2026 Cybersecurity Trends – Interesting Changes to lookout for

Happy New Year Everyone! As we begin 2026 with new dreams, determination and hope, let’s us consider what lies ahead in the cybersecurity space and how this might set us up for success.

In 2026, staying protected will require more than conventional cybersecurity technologies and strategies. In fact, businesses and individuals will face cyber challenges driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI), automation and quantum computing. This new wave of complexity in cyber-attacks will cause an increase in the scope and sophistication of attacks. In 2025, more than 80% of attacks on organizations were successfull and  over 54% of ransomware payers did not recover encrypted data.

These are statistics we would like to leave behind in 2025. However, 2026 looks on course to bring even more attention-grabbing challenges. For example, high profile attacks generated from deepfake photos, audios and videos will be a norm. Let’s take a deeper look at four major trends that will define cybersecurity in 2026.

AI will take center stage in attack & defense

In 2026, AI will empower both cybersecurity professionals and bad actors. Cyber attackers using AI will be able to process vast amounts of data at a faster rate to discover vulnerabilities in IT systems. Furthermore, AI will empower them to conduct high level social engineering attacks such as deepfake video calls to businesses, bespoke phishing emails on governments officials and misleading synthetic audio calls used in advertising campaigns.

Similarly, AI will be at the center of most cybersecurity strategies. Over 50% of security professionals believe AI gives security teams the upper hand over bad actors. Over 84% also prefer AI proficient security tools that allows them to authenticate audio visual and metadata content.

Furthermore, fundamental AI skills will become a required baseline for hiring cybersecurity professionals in 2026. Moreover, security professionals with AI skills will be five times less likely to be laid off. In contrast,  those with an understanding of agentic AI – self-directing, goal driven AI systems that can observe, reason, plan and act – will be vital in the areas of threat detection, security operations and vulnerability management.

The emergence of a cyber resilient strategy

With the evolving sophistication in cyber-attacks, security leaders will switch their defense approach from protection to resilience. While protection emphasizes on keeping attackers out, cyber resilience accepts that breaches can and will happen.  Hence it ensures that policies, operations and architectures can respond to and recover from cyber-attacks.

Business can anticipate a lot more threat modeling, risk assessments and penetration testing to identify and remediate vulnerabilities. This will result in network segmentations, redundancy and failover systems that can withstand the most evasive attacks. In addition, business continuity and disaster recovery planning will be an integral part of the overall risk management strategies of many organizations. Ultimately, this will result in significant reduction in downtime, financial loses and reputation damage.

Increased regulatory compliance

In 2025, TikTok paid $600 million for breaching EU GDPR rules for unlawfully transferring user data to China. In 2026, governments and regulators across the globe will increase compliance requirements for businesses and enterprises. Organizations will increase the use of automated compliance and risk scoring tools. Likewise, security teams will adopt platforms that align with changing national and international standards.

Furthermore, current compliance frameworks are not enough for AI assisted environments. For example, organization’s compliance strategies must address issues like shadow AI. It compromises the confidentiality of health records and financial data when processed with unsanctioned AI tools. Consequently, there will be the need to ensure that cybersecurity policies align with new AI government requirements and regulations including NIST AI RMF, ISO 42001, and the EU AI Act.

Growing awareness of quantum computing

While this is still emerging, quantum computing – the use of quantum mechanics to process information that explores many possibilities at once – threatens to make current encryption algorithms obsolete. In 2026, organizations will begin to explore encryption algorithms that can withstand quantum attacks.

To leverage this technology, bad actors have positioned themselves in a steal now decrypt later scenario. In essence, they harvest stolen data like passwords and rely on the speed and agility of quantum computing to “crack” them later when the technology becomes commercial. Organizations that can effectively evaluate encryption frameworks and implement quantum resistant encryption measures will stay a step ahead of bad actors.

The challenges in the technology and the cyber industry will always evolve. Be it artificial intelligence, quantum computing, regulatory issues or automation. We remain better off when we embrace challenges the best way we can. As technology stakeholders, we are likely to overcome these challenges with adequate preparation, training and determination.