornerstone of the modern cybercrime economy. Instead of carrying out attacks themselves, these actors specialize in breaking into corporate networks and then selling that access to other criminals. By outsourcing the hardest part of the intrusion, getting inside, they allow ransomware operators, data thieves, and other malicious groups to move straight to exploitation. This division of labor lowers risk for IABs while fueling the speed and scale of attacks across industries.
Why IABs Are Rising
The growth of Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) has created a perfect market for IABs. Affiliates can launch attacks almost immediately once they purchase valid access, cutting down the time it takes to deploy ransomware. In many cases, IABs now work directly with RaaS affiliates rather than advertising on dark web forums, which reduces visibility to law enforcement. This tighter collaboration benefits both sides: ransomware operators scale their operations more quickly, and IABs secure steady demand for their services.
Shifting Targets
The targeting patterns of IABs show how flexible and opportunistic this market has become. In 2023, business services dominated the victim pool, accounting for nearly a third of all observed compromises. By 2024, that dominance shrank to about 13 percent as brokers broadened their focus. Industries across the board are now at risk, with the United States continuing to be the top target due to its economic weight, followed by Brazil and France. The trend indicates that smaller and mid-sized organizations are no longer overlooked; they are now prime targets thanks to the volume-based sales strategy of IABs.
The Economics of Access
Pricing illustrates the strategic change. In 2023, access listings ranged from $500 to $3,000, with an average of around $1,979 but a median closer to $1,000. By 2024, most listings, roughly 58 percent, fell under $1,000. Only a small fraction (7 percent) were high-value sales, though those skewed the overall average upward to about $2,047. The drop in price for most access points signals a pivot toward selling more accounts in bulk, trading individual high-ticket sales for volume. The result is that cybercriminals can launch more attacks for less, increasing both the number of victims and the potential damage.
What’s Next
IABs are expected to remain a key player in cybercrime. Their ability to provide pre-packaged access lowers barriers for less skilled attackers and accelerates timelines for ransomware groups. With prices trending downward and more industries falling into scope, the threat surface is expanding quickly.
Organizations that once assumed they were too small or too obscure to be targeted should reconsider that assumption. As access becomes cheaper and more plentiful, even modest businesses are at greater risk.
What SOC Teams Need to Know
Security teams should treat IAB-driven intrusions as a high-likelihood precursor to ransomware. Early detection of credential misuse, unusual remote access activity, and privilege escalation attempts is critical. SOC analysts should focus on:
- Monitoring for abnormal VPN, RDP, and Citrix activity, particularly logins from unexpected geographies or at odd times.
- Expanding visibility into cloud and SaaS platforms, since stolen access is often resold for these environments.
- Using threat intelligence to track IAB offerings, which often surface on closed forums before access is sold to ransomware affiliates.
- Ensuring credential hygiene, MFA enforcement, and rapid offboarding of stale accounts to shrink the attack surface available to brokers.
By aligning detection and response efforts around the tactics IABs use, SOC teams can catch compromises earlier in the kill chain, before ransomware or data theft occurs.
How Can Netizen Help?
Founded in 2013, Netizen is an award-winning technology firm that develops and leverages cutting-edge solutions to create a more secure, integrated, and automated digital environment for government, defense, and commercial clients worldwide. Our innovative solutions transform complex cybersecurity and technology challenges into strategic advantages by delivering mission-critical capabilities that safeguard and optimize clients’ digital infrastructure. One example of this is our popular “CISO-as-a-Service” offering that enables organizations of any size to access executive level cybersecurity expertise at a fraction of the cost of hiring internally.
Netizen also operates a state-of-the-art 24x7x365 Security Operations Center (SOC) that delivers comprehensive cybersecurity monitoring solutions for defense, government, and commercial clients. Our service portfolio includes cybersecurity assessments and advisory, hosted SIEM and EDR/XDR solutions, software assurance, penetration testing, cybersecurity engineering, and compliance audit support. We specialize in serving organizations that operate within some of the world’s most highly sensitive and tightly regulated environments where unwavering security, strict compliance, technical excellence, and operational maturity are non-negotiable requirements. Our proven track record in these domains positions us as the premier trusted partner for organizations where technology reliability and security cannot be compromised.
Netizen holds ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISO 20000-1, and CMMI Level III SVC registrations demonstrating the maturity of our operations. We are a proud Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) certified by U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) that has been named multiple times to the Inc. 5000 and Vet 100 lists of the most successful and fastest-growing private companies in the nation. Netizen has also been named a national “Best Workplace” by Inc. Magazine, a multiple awardee of the U.S. Department of Labor HIRE Vets Platinum Medallion for veteran hiring and retention, the Lehigh Valley Business of the Year and Veteran-Owned Business of the Year, and the recipient of dozens of other awards and accolades for innovation, community support, working environment, and growth.
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