In today's hyper-connected digital landscape, cybersecurity threats are evolving at an unprecedented pace. The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has not only empowered defenders but has dramatically accelerated the capabilities of attackers. What once took weeks or months for cybercriminals to exploit a newly disclosed vulnerability now happens in days, or even hours. This exponential shortening of the disclosure-to-exploitation gap is reshaping the cybersecurity battlefield, often with exploitation occurring before public disclosure. At IntegSec, we believe that traditional, periodic security measures are no longer sufficient. Continuous testing solutions like our Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) are essential to stay ahead in this AI-driven era.
Historically, the time between a vulnerability's public disclosure, often via a Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) entry, and its active exploitation by threat actors provided organizations with a critical buffer to patch and remediate. However, recent trends paint a starkly different picture. In 2025, the average time-to-exploit (TTE) dropped dramatically from 32 days in previous years to just 5 days. This is not an anomaly; it is a consistent downward trajectory fueled by sophisticated tools and rapid information sharing among attackers.
Data from vulnerability exploitation reports underscores this urgency. For instance, 28.96% of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEVs) in 2025 showed evidence of exploitation on or before the day their CVE was published, up from 23.6% the previous year. In the first half of 2025 alone, roughly 28% of observed exploits were launched within one day of disclosure, creating near-zero-day conditions for defenders. Critical flaws are now exploited almost systematically, sometimes as early as the end of the week following disclosure, with attackers concentrating efforts to maximize impact.
Attackers are closing this gap through better reconnaissance and automation. What used to require manual effort now leverages global networks of threat intelligence, where proof-of-concept (PoC) code spreads rapidly. In fact, attackers begin exploiting vulnerabilities within just 5 days of disclosure on average, while it takes organizations over 240 days to identify and contain such attacks. This asymmetry highlights a fundamental shift: the buffer zone is vanishing, leaving organizations exposed if they rely on reactive patching alone.
AI is the game-changer amplifying this speed. Generative AI and large language models (LLMs) have democratized exploit development, making it exponentially easier for attackers to automate and scale their operations. No longer do cybercriminals need deep coding expertise; AI can generate functional exploits for known CVEs in as little as 10-15 minutes at a cost of about $1 per exploit. Systems like these process vulnerability advisories through multi-stage pipelines, analyzing details, creating test applications, and validating exploits against vulnerable systems.
Beyond exploit generation, AI enables autonomous cyberattacks. In a notable 2025 espionage campaign, attackers used AI's "agentic" capabilities to execute attacks directly, researching vulnerabilities, writing exploit code, harvesting credentials, and exfiltrating data without constant human oversight. AI-powered tools automate fuzzing to uncover zero-days faster, generate custom scripts for remote code execution, optimize password cracking, and deploy reconnaissance bots with minimal detection. Malware creation has evolved too; AI can produce obfuscated code, evade detection by adapting in real-time, and automate evasion tactics.
This is not hypothetical: 80% of reviewed cyberattacks in recent research leveraged AI, accelerating reconnaissance from weeks to minutes. Phishing, social engineering, and even deepfakes are now AI-generated en masse, lowering barriers for entry-level attackers while empowering sophisticated nation-state actors. The result? Exploitation timelines that are not just shortened but obliterated, turning theoretical vulnerabilities into active breaches overnight.
Compounding the issue, exploitation often begins before vulnerabilities are even publicly disclosed. These "zero-day" attacks, where flaws are weaponized in secret, represent a growing threat. In the first half of 2024, 58% of confirmed exploited vulnerabilities were weaponized before their exploitation was disclosed. Edge devices like VPNs, firewalls, and remote access gateways are prime targets, with nation-state actors exploiting them pre-disclosure, followed by ransomware groups.
Examples abound: The Fortinet vulnerability CVE-2024-47575 aligned with pre-disclosure exploitation patterns observed in investigations. Similarly, SAP Netweaver exploits tied to China-based actors occurred before full disclosure, later leading to ransomware incidents. Attackers leverage dark web intelligence and automated scanning to identify weaknesses early, turning undisclosed flaws into active campaigns. This preemptive strike leaves organizations blind, as traditional vulnerability management relies on public CVEs that arrive too late.
In this landscape, static, annual penetration tests are obsolete. The solution lies in continuous, proactive security validation through IntegSec's Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS). We act as your dedicated internal pentest squad, providing fractional or full-time coverage with unlimited retests, rapid discovery-to-fix turnaround, and deep risk reduction. IntegSec handles all hiring, vetting, scaling, and logistics, allowing you to focus on your core business without the overhead of building an in-house team.
Our PTaaS delivers continuous offensive cybersecurity testing across external and internal networks, web applications and APIs, cloud security posture assessments, mobile applications, code reviews, vulnerability assessments, and quarterly external vulnerability scans. Testing begins within 24 hours, with the first security findings delivered as soon as the next week. We provide expert remediation guidance, validate all findings for zero false positives, analyze exploit chaining for deeper attack path insights, and integrate seamlessly into your development pipelines for changeset-level evaluations. This minimizes the interval between a bug's introduction and its resolution, shortening discovery-to-fix cycles dramatically.
Flexible subscription plans offer predictable monthly billing and month-to-month flexibility: Starter for essential coverage, Standard adding phishing simulations and LLM red teaming, Advanced including IoT/embedded testing and custom scan frequency, and Comprehensive for full-spectrum services like bug bounty management, red teaming, threat modeling, and fuzz testing. All plans support compliance with standards such as SOC2, ISO, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS, while our elite team, holding certifications like OSCP, OSCE, CISSP, and more, brings decades of experience from top organizations.
Key advantages of IntegSec's PTaaS include:
In the AI era, where attackers use machine learning to write exploits and automate breaches at scale, IntegSec's PTaaS empowers defenders to fight fire with fire, leveraging human-led expertise for thorough, continuous validation while keeping your organization resilient against rapidly evolving threats.
The age of AI has compressed the cybersecurity timeline to a breaking point, with exploitation outpacing disclosure and traditional defenses struggling to keep up. At IntegSec, we are committed to helping organizations navigate this new reality. By adopting our PTaaS, you shift from reactive patching to proactive, continuous risk elimination. Do not wait for the next zero-day. Contact us today to integrate PTaaS into your security strategy and stay one