Key Takeaways
- Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used as a force multiplier across cyber attacks, accelerating the execution of familiar techniques at greater speed and scale.
- Ransomware activity is becoming more fragmented and targeted, with a shift away from centralized ransomware brands toward smaller, decentralized operators.
- Unmonitored devices are playing a growing role in intrusion activity, particularly in large-scale and targeted attacks.
- Cyber activity is aligning more closely with geopolitical conflicts, with threat activity mirroring real-world tensions and cyber operations synchronized to physical and political events.
- Attackers are exploiting the speed, scale, and reduced visibility of their operations to evade detection and maximize impact.
Introduction to the Cyber Security Report 2026
The Cyber Security Report 2026 is a comprehensive publication that consolidates the research efforts of Check Point Research throughout 2025 to deliver a clear, data-driven view of the current threat landscape and its trajectory in 2026. As Check Point’s flagship annual research publication, the report serves as a reference point for security teams, researchers, and industry leaders seeking to understand how attacker behavior is evolving in practice, not just theory. The findings in the report highlight the most significant shifts shaping the threat landscape today, including the increasing use of artificial intelligence, the evolution of ransomware operations, and the growing importance of unmonitored devices in intrusion activity.
The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Cyber Attacks
Artificial intelligence is now embedded across the attack lifecycle, accelerating the execution of familiar techniques at greater speed and scale. Key observations include increasingly convincing social engineering with fewer detectable indicators, faster reconnaissance and targeting, reducing time-to-compromise, and accelerated malware development. Alongside its role as an enabler, AI is now a direct source of enterprise risk, with research in 2025 identifying measurable exposure tied to how organizations deploy and govern AI systems. For example, risky AI prompts increased by 97% in 2025, and 40% of analyzed Model Context Protocols (MCPs) were vulnerable. Elevated trust and autonomy amplify the impact of prompt injection and workflow abuse, making it essential for organizations to implement robust AI governance and security measures.
The Evolution of Ransomware Operations
Ransomware activity continued to increase in 2025, despite multiple law enforcement takedowns of high-profile groups. Research findings show a shift away from centralized ransomware brands toward smaller, decentralized operators, increased use of data-only extortion without encryption, and more personalized extortion tactics based on victim profiling. Shorter attack and negotiation timelines supported by automation and AI are also becoming more common. This evolution reflects a shift toward operational efficiency and decentralized execution, making it more challenging for security teams to detect and respond to ransomware attacks. To mitigate this risk, organizations should implement robust backup and recovery procedures, as well as conduct regular security awareness training for employees.
The Growing Importance of Unmonitored Devices
Unmonitored devices played a growing role in intrusion activity, particularly in large-scale and targeted attacks. Observed trends include the exploitation of routers, gateways, VPN appliances, and other perimeter devices, as well as the use of edge devices for persistent access and lateral movement. Delayed detection due to limited monitoring and patching coverage, as well as supply-chain and vendor ecosystem exposure amplifying risk, are also common. These devices often sit outside standard endpoint and identity security controls, making them an attractive target for attackers. To address this risk, organizations should implement robust monitoring and patching procedures for all devices, including unmonitored devices.
The Alignment of Cyber Activity with Geopolitical Conflicts
Threat activity in 2025 increasingly mirrored real-world geopolitical tensions, with cyber operations synchronized to physical and political events. Key characteristics include coordination between cyber espionage, disruption, and influence campaigns, targeting of infrastructure and information systems linked to regional conflicts, and the use of compromised IoT and surveillance systems to support physical-world operations. This convergence complicates attribution, as activity may involve overlapping criminal and state-aligned characteristics. To mitigate this risk, organizations should implement robust security measures, such as intrusion detection and prevention systems, as well as conduct regular threat intelligence and risk assessments.
Common Patterns in Attacker Operations
Across all major trends, researchers observed consistent patterns in attacker operations, including faster execution cycles, broader targeting with fewer resources, and reduced reliance on custom tooling. These patterns reflect the increasing use of artificial intelligence and automation in cyber attacks, as well as the evolving nature of attacker motivations and tactics. To address these risks, organizations should implement robust security measures, such as artificial intelligence-powered security systems, as well as conduct regular security awareness training for employees.
Chinese-Nexus Cyber Threats
During 2025, Chinese-nexus activity was global by design, with operations that are industrialized, not opportunistic. Edge and perimeter infrastructure were the primary foothold, and routine zero-day and rapid one-day weaponization were common. This highlights the increasing sophistication and scale of Chinese-nexus cyber threats, and the need for organizations to implement robust security measures to mitigate this risk. To address this risk, organizations should implement robust security measures, such as intrusion detection and prevention systems, as well as conduct regular threat intelligence and risk assessments.
Real-World Implications
Based on activity observed throughout 2025, researchers identified the following conditions present across multiple environments: continuous exposure created by misconfigurations, identity weaknesses, and unmanaged assets, increased reliance on identity-based access paths in intrusion activity, measurable risk introduced by ungoverned AI usage, and attack paths spanning cloud, edge, SaaS, and on-prem environments. These conditions highlight the need for organizations to implement robust security measures, such as identity and access management systems, as well as conduct regular security awareness training for employees.
Conclusion
The findings in the Cyber Security Report 2026 reflect sustained observation of real-world attacker behavior rather than isolated incidents or short-term trends. By correlating telemetry, vulnerability research, and active threat investigations across regions and sectors, the report documents how attacker behavior and infrastructure evolved during 2025. As a long-running, data-driven research publication, the report is intended to support informed analysis, planning, and discussion across the security community, from practitioners and researchers to decision-makers responsible for managing risk in 2026 and beyond. To access the full report and explore the underlying data, research methodology, and detailed analysis behind these findings, please download the Cyber Security Report 2026.