Happy New Year 2026
Happy New Year 2026
Happy New Year to my colleagues, partners, and the wider security community!
As we step into 2026, I hope you all had a restful festive break. While the holidays are a time to disconnect, for those of us in the trenches of cyber defense, the start of a new year always brings a unique mix of reflection and anticipation.
We are entering a year where the ‘roadmap’ isn’t just a document it’s our survival guide. Before we dive into the deep technical shifts of the coming year, I want to thank you for being part of this journey.
Here’s to a 2026 defined by resilience, innovation, and staying one step ahead of the curve.
Dr Erdal Ozkaya
10 key trends in cybersecurity for 2026:
- AI-Driven Threats:
Expect a rise in AI-driven attacks, including autonomous AI agents that can autonomously plan and execute cyberattacks, significantly increasing the sophistication of threats.
2. Identity-Centric Attacks:
Organizations will face a surge in identity-focused attacks, as attackers exploit gaps in how identities are managed and secured.
3. Resilience Over Prevention:
There will be a shift towards building resilient systems that can recover from catastrophic incidents rather than focusing solely on prevention.
4. Hyper-Personalized Phishing:
AI will enable more sophisticated phishing campaigns that analyze communication styles and craft contextually relevant messages.
5. Increased Ransomware Incidents:
Ransomware attacks are projected to increase, with organizations facing challenges in managing the costs and impacts of breaches.
6. Integration of AI into Security:
Organizations will need to integrate AI into their security strategies, ensuring that AI tools are developed and governed to protect against potential risks.
7 Emerging Quantum Technologies:
The development of quantum computers will introduce new challenges and opportunities in cybersecurity, requiring organizations to adapt their security measures.
8. Geopolitical Tensions:
Cybersecurity will increasingly be influenced by geopolitical and ideological tensions, leading to more complex and targeted attacks.
9. Continuous Monitoring and AI-Driven Detection:
Organizations will need to implement continuous monitoring and AI-driven detection capabilities to stay ahead of evolving threats.
10. Shift in Compliance Focus:
Compliance will evolve from a mere check-in to a competitive advantage, requiring organizations to adapt their security practices accordingly.
These trends highlight the dynamic nature of cybersecurity and the need for organizations to remain vigilant and innovative in their approach to protecting against emerging threats.
So, how does this data shape our future? Based on the trajectory of 2025, here is what I told the SECON audience to prepare for.
1. The Era of “Agentic AI” Attacks
In 2024 and 2025, attackers used AI to write better phishing emails. In 2026, they will use AI Agents. These are autonomous software loops that can be given a goal—“Scan this network, find a vulnerability, and exploit it”—and they will execute it without human intervention.
- The Threat: The speed of attacks will move from “human speed” (minutes/hours) to “machine speed” (milliseconds).
- The Defense: We cannot fight machines with humans. We will need Autonomous SOCs (Tier-1 AI Analysts) that can detect and patch holes in real-time.
2. “Shadow AI” Becomes the Main Leak Vector
I asked the room: “Who here uses ChatGPT or Gemini at work?” Half the hands went up. Then I asked: “Who is authorized to do so?” Half the hands went down. This is Shadow AI. Well-meaning employees are pasting code, legal contracts, and customer PII into public LLMs to “get work done faster.” In 2026, we will see the first major breaches caused not by a hack, but by Prompt Leakage—where proprietary data pasted into a public model is regurgitated to a competitor.
3. The “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” Reality
With NIST finalizing Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) standards, the clock is ticking. Sophisticated adversaries are stealing encrypted data now—data they can’t read yet—and storing it. They are waiting for quantum computers to mature (likely in the next 5-10 years) to break that encryption.
The Action: If you have data that needs to stay secret for 10+ years (healthcare, state secrets, trade secrets), you need to be looking at Crypto-Agility today.
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