Global Cybersecurity Threat Outlook 2026

In 2025, the threat landscape was dominated by identity‑based attacks, ransomware and extortion, AI‑enabled phishing, social engineering and supply‑chain compromise. Leading indicators included credential theft and abnormal identity behaviour, spikes in highly targeted and AI‑generated phishing and more. Read the report for a detailed analysis.

The report predicts faster, automated, identity‑driven attacks with growing ransomware disruption and persistent supply chain compromises. Risk signals include abnormal identity behaviour and token abuse, AI‑enabled phishing and deepfake impersonation, pre‑ransomware reconnaissance activity, growing third‑party exposure, and increasing regulatory and insurance pressure that can amplify the impact of incidents.

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Organizations should first invest in identity security, then cloud resilience and finally data protection. Critical areas of focus include identity threat detection, strong authentication, continuous cloud monitoring and data controls that prioritize detection and recovery over perimeter defences. Together, these priorities help organizations detect AI‑enabled attacks early, limit blast radius and sustain operational resilience.

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Evolving regulatory and resilience requirements align closely with NIST CSF 2.0’s shift towards outcome‑based risk management rather than simple checklist compliance. Instead of proving they have controls in place, organizations are expected to prove how well they function in practice through identity telemetry, detection and response performance, recovery testing, third‑party assurance and audit‑ready evidence generated continuously from operations.

This approach allows organizations to demonstrate governance, resilience and accountability in a way that directly maps to CSF 2.0’s focus on outcomes and enterprise risk.

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Boards should prepare for faster, stricter and more transparent incident disclosure expectations by treating cyber incidents as governance and business‑continuity events, not simply as technical issues. Boards should ensure clear decision ownership, rehearse disclosure scenarios in advance, align legal, communications and security teams, and rely on real‑time detection and recovery evidence to support timely, accurate disclosures as regulatory windows shorten and accountability intensifies.

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The three most cost‑effective investments this year are identity security, detection‑driven resilience and recovery readiness:

• Strengthening identity controls and identity threat detection and response reduces the highest‑impact attack vector at relatively low cost.
• Improving detection efficacy through behavioural analytics limits blast radius without adding tool sprawl.
• Validating backups and recovery through regular simulations reduces downtime, regulatory exposure and financial loss when incidents occur.

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