Cybersecurity Trends for 2026

Throughout 2026, we predict that cybersecurity will be defined less by individual threats and more by how organisations design for resilience in the face of disruption.  

AI is accelerating the pace and scale of cyber risk, eroding the traditional trust models of familiarity, static checks and implicit assumptions, and shifting advantage toward those who can operate, decide and recover at machine speed. As digital ecosystems expand and identities multiply, the traditional boundary organisations rely on to protect themselves continues to dissolve, forcing security, resilience and governance into the core of business and operating models. At the same time, keeping up with the rate of regulatory change and the commercial impact of ransomware and data extortion continue to justify cyber resilience’s place in board-level discussions across all industries.  

For organisations, understanding these trends is no longer about predicting the next attack, but about making deliberate choices to embed cyber resilience into the companies DNA: how trust is established, how risk is governed and how the organisation continues to operate when, not if, cyber disruption occurs. 

Five key trends reshaping the cybersecurity industry: 

1. AI is fundamentally changing the playing field 

For attackers, the barrier to entry has never been lower. Cybercriminals are using AI to scale their attempts at unprecedented pace. From generating wholesale malware code and automating attacks, to crafting hyper-realistic social engineering, including voice cloning, deepfake videos and tailored phishing, with very little effort. As these technologies advance, we are seeing vast increases in synthetic identity fraud cases, which bypass traditional controls and human judgement. A clear example was the $25M transfer of funds from UK engineering firm, Arup, to cyber criminals following an employee’s video call with ‘deep-fake’ members of senior management, highlighting the power and materiality of the risk.  

Additionally, the rise of agentic AI has expanded the attack surface. These AI Agents provide new external entry points for bad actors to exploit, and just like their human counterparts, can cause harm unintentionally through poor alignment, or deliberately if they become compromised. For CISOs managing security for endpoints, supply chains and third-party vendors, this is a constant challenge.  

However, AI isn’t just a powerful tool for attackers. Security teams are also using it to bolster their defence toolkit and scale their own operations. For example, security operations centres are shifting away from manual alert handling toward the strategic oversight of AI-driven detection and response, enabling more predictive and autonomous security operations.  

This shift demands new governance and oversight models, as well as an investment in cybersecurity talent. The ability to combine automation with skilled human judgement is becoming a key differentiator between resilient organisations who have control over the automated decisions defending their businesses vs. those who either lack control or struggle to scale their defensive arsenal in line with growing threats and complexity.  

2. Identity is becoming the primary security perimeter in a zero-trust, cloud-first world 

As organisations continue to adopt cloud-first and zero-trust architectures, identity has replaced the traditional network perimeter as the primary line of defence. Attackers are increasingly focused on abusing legitimate credentials rather than exploiting technical vulnerabilities, making continuous authentication, context-aware access controls and identity-centric security models critical components of modern security architectures. 

This shift holds weight as compromised credentials remain one of the most effective and scalable attack vectors, made more severe when complexed with the rapid growth of machine, service and AI identities. A lack of strong governance, visibility and control over all identity types will see organisations risking the loss of confidence in who or what is accessing their systems and data, threatening their critical business processes. 

3. Security visibility deteriorates

As digital ecosystems expand, the traditional boundary of the organisation is steadily eroding. AI-driven processes, automation and the rapid growth of human, machine and agent identities are reshaping how businesses operate and making it increasingly difficult for CISOs to maintain a clear understanding of what they are securing, where risk genuinely resides and whether existing security controls are working as intended. 

In this environment, security, resilience and governance can no longer sit at the perimeter or remain confined to IT functions. They must be embedded directly into core business activities and operating models in order to restore meaningful visibility, clear accountability and effective control. 

4. Post-quantum cryptography and cryptographic agility are moving from theory to implementation 

Preparations for post-quantum threats are moving beyond theory and into practical architectural planning. As quantum computing continues to advance toward the point where it can undermine today’s cryptographic standards, organisations will need cryptographic agility: the ability to transition to quantum-safe algorithms without major system redesign or disruption. Early industry pilots of post-quantum encryption are already underway, signalling that broader adoption is likely by 2026 rather than at some distant point in the future. 

Failure of today’s cryptography threatens to undermine trust across systems, data and digital transactions in a way that cannot be fixed quickly or locally. Organisations that lack cryptographic agility risk being unable to protect sensitive data, meet regulatory expectations, or respond in time when quantum-safe standards become mandatory, turning a foreseeable transition into a disruptive and costly crisis. 

