University of Kwazulu-Natal

5 Cybersecurity Predictions For 2026

Bonisiwe Shabane
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5 cybersecurity predictions for 2026

2026 is already on the horizon, and if you haven’t already been thinking about how cybersecurity will shift next year, now is the time to start. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to hear security leaders reflect on 2025’s cyber trends. Now, five experts share their predictions for 2026 below. The explosive growth in AI usage represents the single greatest operational threat to organizations, putting intellectual property (IP) and customer data at serious risk. While AI adoption is growing rapidly, enterprises are increasingly exposed to risks related to data security, third‑party AI tools, shadow AI usage, and governance issues. When sensitive IP or Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is entered into unsanctioned AI systems, the data may be used for model training, stored externally, or exposed in unexpected ways, leading to compliance, IP, and...

Organizations must monitor not only sanctioned AI tools but also the growing ecosystem of “micro‑AI” extensions and plugins that can quietly extract or transmit data. A global KPMG and University of Melbourne survey of 48,340 individuals across 47 countries found that 48% of employees admitted uploading company data into public AI tools, and only 47% received formal AI training,... In 2026, three regulatory shifts will dominate the compliance and security agenda. The EU AI Act’s full release in August will require organizations to classify systems by risk, complete conformity assessments, and maintain documentation that reshapes how AI is deployed. The perimeter is gone. Credentials are no longer sufficient.

And security can no longer rely on static controls in a dynamic threat environment. Cybersecurity has always evolved in response to attacker innovation, but the pace of change over the last few years has been unprecedented—particularly with the emergence of weaponized AI to scale phishing, deepfakes, and voice... As we head toward 2026, several structural shifts are becoming impossible to ignore. Traditional security assumptions are breaking down, threat actors are scaling faster than defenders, and identity—not infrastructure—has become the primary battleground. Here are five predictions that will shape the cybersecurity landscape in 2026: 1.

Identity Will Fully Replace the Network as the Primary Attack Surface What if we told you the biggest known vulnerability of 2026 isn’t your tech, but your trust?Welcome to the next era of cyber risk in all its genre-bending, chaotic glory. What sets these trends apart is they’re set to converge across the upcoming year. And in a future that’s sure to test every layer of defense you thought was secure, next year’s threats have gotten personal. Read ahead to learn five emerging trends the Symantec and Carbon Black Threat Hunter team are tracking in 2026. A trend we have seen in multiple attacks this year is attackers gaining access to victim networks not by leveraging zero-day vulnerabilities or using sophisticated software supply chain attacks, but rather by taking advantage...

The breach of the Salesforce instances of multiple companies and organizations worldwide by an attack group called Shiny Hunters in mid-2025 was a prime example of this. The wave of attacks impacted numerous well known companies. These attacks were conducted by the Shiny Hunters extortion group, which targeted Salesforce customers with vishing (voice phishing) attacks to compromise credentials or to trick employees into authorizing a malicious OAuth app in order... The attackers would then steal data and attempt to extract a ransom from the affected company. These attacks echo similar attacks we saw being carried out by the Scattered Spider attack group, which is also known to primarily gain access to victim networks by carrying out sophisticated social engineering attacks. They compromised numerous casinos in Las Vegas in 2023, while in 2025, they deployed the DragonForce ransomware onto the networks of multiple well-known UK retailers.

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

As artificial intelligence becomes deeply embedded in enterprise operations and cybercriminal arsenals alike, the Cybersecurity Predictions 2026 landscape reveals an unprecedented convergence of autonomous threats, identity-centric attacks, and accelerated digital transformation risks. Industry experts across leading security firms, government agencies, and research institutions have identified over 100 critical predictions that define the year ahead, a year where AI evolves from a defensive tool to both the... The stakes have never been higher. With ransomware victims projected to increase by 40% compared to 2024, third-party breaches doubling to 30% of all incidents, and AI-driven attacks expected to dominate 50% of the threat landscape, organizations face a fundamental... This comprehensive analysis synthesizes expert forecasts to provide security leaders, practitioners, and decision-makers with actionable intelligence for navigating the most transformative cybersecurity year in modern history. The most significant Cybersecurity Predictions 2026 trend centers on the industrialization of artificial intelligence in cyberattacks.

Threat actors are deploying agentic AI—self-directed systems that autonomously plan, execute, and adapt campaigns without human intervention. 2026 is already on the horizon, and if you haven’t already been thinking about how cybersecurity will shift next year, now is the time to start. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to hear security leaders reflect on 2025’s cyber trends. Now, five experts share their predictions for 2026 below. The explosive growth in AI usage represents the single greatest operational threat to organizations, putting intellectual property (IP) and customer data at serious risk. While AI adoption is growing rapidly, enterprises are increasingly exposed to risks related to data security, third‑party AI tools, shadow AI usage, and governance issues.

When sensitive IP or Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is entered into unsanctioned AI systems, the data may be used for model training, stored externally, or exposed in unexpected ways, leading to compliance, IP, and... Organizations must monitor not only sanctioned AI tools but also the growing ecosystem of “micro‑AI” extensions and plugins that can quietly extract or transmit data. A global KPMG and University of Melbourne survey of 48,340 individuals across 47 countries found that 48% of employees admitted uploading company data into public AI tools, and only 47% received formal AI training,... In 2026, three regulatory shifts will dominate the compliance and security agenda. The EU AI Act’s full release in August will require organizations to classify systems by risk, complete conformity assessments, and maintain documentation that reshapes how AI is deployed. Cybersecurity predictions for 2026 highlight a decisive shift toward AI-driven defense, autonomous threats, and global regulatory change.

This expert outlook examines the key trends, technologies, and risks shaping the future of cybersecurity worldwide. In 2026, cybersecurity will move from reactive defense to predictive, AI-driven systems that anticipate attacks before they happen. This shift will redefine enterprise security, regulation, and workforce skills worldwide. Today, digital ecosystems expand across artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and hybrid cloud networks. 2026 is positioned as a watershed moment in cybersecurity evolution. The post-2025 threat landscape reflects a convergence of intelligent attacks, decentralized infrastructure, and growing regulatory oversight.

Therefore, cybersecurity demands more agile and autonomous defense mechanisms. AI and IoT technologies are now foundational to global digital transformation. By 2026, an estimated 30 billion IoT devices will be online. IoT devices are going to connect everything from healthcare sensors to industrial robots. Each device introduces new endpoints and potential vulnerabilities. According to Gartner (2025), over 45% of organizations that deploy AI will experience at least one data or model integrity incident per year due to adversarial manipulation.

This proliferation of connected intelligence expands both opportunities and risks. AI systems capable of independent decision-making can accelerate response times. However, it also amplifies the scale of damage if compromised. IoT networks, meanwhile, remain vulnerable to firmware-level exploits, weak authentication, and unmonitored device sprawl. These are making AI-driven intrusion detection essential to prevent cascading system failures. 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...

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