University of Kwazulu-Natal

5 Cybersecurity Predictions For 2026 Netarx Com

Bonisiwe Shabane
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5 cybersecurity predictions for 2026 netarx com

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. 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. 5 Cybersecurity Predictions for 2026: AI will dominate attacks and defenses, reshaping trust and targeting ERP systems. Moving towards predictive SOCs, organizations will focus on preventing impacts rather than just responding to alerts.

New threats from on-device AI malware will challenge existing defenses, requiring enhanced identity controls and governance. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-5-cybersecurity-predictions-2026/ 🔐 2025 showed us the future of cybersecurity — and 2026 will raise the stakes even higher. This year made one thing unmistakably clear: cybersecurity isn’t just about stopping attacks — it’s about preserving trust in an environment where compromise is increasingly assumed. In 2025, many of the trends predicted for the near future — AI-driven attacks, sophisticated phishing, and supply chain exposure — fully materialized into real risk. What was once “future state” is now today’s reality.

Looking ahead to 2026, the landscape will continue evolving fast: • AI will scale both offensive and defensive capabilities • Identity and continuous verification will become mission-critical defenses • Zero Trust strategies will shift... Organizations are adopting identity-centric security, AI-augmented detection, resilient incident response programs, and Zero Trust frameworks. These are not just defensive technologies — they are trust accelerators for businesses operating in an increasingly hostile digital environment. At Netarx, we believe the future of cybersecurity belongs to those who don’t just react, but who adapt, anticipate, and design systems that make deception fail by design. Threats are evolving — and so are we. Here’s to a more secure, resilient, and confident 2026.

🚀 👉 Read the trends article here: https://hubs.ly/Q03YDQyL0 #Cybersecurity #AI #ZeroTrust #IdentitySecurity #Infosec #Netarx #2026Trends Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2026. Read them in this 18th annual VMblog.com series exclusive. By Andrew Brandt, principal threat researcher; Gina Chow, emerging threat specialist; and Ginny Spicer, threat analyst, Netcraft Every new year creates an opportunity to look at what's come before and plan for what's ahead. 2026 will see a confluence of events that will impact how defenders protect the networks and data entrusted to their care.

From elections and sporting events to the sunset of an operating system and new AI threats, cybersecurity professionals will have a lot to contend with (as usual). Here's what some of the expert team at Netcraft is predicting for the coming year. With Windows 10 reaching end of life in October 2025, many organizations and individuals are expected to resist upgrading, leaving vast numbers of unpatched systems exposed throughout 2026. This will likely lead to a surge in the exploitation of legacy Windows vulnerabilities. Sectors reliant on outdated or specialized infrastructure, particularly in industrial goods and services, will be especially at risk as they often lack the resources or inclination to prioritize regular security updates. - Andrew Brandt, principal threat researcher.

Seasonal and event-driven attack patterns - including phishing waves aligned with tax deadlines, the 2026 Winter Olympics and the U.S. midterm elections - are all likely to be exploited for social engineering lures. Additionally, holiday travel and hospitality brands are expected to be impersonated in large-scale scams. The continued rise of scam call operations, fake investment platforms and cross-group collaboration among threat actors is another area of the threat landscape that will see expansion. Growing partnerships between ransomware and hacktivist groups, such as DragonForce and Scattered Spider, highlight the ongoing convergence of ideological and profit-driven cybercrime, a trend that will likely intensify through 2026. - Andrew Brandt, principal threat researcher.

As we close the book on 2025, the cybersecurity landscape looks vastly different than it did just twelve months ago. The rapid integration of generative AI into offensive toolkits has fundamentally altered the threat matrix. IT security professionals have moved from theoretical discussions about "AI risk" to battling sophisticated, automated campaigns daily. This article provides a structured retrospective of the pivotal security events and trends that defined 2025. We will analyze the successes and failures in handling deepfake incidents and regulatory shifts. Furthermore, we will look ahead to 2026, offering authoritative predictions on how the industry must evolve to meet the next generation of threats.

Specifically, we will examine the necessity of real-time protection and the shift toward cross-channel verification. 2025 was defined by the weaponization of synthetic media. Attack vectors that were once the domain of state-sponsored actors became commoditized, affecting organizations across finance, healthcare, and beyond. The most significant trend of 2025 was the escalation of deepfake technology. We saw a marked increase in "multi-modal" attacks, where threat actors combined deepfake audio (vishing) with synthetic video in real-time communication platforms. Executive Impersonation: C-suite fraud evolved beyond simple email compromise (BEC).

Attackers utilized real-time deepfake video during video conferences to authorize fraudulent transfers. Cybersecurity 2026: trust, AI, and compliance collide: In a Security Magazine expert roundup, leaders highlight accelerating shadow AI, converging security and compliance, deepfake defenses, and the rise of biometrics—signaling that enterprises must prove trust... Protegrity’s quantum–AI outlook on verifiable trust: Protegrity’s Arjun Kudinoor explains how quantum technologies like self-verifying random number generators, combined with agentic AI and data-centric protection, will shift security from “promised” to physically proven—helping organizations... In this expert roundup from Security Magazine, five leaders forecast what’s next in 2026—spotlighting shadow AI, the convergence of compliance and security, deepfake-driven disinformation defenses, quantum–AI security advances, and the mainstreaming of biometrics. Notably, Protegrity’s Arjun Kudinoor argues that the convergence of quantum tech and AI will redefine trust: from “promised” to physically proven through technologies like self-verifying quantum random number generators and agentic AI that adapts... The 2026 agenda blends policy, physics, and pragmatism: organizations must govern how AI is used, verify what data and signals can be trusted, and automate which controls keep pace with machine-speed threats.

The common thread is trust that can be demonstrated continuously—across people, processes, and increasingly autonomous systems. Trust moves from promised to proven:As Arjun Kudinoor notes, quantum–AI advances (e.g., self-verifying randomness) and agentic guardrails will anchor security in physics and continuous verification.

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