In this episode of Know Your Adversary, hosts Justin Kohler and Jared Atkinson break down two key theoretical concepts shaping attack path management: the distinction between access graphs vs. attack graphs and the paradigm of identities at rest vs. identities in transit.

They explain why access graphs—maps of who can reach what—don’t tell the full story, and how attack graphs reveal the snowballing effect of compromised identities that accumulate control across environments. With real-world analogies and data points, the conversation highlights why environments with millions of relationships often harbor billions of potential attack paths, leaving defenders with an overwhelming challenge.