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10 Cybersecurity Predictions That Will Define 2026 Forbes

Bonisiwe Shabane
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10 cybersecurity predictions that will define 2026 forbes

Enterprises Will Start Treating AI Systems as Insider Threats. Josh Taylor, Lead Security Analyst, Fortra As agents gain system-level permissions to act across email, file storage, and identity platforms, companies will need to monitor machine behavior for privilege misuse, data leakage, etc. The shift happens when organizations realize their AI assistants have broader access than most employees and operate outside traditional user behavior analytics. The first time an AI agent gets compromised through prompt injection or a supply chain attack and starts quietly exfiltrating customer data under the guise of “helping users,” organizations will realize they built privileged... John Wilson, Senior Fellow, Threat Research, Fortra

AI-Driven Threats: AI is becoming the backbone of modern cyberattacks, powering automated reconnaissance, deepfake social engineering, and faster, more aggressive ransomware. Compliance To Assurance: CMMC and NIST 800-171 move from paperwork to enforceable, evidence-based requirements that spread across U.S. agencies, allies, and regulated supply chains. NIST As Standard: NIST frameworks overtake ISO 27001 as the leading U.S. benchmark, giving auditors, regulators, and customers a common cybersecurity language. Identity & Encryption Focus: Identity compromise remains the top breach vector, while post-quantum prep and key management challenges push a significant rethink of encryption strategy.

Resilience & Platformization: Boards prioritize cyber resilience and recovery over tool counts, driving consolidation into AI-enabled security platforms and continuous supply-chain risk oversight. In what could be described as a banner year for technology advancements, 2025 showed how powerful—and dangerous—AI can be in the wrong hands. With bad actors automating complex attacks, using AI tools to engage in social engineering campaigns and manipulating the AI agent to expose sensitive information, it’s no surprise that the year was a game of... And while the global average of the cost of a data breach fell 9% to USD 4.44 million, the average cost in the US hit a record high of USD 10.22 million. The cybersecurity threats didn’t end with automated chatbots spamming inboxes and tricking AI agents. This year, we saw what could happen when an organization is caught unprepared to deal with the consequences of integrating new tools like AI agents into their workflow: 13% of companies reported an AI-related...

Last year’s cybersecurity predictions touched on AI’s increasingly important presence in the cybersecurity preparedness plan. This year, IBM’s predictions for 2026 center on how the integration of autonomous AI into enterprise environments can be both a boon and a burden, depending on whether the proper security measures are implemented—or... The agentic shift is no longer theoretical; it’s underway. Autonomous AI agents are reshaping enterprise risk, and legacy security models will crack under the pressure. To stay resilient, organizations must drive a new era of integrated governance and security, built to monitor, validate and control AI behavior at machine speed. This transformation requires embedding security into the very fabric of AI development and governance—ensuring agents operate within ethical and operational boundaries from day one.

Anything less risks fragmentation, blind spots and enterprise-wide exposure. AI is accelerating innovation—but also exposing enterprises to unprecedented risks of intellectual property (IP) loss. In 2026, we’ll see major security incidents where sensitive IP is compromised through shadow AI systems: unapproved tools deployed by employees without oversight. These systems often operate across multiple environments, making it easy for one unmonitored model to trigger widespread exposure. This mirrors the rise of shadow IT a decade ago, but with far higher stakes—AI tools now handle proprietary algorithms, confidential data and strategic decision-making. Closing the gap will require security teams to move at the speed of innovation, delivering approved AI tools and governance frameworks that meet employee needs without sacrificing control.

By Adam Metcalfe-Pearce (additional contributions by David Warburton, Ken Arora, Darien Kindlund, Malcolm Heath & Keiron Shepherd) In what is becoming a bit of a tradition at F5 Labs, we once again dust off our crystal ball and wave our collective hands wildly above it as we dive into our cybersecurity... The pace of technological change and advancement continues to accelerate as the potential of AI is realized, the benefits of which are being utilized both for good and bad. Not to be overly dramatic, but the real-world implications on the cybersecurity landscape of these advancements are staggering and thus reflected in our predictions for next year. Cybersecurity professionals will have a whole new vector to consider and will need to be prepared to defend at a scale never before seen. With that out of the way, we can lighten the mood and take a look at how we did in our 2025 predictions.

Keeping up with our past performance, we’ve done quite well again. Okay we might have missed mind-controlled tech wearables, health-monitoring toilets and neuromorphic brain hacking, but otherwise our record remains strong. Our 2024 predictions scored an impressive 80% success rate, and yes, we were marking our own homework, but nevertheless a truly impressive feat in a dynamic year of emerging tech and a diverse set... As organizations accelerate toward 2026, the cybersecurity landscape is becoming more complex, more unpredictable, and more heavily influenced by fast-evolving technologies like generative AI. Threat actors are moving with unprecedented speed, regulatory demands are increasing, and the tools and techniques needed to defend modern environments are shifting just as rapidly. To help security leaders navigate what’s ahead, WatchGuard’s Threat Lab has released its annual Cybersecurity Predictions for 2026, a forward-looking analysis of the key trends, threat evolutions, and industry shifts expected to define the...

