Defenders Face New Challenges As Attack Complexity Grows A new report states sophisticated attacks and a complex threat landscape lead to burnout among security pros. Dark Reading Staff PDF Complex attacks in which adversaries use advanced digital techniques are on the rise, according to a new report. VMware's annual Global Incident Response Threat Report finds cybercriminals are increasingly using emerging techniques such as the manipulation of time stamps, or Chronos attacks, which nearly 60% of survey respondents have observed. The shift to remote work has complicated things for defenders: 32% of respondents have seen attacks in which threat actors use business communication platforms to move around a given environment and launch sophisticated attacks. Following the rush to cloud technology during the COVID-19 pandemic, criminals have continued to exploit cloud environments. Nearly half (43%) of respondents said more than one-third of attacks targeted cloud workloads; 22% said more than half targeted cloud workloads.