What to expect from cybersecurity for 2026?

Talking about cybersecurity in 2026 is, first and foremost, recognizing that the digital landscape is constantly changing and that threats evolve at the same pace or even faster than defense technologies.

This is due to the acceleration of digitalization, the consolidation of hybrid and remote work, the growing use of artificial intelligence, and the reliance on digital systems.

In this context, looking to the future of cybersecurity is not just a strategic reflection, but a necessity for organizations that want to protect their assets, maintain business continuity, and preserve the trust of customers and partners.

After all, cybersecurity tends to consolidate itself as one of the main topics on the agenda of technology, security, and business leaders.

The focus is no longer just on preventing isolated incidents and now encompasses operational resilience, organizational maturity and rapid response capacity.

Organizations that do not begin this preparation today risk facing increasingly severe financial, reputational, and regulatory impacts in the coming years.

What does the evolution of cybercrime impact on cybersecurity?

One of the top cybersecurity trends for 2026 is the increasing sophistication of cybercrime.

Massive, generic, and poorly personalized attacks tend to give way to highly targeted campaigns, planned based on public data, digital behaviors, and leaked information.

This is because cybercriminals already use artificial intelligence to create more convincing messages, adapt languages, explore specific corporate contexts, and automate attacks with greater scale and efficiency.

This scenario makes detection more complex, as many attacks come to resemble legitimate corporate day-to-day communications.

In addition, social engineering evolves, exploiting not only technical flaws, but mainly human decisions made under pressure, overconfidence, or lack of context.

It is necessary to understand that institutions that continue to bet exclusively on technical controls, without considering people's behavior, will be increasingly exposed to risks that are difficult to mitigate.

What to expect from new ransomware trends in 2026?

Ransomware will continue to be one of the most critical threats, but with a significant evolution in its operating model and in the impacts generated for organizations.

Today, this type of attack is no longer limited to "locking" systems and asking for ransom. The tendency is for criminals to use multiple forms of pressure at the same time, such as:

• Data theft;

• Threat of information leakage;

• Public exposure of the company.

  
  

This makes the impact of the attack go far beyond the IT area, directly affecting the brand image, the trust of customers and partners, and even the relationship with the market.

With increasingly planned attacks, ransomware is no longer an isolated problem and becomes a real risk to business continuity.

An attacked company can have its operations paralyzed, lose important contracts, suffer sanctions related to data protection, and face reputational damage that is difficult to reverse.

In many cases, even after the systems are recovered, the effects of the attack continue for months, either due to the loss of credibility or the high cost of resuming normality.

Given this scenario, preventing ransomware attacks mainly involves people.

Therefore, by 2026, the most prepared organizations will be those that invest in continuous education, clear communication, and the development of a safety culture, helping employees to recognize risks.

The human factor as the main challenge and main defense of cybersecurity

Even with advances in technology, the human factor will continue to be the element most exploited by attackers until 2026.

People deal with an increasing volume of information, systems, messages, and quick decisions on a daily basis, creating an environment conducive to errors, impulsive clicks, or improper sharing of information.

Thus, ignoring this aspect is one of the biggest mistakes of traditional security strategies.

On the other hand, organizations that understand human behavior as part of the solution can turn employees into an active line of defense.

This involves changing mentality, so instead of blaming users for failures, it is necessary to offer context, continuous education and support for safer decisions.

Continuous safety education remains essential

Traditional models of annual training or one-off campaigns tend to become obsolete in the face of the speed of threats. This is because this type of approach cannot actually change behaviors.

Therefore, the future of cybersecurity awareness lies in continuous education, with recurrent, objective content aligned with the reality of employees. Only with an emphasis on these actions will organizations have results.

But how to actually introduce awareness into people's routines and make them see the risks that data leaks can bring?

Investing in approaches such as microlearning, knowledge pills, and contextualized communications help to keep the topic present in everyday life, without generating overload or disinterest.

It is necessary to understand that adopting continuous awareness programs not only reduces incidents, but also creates a more solid and sustainable safety culture, where people understand their role in raising awareness.

In addition, the repetition, context, and relevance of content are essential to promote real changes in behavior, going beyond simply complying with compliance requirements.

Simulations and hands-on learning as a strategy

In addition to educational content, attack simulations will continue to be one of the most effective strategies to prepare employees.

This is because simulations allow people to experience real risk situations in a controlled environment, learning in practice how to identify threats and react correctly.

This type of approach contributes to increasing risk perception and reducing the likelihood of success of real attacks.

Thus, in 2026, simulations tend to be increasingly personalized, considering risk profile, function, behavior history, and organizational context. This makes learning more relevant and targeted.

Another point is that these actions can generate valuable data for analysis and decision-making. Decisive factor in awareness campaigns and training.

Artificial Intelligence and Automation in Cyber Defense

Artificial intelligence will be a fundamental pillar of cybersecurity by 2026, this is not new, after all we are seeing its applications being used in recent years to fight cybercrime.

But in the coming year, we expect these actions, especially with regard to threat detection, pattern analysis, and automated incident response.

With this, AI-based tools will allow you to identify anomalous behavior more accurately and reduce response time, a critical factor in minimizing impacts.

However, the effectiveness of these solutions depends directly on human interaction. In other words, it is still necessary for people to be behind the technology, only then will it be possible to have a satisfactory result.

After all, automated systems need to be fed with quality data, interpreted correctly and integrated into well-defined processes and only people can act in this process.

In this way, the combination of technology and conscious employees will be one of the main differentials of the most resilient organizations.

Reporting culture and its essential role in rapid incident response

By 2026, responding quickly to security incidents will be just as important as trying to prevent them.

In a scenario of increasingly fast and difficult to identify threats, the time between suspicion and action makes all the difference. Therefore, creating a culture of reporting becomes essential.

It is necessary to ensure that employees feel free to warn about suspicious emails and links, non-standard behavior, or even mistakes made on a daily basis, without fear of punishment or judgment.

When people feel safe to report, the organization gains visibility into real risks before they escalate into major incidents.

After all, many threats could be contained early on if there was a clear and simple channel for communication. In addition, frequent reporting helps security teams better understand attack patterns, adjust controls, and prioritize actions.

More and more companies that encourage this practice build an environment of trust, collaboration, and continuous learning.

The reporting culture reduces detection time, minimizes impacts, and strengthens the ability to respond to increasingly sophisticated attacks.

Cybersecurity as part of the business strategy

In an increasingly digital environment, protecting information, systems, and people becomes essential to ensure the continuity of operations and market confidence.

Thus, security becomes a direct factor in sustaining the business, influencing everything from the customer experience to the company's ability to grow. In this context, the focus of cybersecurity goes beyond the protection of systems.

It's about reducing risks that can impact revenues, paralyze operations, compromise sensitive data, and affect brand reputation.

This is because a security incident today can generate lasting financial and institutional effects, making prevention and preparedness part of strategic planning, and not just a response to crises.

For this integration to happen effectively, technology and security leaders need to translate cyber risks into clear impacts for the business.

This is where PhishX acts, supporting organizations to understand how people's behavior directly influences the level of risk and how this factor can be managed strategically.

Through continuous education, simulations, and behavioral metrics, PhishX helps companies transform cybersecurity into a structured, data-driven process, facilitating leadership decision-making and strengthening security.

Want to know how? Contact our experts and learn more.

What to expect from cybersecurity in 2026