5. Cybersecurity regulation, geopolitics and resilience: Beyond static compliance 

Cybersecurity regulation is evolving rapidly, shifting from static compliance toward demonstrable resilience in an increasingly politicised cyber landscape. Alongside proposals to criminalise ransom payments and legislation such as the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, organisations must now consider which governments and jurisdictions they implicitly trust with access to sensitive data, systems and security architectures. Cloud concentration, cross-border data flows and lawful access regimes mean geopolitical change can quickly translate into cyber risk. In this context, regulatory requirements like DORA and frameworks such as NIST threaten becoming box-ticking exercises unless reinforced by continuous testing and AI-enabled verification. 

The impact extends beyond compliance into commercial relationships, third-party risk and investor confidence. Regulators and stakeholders expect proof that controls work in practice, while firms must architect their technology to withstand shifts in political alignment. Jurisdiction-aware design, strong encryption with sovereign key control and the ability to isolate or replace services at speed are now core resilience capabilities, helping organisations remain secure and operational even when geopolitics turns digital infrastructure into an attack surface. 

Overall, 2026 is shaping up to be a defining year for cybersecurity. The following success factors will be key in helping organisations strengthen resilience, build trust, outpace competitors and achieve lasting business success: 

Secure AI 

Uncontrolled AI introduces risks that move faster and propagate more widely than traditional, human-driven threats. Deploying securely at scale will require AI to be explicitly incorporated into the enterprise threat model and security strategy, with clear governance over AI agents covering ownership, permissions, lifecycle management and auditability. Firms will need to instil continuous monitoring of their AI workflows for misuse, model drift and data leakage, supported by sentinel models (those that analyse vast amounts of security data to detect, investigate and respond to cyber threats) and real-time oversight. Defensive AI capabilities must also operate with human supervision and clear failover controls, such as kill-switches with well-defined use criteria. 

Identity is the perimeter 

In a zero-trust environment, where attackers are well equipped to bypass technical controls, identity must be treated as the primary security control plane. Organisations implementing adaptive, context-aware authentication across cloud and SaaS environments, while formally governing non-human and AI identities within their identity and access management frameworks, are at the forefront of robust identity management in today’s landscape. Also, as impersonation becomes the dominant attack vector, organisations must address deepfake-enabled fraud through strong verification and transaction controls, where identity signals feed directly into detection and response decisions.  

Visibility replaces boundaries as the control 

As traditional organisational and network boundaries dissolve, businesses must redefine what they are securing. This requires mapping identities, data flows, AI agents and third-party dependencies, and embedding visibility-led security into core business processes and operating models. Continuous control validation should replace reliance on static assumptions, and the CISO’s role must evolve from asset protection to orchestrating enterprise-wide cyber risk with board-level oversight.  

Cryptography must evolve as fast as threats 

Cyber transformation demands cryptographic agility. Organisations need a complete inventory of cryptographic dependencies and data flows, supported by architectures that allow algorithms to be changed without re-engineering the business. Early adoption and testing of NIST-approved post-quantum algorithms, alongside migration planning aligned to data sensitivity and retention horizons, is essential.  

Cyber resilience must be continuous and measurable 

Organisations must move beyond point-in-time compliance to continuously demonstrable cyber resilience across the business. Continuous testing should replace periodic assurance, with AI supporting ongoing validation, detection and response. Security metrics must be directly tied to business risk and regulatory exposure, while Security Operations Centres (SOCs) evolve from alert handling to overseeing AI-driven defence through human-AI collaboration. Workforce upskilling should prioritise judgement, decision-making and AI fluency. Regulators, customers and investors increasingly demand evidence of resilience, not aspirational commitments, making investment in this space a prerequisite for growth. 

Concluding thoughts: 

AI-driven threats, the erosion of organisational boundaries, identity-based attacks, changing regulatory expectations and emerging quantum risk are reshaping the cybersecurity landscape faster than ever before.  

Organisations should aim to reach a place where the cybersecurity function is pulled on by the business as opposed to having to be pushed by the CISO. To do this requires an operating model which prioritises security, resilience and strong IT governance. Organisations who make this shift now will be far better positioned to function with confidence in an environment defined by continuous disruption.