Key Takeaways
- The cybersecurity sector faced historic pressure in 2025 due to the rapid adoption of AI tools and the evolving techniques of cybercrime groups.
- Five key trends will shape the cyber landscape in 2026: AI governance and guardrails, cybersecurity regulatory shifts, cyber insurance, CVE crisis resolution, and operational resilience.
- Organizations will need to focus on establishing proper parameters and security for their AI programs to mitigate risks.
- Cybersecurity regulatory shifts will continue to shape disclosures and enforcement, with a focus on operational resilience and managing long-term financial impact.
- Cyber insurance will enter a new phase in pricing and coverage, with insurers scrutinizing enterprise security practices and emphasizing post-breach disclosure.
Introduction to Cybersecurity Trends in 2026
The cybersecurity sector faced unprecedented challenges in 2025, with the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and the evolving techniques of cybercrime groups. As organizations continue to adopt AI to drive productivity and efficiency, they must also prioritize the security and governance of these programs to prevent malicious actors from exploiting them. The past year has seen a significant shift in the way companies approach cybersecurity, with a focus on operational resilience and managing the long-term financial impact of cyber incidents.
The Rise of AI and Its Impact on Cybersecurity
The adoption of AI has moved faster than anticipated, with an international arms race between major economic powers, led by the US and China, to lead AI transformation. Companies are rushing to incorporate AI into their profit models, betting on major gains in productivity and the technology supercharging their core product lines. However, this rapid embrace of AI brings growing concerns over whether companies have created the proper guardrails and governance structures to ensure their AI programs are secure. According to Morgan Adamski, cyber, data, and tech risk deputy leader at PwC, "There is a gap between how fast organizations are adopting AI and the maturity of their governance framework." AI has moved quickly to become one of the top business cyber risks among global companies, with a January report from Allianz Commercial showing AI risk jumped from number 10 to the second-leading business risk concern over the past year.
Cybersecurity Regulatory Shifts and Disclosures
The regulatory environment for cyber has undergone significant changes in the past year, with the Trump administration shifting towards a more nuanced approach to oversight and implementation of cyber risk. This means that oversight in the information security space is not going away but will allow market forces more room to operate. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to drop a landmark civil fraud case against SolarWinds was widely considered a welcome development for the business community. The case had alleged that SolarWinds failed to disclose known cyber risks to investors during the years leading up to the 2020 Sunburst cyberattacks. According to Sagar Ravi, a partner at McDermott Will & Schulte, the decision to drop the case hopefully signals a move to recognize companies should not be punished for falling victim to sophisticated cyber threat actors.
The Evolution of Cyber Insurance
The insurance market has seen its share of turbulence as it struggled to address cyber risk. For years, companies struggled to obtain cybersecurity coverage amid the increased threat of ransomware and fears about the rise of state-linked hackers. However, global insurers have expanded their commitment to cyber risk, and recent legal cases involving war exclusions language related to the NotPetya attacks have provided greater clarity on coverage. Insurers are now heavily scrutinizing enterprise security practices, with Monica Shokrai, head of business risk and insurance at Google Cloud, stating that "if you don’t have phishing-resistant MFA, XDR, and immutable backups, you won’t just pay more. You may not get access to coverage."
The CVE Crisis and Patching Challenges
One of the most pressing challenges for security teams in recent years has been how to identify, prioritize, and remediate critical flaws discovered in widely used software. The security sector was thrown into crisis in April of last year when US government funding nearly collapsed for the Common Exposures and Vulnerabilities (CVE) program. However, an agreement was eventually reached between CISA and the Mitre Corp. to maintain support for 11 months, and CISA officials have pledged to back future funding. According to Nick Andersen, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, "CISA is asserting our leadership role to modernize the CVE Program, broaden adoption of known exploited vulnerabilities, and reduce the prevalence of vulnerabilities by driving adoption of Secure by Design principles."
Operational Resilience and Cyberattack Readiness
During much of 2025, companies around the globe were forced to confront a significant shift in cyber resilience. Cyber threat groups were no longer focused just on the exfiltration of data as their main objective but instead on causing massive disruption to business operations. According to Sam Rubin, senior vice president, Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks, "Over the past year, we witnessed a fundamental shift in the attacker playbook, where financially motivated groups like Muddled Libra (Scattered Spider) moved beyond simple data theft to deliberate operational sabotage." Corporate boards and C-suite executives are under pressure to ensure cyber risk is a key factor in their overall business resilience strategy, with security leaders tasked with developing specific plans on how to maintain operations and protect supply chains in the face of a catastrophic IT or security event.
