Cybersecurity threats evolve as attackers bypass MFA via session cookies

Organizations face evolving cybersecurity challenges regarding multi-factor authentication (MFA) and the protection of legacy systems. While MFA is a standard defense used by approximately 70% of organizations to prevent unauthorized access via stolen passwords, new methods are bypassing these protections.

Threat intelligence firm Flashpoint reports that infostealer malware infected over 11 million machines in 2025, contributing to an underground inventory of 3.3 billion stolen credentials, cloud tokens, and session cookies. Cybercriminals are increasingly shifting from “breaking in to logging in” by using stolen session cookies. These tokens allow attackers to impersonate an already authenticated session, effectively bypassing MFA prompts.

Additionally, securing legacy systems remains a critical concern. Because older infrastructure may not natively support modern authentication, experts suggest implementing MFA as part of a layered defense strategy that includes network security, monitoring, and privileged access controls to mitigate the risks of systems approaching the end of vendor support.