2026 Predictions for Cybersecurity
Thinkers360 2026 Predictions for Cybersecurity are member-sourced from our opt-in B2B thought leader, analyst and influencer community with 100M+ followers on social media combined. The 2026 Predictions for Cybersecurity are part of a series to provide actionable insights for business and technology executives.
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We asked a selection of Thinkers360 global thought leaders, analysts and influencers about their predictions for Cybersecurity in 2026.
🤖 Thinkers360 Cybersecurity Predictions for 2026: The Age of Autonomous AI and Compliance Enforcement
Cybersecurity in 2026 will be defined by an escalating arms race where Autonomous AI acts as the primary force multiplier for both attackers and defenders, compelling a global focus on Cyber Resilience and mandatory Regulation.
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Morgan Adamski (PwC US) emphasizes the shift from simple break-ins to adversaries logging in with valid credentials, using AI for subtle, rapid attacks. Success will require building genuine cyber resilience, protecting AI model integrity, and securing dynamic cloud and IT/OT environments with real-time autonomous controls.
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Chuck Brooks (Brooks Consulting International) predicts Autonomous (“agentic”) AI will become the central battleground. Attackers will deploy AI bots for reconnaissance and data exfiltration, necessitating that defenders deploy AI agents to monitor and contain these emergent, unexpected threats.
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Matthew Rosenquist (Cybersecurity Insights) warns that cybercriminals will enter a “heyday era” by leveraging AI to significantly increase the quantity and effectiveness of social engineering attacks. AI will create vastly more compelling, customized, and difficult-to-detect fraudulent communications.
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Pamela Gupta (CEO Trusted AI) highlights the threat of AI-enabled threats at warp speed and scale, including data theft from cloud/SaaS systems through “Agentic AI compromises” and the rise of hyper-realistic phishing via deepfakes. She cites the “ForcedLeak” prompt-only method as a game-changer.
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Usman Mustafa (Orange Business) projects that AI Regulation and Transparency will become mandatory security standards. Governments will enforce auditable AI decision logs and explainability reports as a required part of vendor compliance.
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Kayne McGladrey (Hyperproof) specifically predicts that the EU will lean hard into enforcement of the EU AI Act after August 2, 2026, mirroring the pattern of GDPR with high-profile fines. Companies must ensure their AI documentation—covering risk management, adversarial testing, and cybersecurity controls—is flawless to avoid penalties.
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Mark Lynd (Netsync) asserts that Speed and Automation Wins in Cybersecurity in 2026. Businesses that pull ahead will be those that use AI for early threat detection, deploy autonomous security agents, verify identity against deepfakes, and automate compliance and governance into a continuous, real-time process.
In summary, the consensus points to a year where the AI-powered threat landscape demands an accelerated move toward autonomous, identity-focused, and compliance-driven defense strategies.
Read on to explore our expert panelists’ opinions in depth and join us on Thinkers360.com to be part of the conversation!
What are your Predictions for Cybersecurity in 2026?
Securing 2026: Protecting Identities, AI Models and Always-On Operations
As we look ahead to 2026, it’s clear that cyber threats are becoming more subtle and identity-focused. Adversaries aren’t just breaking in—they’re logging in with valid credentials and utilizing AI tools to launch sophisticated attacks more quickly and easily. The cyber battleground is starting to resemble the real world, with geopolitical and ideological motives driving long-term, stealthy campaigns that exploit automation, deception, and human error.
To stay ahead, organizations must move beyond risk management and focus on building genuine cyber resilience. This involves integrating security into every layer of the business—people, processes, and technology—and viewing AI and cloud not as extras, but as essential components of defense. By 2026, success will depend on protecting AI model integrity, securing dynamic cloud environments with real-time, autonomous controls, and bridging IT and OT security to ensure continuous operations, even under pressure.
– Morgan Adamski, Principal, Deputy Platform Leader, Cyber, Data, and Tech Risk, PwC US
Agentic AI as the New Cyber Battle-Ground
Prediction: Autonomous (“agentic”) AI — systems that act with minimal human intervention — will be central in both attacks and defense.
Implication: Attackers will use AI bots to run reconnaissance, move laterally, and exfiltrate data; defenders must deploy AI agents to monitor, detect, and contain threats. Security teams need to simulate “agents in the wild” to test unexpected, emergent behaviors.
Read Chuck Brooks’ 2026 Cybersecurity Predictions in depth.
– Chuck Brooks, President, Brooks Consulting International
Entering into the heyday era for cybercriminals and AI powered social engineering
Cybercriminals will successfully leverage Artificial Intelligence tools to greatly increase the quantity of social engineering attacks and the effectiveness of the victimization. AI will automate the distribution of vastly more compelling fraudulent communications that are interactive, customized for specific individuals, and superbly take advantage of cognitive vulnerabilities. AI powered social engineering cyberattacks will be much more difficult to detect and avoid, creating a global spike in data loss, fraud, and the harvesting of credentials.
– Matthew Rosenquist, Cybersecurity Insights
AI enabled threats at Warp Speed and Scale
Data theft from cloud/Saas systems. We are already observing Agentic AI compromises such as the vulnerability in a global CRM platform that I covered in detail that is a game changer, prompt-only “ForcedLeak” method coerced the AI agent to reveal internal strategy slides and fragments of client PII. No malware or phishing—pure business-process coercion.
Another one to prepare for is hyper-real phishing through deepfakes.
– Pamela Gupta, CEO Trusted AI
AI Regulation and Transparency Will Become Mandatory Security Standards
Governments and regulatory bodies will enforce mandatory explainability and transparency for AI systems used in cybersecurity. Vendors will need to produce auditable AI decision logs and explainability reports as part of compliance audits.
– Usman Mustafa, Orange Business
EU will start enforcing
The EU will lean hard into enforcement of the EU AI Act after August 2nd, 2026, which is when the bulk of the rules begin to apply for high-risk AI systems. This will follow the same pattern as the EU’s initial GDPR enforcement motions, with splashy news headlines and high fines. Under the EU AI Act, we can expect high-profile companies being fined up to €15?million or?3?% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher. We can similarly expect regulators to find flaws in the documentation accompanying AI systems provided by deployers or providers, which will incur fines up to €7.5 million or 1% of global annual turnover. This documentation must include risk management, resilience, adversarial testing, cybersecurity controls for the underlying infrastructure, and more.
– Kayne McGladrey, Hyperproof
In 2026, Speed and Automation Wins in Cybersecurity
In 2026, businesses will discover that security resilience depends on speed and adaptation. The ones that automate compliance, use AI to detect threats early, defend against self-modifying malware, deploy autonomous security agents, verify identity against deep fakes, and respond to incidents in minutes will pull ahead. Everyone else will struggle to keep up as the gap widens.
Trend One: Automated compliance becomes reliable – Real-time compliance auditing gives you something you can trust. Other companies will notice how much smoother these trusted teams operate. In regulated industries, manual audits will start to look old-fashioned compared to systems that find and show evidence automatically. 2026 will reward those organizations treating governance as something ongoing, not a once-a-year event. Everyone else will feel the pressure build.
Read Mark Lynd’s 2026 Cybersecurity Predictions in depth.
– Mark Lynd, Netsync
To see the full set of predictions in the Thinkers360 Predictions Series, please visit our Predictions page. Have comments on these predictions, or predictions of your own? Please join the community at Thinkers360.com and follow us on LinkedIn, X and YouTube to share your insights!
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