Top 10 Cybersecurity Trends to Watch in 2026

Experts on Cyberattacks, Deepfakes, AI and Geopolitical Strife in the Year Ahead Anna Delaney (annamadeline) , Cal Harrison • December 31, 2025

Cyberattacks, nation-state hacking and geopolitical shifts dominated the headlines in 2025, but the year will also be remembered as a turning point - where artificial intelligence blurred the lines between real and fake and AI agents introduced new enterprise risks.

See Also: AI Browsers: the New Trojan Horse?

Will 2026 bring even more threats? Will this be the year AI grows up and plays a major role in cyberattacks and cybersecurity operations? Our panel of cybersecurity leaders, analysts and educators share their outlook for the top 10 trends to watch in 2026:

• Trend 1: AI-fabricated identities will enable the first major "synthetic access" breach.
• Trend 2: Deepfake campaigns will escalate and cause coordinated corporate and geopolitical disruption.
• Trend 3: The first fully autonomous cyberattack chain will appear in the wild.
• Trend ...