University of Kwazulu-Natal

Cybersecurity And Risk Predictions For 2026 Key Trends To Watch Forbes

Bonisiwe Shabane
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cybersecurity and risk predictions for 2026 key trends to watch 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

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. 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 is running faster than ever but not necessarily moving forward. In 2026, we’re in for what Lewis Carroll called a Red Queen race - running full speed just to stay in place. AI, automation, and global instability are accelerating threats and innovation in equal measure.

In this blog, I'm exploring these changes, as I've been doing for many years, to help business leaders, CISOs, and cyber-risk owners prepare for what's next. Hackers in 2026 are more organised, automated, and globally networked than ever before. The old boundaries between nation-state, cybercriminal, and hacktivist operations have blurred into a seamless ecosystem of shared tools, data, and AI-powered infrastructure. Their objectives are simple: to control your mind or your money. Today, hackers are no longer only using AI. They’re building fully autonomous, adaptive malware that rewrites its code and changes tactics on the fly, evading static and signature-based defences.

State-backed campaigns continue to escalate, with an increasing emphasis on long-term infiltration and AI-enabled precision attacks. A concerning development is North Korea’s launch of “Research 227,” a government-backed facility dedicated to advancing AI-powered offensive capabilities. Its mission is to build autonomous hacking systems that exploit global vulnerabilities faster than human operators. This signals a new stage of cyber conflict where nations compete for algorithmic superiority, marking the beginning of a digital arms race measured not just in code, but in computation. Speed has become the defining factor of cyber warfare. The time between a vulnerability disclosure and its exploitation has shrunk from weeks to minutes.

Today, AI scans the Internet in seconds, generates exploits in minutes, and autonomously deploys payloads -from ransomware to infostealer campaigns - at scale. The gap between vulnerability disclosure and exploitation is virtually gone, especially for small businesses that lack adaptive controls. Threat intelligence teams report that new CVEs can be weaponized within 15 minutes of publication, with exploit kits sold for as little as $1 on dark-web markets. This industrialisation of exploitation means cybercrime has become fully commoditised, and the barrier to entry has all but disappeared. The traditional “grace period” between disclosure and exploitation no longer exists. In 2026, organisations must assume new CVEs are exploitable almost instantly, and ensure near real-time vulnerability management.

Cybersecurity has become a strategic necessity for businesses, governments, and individuals in today’s hyper-connected world. As digital transformation accelerates, organizations face increasingly sophisticated threats, from ransomware and phishing to AI-powered attacks, that exploit vulnerabilities across industries. Staying resilient requires advanced technology, skilled professionals, and adaptive strategies to protect critical data and operations. IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025 shows the global average breach cost at $4.4 million, with 97% of organizations experiencing AI-related incidents lacking proper access controls. Organizations using AI in security reported $1.9 million in cost savings, highlighting the growing importance of AI-driven defenses. In this blog, we explore key cybersecurity trends, their applications, and why they matter, along with other key emerging threats shaping 2026.

1. Agentic AI Attacks and Autonomous Defenses Artificial Intelligence is transforming cybersecurity for attackers and defenders alike. AI agents can independently scan networks, develop adaptive phishing campaigns, and execute sophisticated attacks. On the defensive side, AI-enabled systems can identify anomalies, quarantine threats, and patch, in real time, vulnerabilities with limited or no human intervention. “According to the RSA Conference, agentic AI introduces new attack vectors like prompt injection and model hijacking, making AI-driven monitoring and layered defenses critical.”

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... Our cyber security products span from our next gen SIEM used in the most secure government and critical infrastructure environments, to automated cyber risk reporting applications for commercial and government organisations of all sizes. Any organisation can be the target of cyber attackers or find itself exposed through the actions of malicious insiders.

Leverage our industry specific cyber security capabilities to help reduce risk. Access our industry-leading resources to improve your cyber resilience Since 1999, Huntsman Security has been on the cutting-edge of cyber security software development, serving some of the most sensitive and secure intelligence, defence and criminal justice environments in the world. Each year, as Huntsman Security sets out to forecast what lies ahead, we are reminded of just how difficult it is to predict the course of technology, cyber security, and the world at large. The pace of change is relentless, and the stakes for organisations continue to rise. 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.

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