Below is a snapshot of several major insights identified in this year’s report. Traditional encryption-based ransomware is expected to decline as threat actors turn their focus toward pure extortion and data theft. Open-source package repositories may begin implementing automated, AI-driven defenses to help identify and mitigate malicious activity in software supply chains. Emerging regulations, including the EU Cyber Resilience Act, are accelerating the industry’s adoption of secure-by-design development principles—making proactive security a requirement rather than an option. Visibility and context on the threats that matter most. Every November, we make it our mission to equip organizations with the knowledge needed to stay ahead of threats we anticipate in the coming year.

The Cybersecurity Forecast 2026 report, released today, provides comprehensive insights to help security leaders and teams prepare for those challenges. This report does not contain "crystal ball" predictions. Instead, our forecasts are built on real-world trends and data we are observing right now. The information contained in the report comes directly from Google Cloud security leaders, and dozens of experts, analysts, researchers, and responders directly on the frontlines. The year ahead in cybersecurity will be defined by rapid evolution and refinement by adversaries and defenders. Read the report to learn about the threat and other cybersecurity trends we anticipate seeing in the year ahead.

Cybersecurity in the year ahead will be defined by rapid evolution and refinement by adversaries and defenders. Defenders will leverage artificial intelligence and agentic AI to protect against increasingly sophisticated and disruptive cybercrime operations, nation-state actors persisting on networks for long periods of time to conduct espionage and achieve other strategic... How Veterans Can Bridge the Cybersecurity Skill Gap If you’re a veteran reading this, chances are you would 10 Hidden VA (GI Bill®) Education Benefits Every Service Member Should Know What Are VA (GI Bill®) Education Benefits and Why Do

Master’s in Cybersecurity vs Master’s in Information Security: What’s the Difference? Author: Marie Strawser, UMSA Managing Director As we look ahead to 2026, the cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve at a breakneck pace. The convergence of artificial intelligence, advances in quantum computing, and increasingly sophisticated threat actors is reshaping how organizations defend their digital assets. Here’s what security professionals should be preparing for in the year ahead. The double-edged sword of artificial intelligence will define much of 2026’s security narrative.

While defenders leverage AI for threat detection and automated response, attackers are wielding the same technology with alarming creativity. Expect to see AI-powered phishing campaigns that are virtually indistinguishable from legitimate communications. These attacks will utilize large language models to craft perfectly contextualized messages, adapting in real-time based on the target’s responses. The days of spotting phishing emails by poor grammar are long gone. On the defensive side, AI-driven security operations centers will become the norm rather than the exception. Machine learning models will predict attack patterns before they fully materialize, enabling proactive rather than reactive security postures.

Organizations that haven’t invested in AI-enhanced security tools will find themselves at a significant disadvantage.

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Enterprises Will Start Treating AI Systems as Insider Threats. Josh Taylor, Lead Security Analyst, Fortra As agents gain system-level permissions to act across email, file storage, and identity platforms, companies will need to monitor machine behavior for privilege misuse, data leakage, etc. The shift happens when organizations realize their AI assistants have broader access than most employees a...

AI-Driven Threats: AI Is Becoming The Backbone Of Modern Cyberattacks,

AI-Driven Threats: AI is becoming the backbone of modern cyberattacks, powering automated reconnaissance, deepfake social engineering, and faster, more aggressive ransomware. Compliance To Assurance: CMMC and NIST 800-171 move from paperwork to enforceable, evidence-based requirements that spread across U.S. agencies, allies, and regulated supply chains. NIST As Standard: NIST frameworks overtake ...

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Resilience & Platformization: Boards prioritize cyber resilience and recovery over tool counts, driving consolidation into AI-enabled security platforms and continuous supply-chain risk oversight. In what could be described as a banner year for technology advancements, 2025 showed how powerful—and dangerous—AI can be in the wrong hands. With bad actors automating complex attacks, using AI tools to...

Last Year’s Cybersecurity Predictions Touched On AI’s Increasingly Important Presence

Last year’s cybersecurity predictions touched on AI’s increasingly important presence in the cybersecurity preparedness plan. This year, IBM’s predictions for 2026 center on how the integration of autonomous AI into enterprise environments can be both a boon and a burden, depending on whether the proper security measures are implemented—or... The agentic shift is no longer theoretical; it’s underw...

Anything Less Risks Fragmentation, Blind Spots And Enterprise-wide Exposure. AI

Anything less risks fragmentation, blind spots and enterprise-wide exposure. AI is accelerating innovation—but also exposing enterprises to unprecedented risks of intellectual property (IP) loss. In 2026, we’ll see major security incidents where sensitive IP is compromised through shadow AI systems: unapproved tools deployed by employees without oversight. These systems often operate across multip...