Cyber security in 2026 – What security and risk leaders need to prepare for now

As 2026 progresses, organisations are facing a cyber security environment that looks very different to the one they were operating in even two years ago.

The scale and sophistication of attacks continue to grow, but the more important change is how organisations themselves are evolving. Automation, artificial intelligence, outsourced services and complex digital supply chains are now central to how most businesses operate. These shifts are quietly changing where risk sits and how it should be managed. 

Our Director of Cyber Security, Katie Barnett, sets out the key cyber security developments that will shape organisational risk this year and what they mean for boards, CISOs and senior risk professionals. 

What are the biggest cyber security risks in 2026 

The most significant risks in 2026 will come from five connected areas: 

• The rapid adoption of AI and agent-based systems 
• Identity becoming the primary security boundary 
• The rise of AI driven social engineering and impersonation 
• Supply chain and third-party exposure 
• Over investment in prevention while underinvesting in resilience and recovery 

These risks rarely exist in isolation. An automated system with excessive permissions can be compromised through social engineering. A supplier with weak controls can introduce malware into multiple organisations. A deepfake phone call can bypass well-designed technical defences if the surrounding processes are not robust.

As a result, many of the most damaging incidents now stem from a series of small failures rather than a single dramatic breach.

How AI is changing cyber attacks 

Artificial intelligence has made it easier for attackers to do three things at once: move faster, target more precisely and operate at scale. That combination is what changes the risk. 

In practical terms this means highly personalised phishing, realistic deepfake voice calls, automated reconnaissance and malware that adapts to the environment it finds itself in. These capabilities are no longer confined to a handful of sophisticated groups. They are becoming widely available. 

Agentic AI takes this further. These are systems that can act on behalf of users or organisations, requesting access, moving data and triggering actions without waiting for a person to intervene. When deployed well, they deliver efficiency. When deployed without clear boundaries, they create a new class of privileged identity that few organisations are properly governing. 

In many environments, these systems are given broad access because they are needed to keep operations running. That makes them attractive targets and, once compromised, very powerful ones. 

Why identity now matters more than the network 

The idea of a secure internal network has largely disappeared. Cloud services, remote working, application programming interfaces and automated workflows mean that most activity happens outside what used to be considered the perimeter. 

As a result, identity has become the main control point. This includes people, but also service accounts, automated scripts, AI agents and machine to machine connections. 

In most large organisations, nonhuman identities already outnumber human users. They are often created quickly, left in place indefinitely and given more access than they need. This is rarely malicious. It is the result of teams trying to keep systems working in complex environments. 

Zero trust architectures are designed to manage this, but in practice they are only as good as the organisation’s understanding of who and what is actually operating in its environment. 

AI driven social engineering and deepfakes 

Social engineering remains one of the most reliable ways to bypass security controls. AI has made it more convincing and more scalable. 

Deepfake video and voice cloning are now being used to impersonate executives, finance teams, IT support and suppliers. These attacks are effective because they exploit how organisations actually operate. Urgent requests, informal approvals and trust built over time. 

Many security incidents begin not with a technical exploit but with someone trying to be helpful under pressure. 

The challenge for organisations is that traditional awareness training does not address this well. People are being asked to make judgement calls in situations where even experienced professionals can be misled. 

Supply chain and third party risk 

The modern organisation is an ecosystem. Software vendors, managed service providers, cloud platforms and specialist suppliers all have some level of access to systems or data. 

Attackers increasingly target smaller or less mature suppliers because they are easier to compromise and can provide access to multiple downstream organisations. 

What we are seeing in practice is that many organisations have contracts and policies in place but limited visibility of what those suppliers actually do inside their environments. That gap is becoming harder to justify as regulators, insurers and customers are asking for evidence rather than assurances. 

Why resilience and recovery now matter most 

Boards and executive teams increasingly recognise that cyber incidents are not a question of if, but when. As a result, there is a growing shift from focusing solely on prevention to focusing on resilience and recoverability. 

This includes: 

• Understanding which systems are truly critical 
• Ensuring backups, recovery processes and crisis management plans are tested 
• Knowing who makes decisions when information is incomplete 
• Being able to continue operations during disruption.

In our experience, many organisations only become aware of these weaknesses once they are already under pressure. Teams that invest time in practising recovery and crisis management are usually able to stabilise situations more quickly and limit long term damage. This is where tabletop exercises and live testing become critical. In many organisations, incident response plans exist on paper but have never been run end to end in conditions that reflect a real incident. When they are exercised properly, the same gaps appear time and again. 

Running realistic tabletop scenarios, technical simulations and crisis management exercises is one of the most reliable ways to surface these issues before they cause harm. Organisations that do this regularly tend to coordinate more effectively, make decisions with greater confidence and recover with far less disruption when something goes wrong. 

What this means for security and risk leaders 

For CISOs, Heads of Security and risk owners, 2026 requires a broader view of cyber security. It is no longer just a technical discipline. It is a form of operational and enterprise risk management. 

Key priorities include: 

• Gaining visibility of all identities, including nonhuman and automated ones 
• Understanding where AI is being used and what permissions it has 
• Strengthening controls around payment, identity verification and access approval 
• Mapping supply chain dependencies and access routes 
• Regularly testing incident response and recovery capability 

How Toro supports organisations 

Toro works with organisations to assess and strengthen their cyber and converged security posture, with a focus on how people, technology and third parties interact in practice. Our reviews and audits help boards and security leaders understand where their real exposure sits and how to improve resilience in a way that supports the business. 

Frequently asked questions 

What is Agentic AI

Agentic AI refers to systems that can act on behalf of users or organisations, making decisions and carrying out tasks automatically. These systems can introduce new security risks if they are given broad permissions or are not properly monitored. 

Why is identity now more important than the network 

Because most systems are cloud based and interconnected, identity is now the main way access is granted. Controlling and monitoring identities is therefore central to security. 

How do deepfakes affect cyber security 

Deepfakes and voice cloning can be used to impersonate trusted individuals, making it easier to authorise payments, reset passwords or gain access through social engineering. 

What should boards focus on for cyber resilience

Boards should focus on understanding critical systems, recovery capability, supply chain exposure and whether the organisation can continue operating during a major incident. 

Published: February 2026
Author: Director of Cyber Security, Toro Solutions