Tracking 31.5 Million Credentials Across Five Industries in the US and Europe

The 2026 Credential Exposure Benchmark Report

Benchmark your exposure with this in-depth report from Outpost24, examining credential theft in the US and Europe over the past year.

The Challenge is Prioritizing Credential Exposure

Credential exposure has become a near-universal issue for modern organizations, and security teams now face a growing volume of alerts that vary widely in urgency.

To establish a clearer benchmark, Outpost24 researchers analyzed exposed credentials surfacing across five industries:

  • Financial Services
  • Consumer Goods and Services
  • Government
  • Business Services
  • Healthcare and Medical

The report gives organizations a benchmark for credential exposure, examining how it varies by industry and region, and how much of it indicates active compromise. 

The Numbers Showing Credential Exposure in 2026

4,824

Organizations analyzed across the US and Europe

31.5 million

Credentials analyzed

72%

Organizations with at least one staff or customer credential stolen by infostealers

47%

Business Services firms have malware-stolen credentials, the most of the five industries

844,000

Credentials harvested from infected devices

22%

The average European organization has higher exposure than its US counterpart

Benchmark for Credential Exposure

The report gives organizations a benchmark for credential exposure, examining how it varies by industry and region, and how much of it indicates active compromise. Analysis carried out by the Outpost24 threat intelligence team revealed that the vast majority of exposed credentials came from breach dumps and combolists. These are large collections of leaked login details that cybercriminals compile and share, sometimes grouped by service, like VPN accounts.

The highest risk was concentrated into just 3% of the dataset. These were stolen by infostealers; malicious software that harvests authentication data like login details, session cookies and OAuth tokens, from infected devices. Many of the organizations analyzed had at least one infostealer-sourced credential connected to a staff email address, indicating active compromise of either company hardware or BYOD used for work.

Benchmark Report

Download the 2026 Credential Exposure Benchmark Report

The 2026 Benchmark Report also sets out a risk-based approach that enables security and risk management leaders to move beyond volume-based monitoring and focus resources on the exposures most likely to lead to account takeover.

Credential exposure is widespread; the challenge for security teams is knowing which credentials signal an active compromise.

For the full 23 page report and to benchmark your credential exposure, download now