2025 made one thing clear. Cyber risk is not an event. It is a constant operating condition. Attacks kept coming, and many of them succeeded because they hit weak points that had been ignored for too long.
(Inference) Looking ahead to 2026, we expect attackers to move even faster. Automation will drive large scale attack campaigns. Artificial intelligence will sharpen phishing, social engineering, and targeting. Identity systems, cloud services, and third party integrations will stay at the center of real incidents, not just theoretical scenarios.
For leadership, this creates a practical challenge. You cannot defend everything at the same time, and you cannot afford to chase every new security trend. You need clarity on which 2026 cyber threats matter most to your business, where you are exposed, and which actions will actually reduce risk.
At IPV Network, we focus our guidance and our services on that problem. We help organizations understand how current threat patterns translate into real exposure, and we prepare them to face 2026 with better visibility, faster detection, and a more resilient security posture.
Big Shifts That Will Shape 2026
Recent global threat reports show a few hard facts that matter for anyone planning for 2026. AI is already reshaping social engineering, and ransomware crews are running extortion-first campaigns. Data theft often comes before disruption, then pressure ramps up through leak sites, countdown timers, direct outreach to customers or partners, and public “name and shame” tactics designed to force payment. Critical infrastructure keeps getting probed, and most organisations still struggle with basic visibility of their own attack surface.
AI powered attacks are already here
By early 2025, AI supported phishing accounted for more than 80 percent of observed social engineering activity globally, according to a major regional threat report (ENISA). Other studies show deepfake and AI generated phishing now outrank traditional email threats in many enterprises.
Based on that trajectory, we expect 2026 to bring higher volume and higher quality AI powered social engineering. That likely means more convincing identity fraud, smarter targeting of finance and HR teams, and broader use of voice and video impersonation in fraud and account takeover attempts.
AI is also being used to automate reconnaissance and code generation, which makes it easier to probe public facing assets and adapt known exploits at speed.
Ransomware and extortion will stay aggressive
Current data shows that extortion based attacks already represent more than half of observed cyber incidents, with ransomware and data theft as primary drivers. In 2025, average ransom payments more than doubled in a single quarter, driven largely by data theft only and multi extortion cases. IT Pro
(Inference) Given that shift, we expect ransomware trends in 2026 to continue favoring double and triple extortion, as well as pure data theft without encryption. Attackers will keep targeting organizations where downtime or public data exposure translates quickly into financial or regulatory pain.
Critical infrastructure will remain under pressure
Recent reporting highlights sustained cyber activity against government, energy, water, healthcare, and transportation systems, including thousands of critical infrastructure incidents in 2024 and targeted attacks on utilities and healthcare providers. Security agencies continue to warn operators about the need to harden operational technology and industrial control systems. CISA
With geopolitical tension still high and many of these environments running legacy technologies that are hard to patch or segment, we expect 2026 cyber threats to maintain a strong focus on critical infrastructure, especially where operations are tightly linked to public services or national security.
The attack surface is expanding faster than visibility
Multiple studies across 2024 and 2025 show that organizations struggle with basic attack surface visibility. Shadow IT, untracked SaaS, unmanaged APIs, and forgotten cloud assets all contribute to blind spots that traditional inventories miss.
As more business processes move to cloud and software as a service in 2026, the gap between what security teams think they own and what is actually exposed on the internet is likely to widen unless external attack surface management becomes a priority.
Where organizations will likely get hurt in 2026
When we look at recent incidents and assessment results, a few patterns show up consistently. If these areas do not improve, they are likely to cause the most impact in 2026.
External exposure and unmanaged assets
A significant portion of real risk in 2026 will continue to come from internet facing assets that are not fully tracked or governed. Examples include old portals, unused subdomains, test environments, and cloud services that remain accessible after projects end.
Without a current and accurate inventory, issues such as weak authentication, outdated software, or open storage are often missed. Attackers do not need advanced techniques if they can rely on these gaps.
Identity and access abuse
Identity already sits at the center of many security events. Stolen credentials, misuse of tokens, and excessive privilege are involved in a large number of breaches.
With broader use of single sign on and remote access in 2026, compromise of a single account can affect many systems at once. When monitoring does not focus on risky sign ins, unusual locations, or abnormal use of administrator rights, unauthorized access can continue for long periods without detection.
Third party and supply chain dependencies
Most organizations operate with a wide network of providers, platforms, and external services. These third parties often hold direct or indirect access to production systems and sensitive data.
This makes them a persistent target. If technical controls around third party access are weak, a compromise at a provider can translate into exposure for multiple customers. Relying only on contract terms or high level questionnaires is not sufficient to understand or manage this type of risk.
Human layer failures
People remain a central factor in incident paths. Approval of payments, sharing of data, and handling of credentials all depend on individual decisions.
In 2026, targeted phishing and social engineering are likely to rely more on specific context such as ongoing projects, internal terminology, or known business processes. If employees only receive generic awareness material and are not tested against realistic scenarios, it will be difficult for them to distinguish normal requests from malicious ones.
These are the areas we focus on when we help clients prepare for 2026. In the next section, we map these risks directly to how IPV Network services are structured.
How IPV Network helps you prepare for 2026
Everything we expect to see in 2026 connects directly to how we build and deliver our services. Our focus is to give you visibility, control, and readiness across the exact weak points that attackers target.
We use our Threat Intelligence and Digital Risk Protection solution to show you what is exposed on the internet and how it can be used against you. That includes domains, subdomains, cloud endpoints, brand abuse, and signs of data or credential exposure. You get a current view of external risk instead of relying on static inventories.
Our Managed Security Operations Center (MSOC) provides continuous monitoring and analysis so security events are reviewed, not just logged. We correlate alerts, network activity, endpoint signals, and identity behavior, then support you through investigation and response. The objective is to shorten the time between intrusion and action.
Through Compromise and Posture Assessments, we help you answer two questions. Are attackers already inside, and where are your controls most likely to fail under real pressure. This guides investment toward specific gaps, not generic best practices.
Our Incident Response Retainer gives you structured support before an incident occurs. Roles, communication, technical access, and playbooks are agreed in advance. When something serious happens, you already know how we will work together.
Finally, our Cyber Awareness and Training platform is designed to improve how people respond to real threats. We use current attack patterns and realistic simulations so employees practice decisions that mirror what attackers are actually doing, not outdated scenarios.
Taken together, these capabilities are meant to reduce blind spots, improve detection and response, and strengthen the human side of security as you move into 2026.
2026 will not reset the threat environment. It will extend the trends that are already visible. Attackers will keep targeting exposed assets, identity, third parties, and people. The organizations that handle this well will be the ones that know where they are exposed, detect activity quickly, and have prepared both their teams and their providers before a crisis hits.
At IPV Network, our role is to support that preparation. We help you understand where risk is concentrated, improve the controls that matter most, and build the monitoring and response capability needed for a faster, more connected threat environment. That is how we believe security in 2026 should be managed.
References:
World Economic Forum – Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025
Allianz Commercial – Cyber Risk Trends 2025
Allianz Commercial – Cyber attacks on critical infrastructure
IT Pro – Average ransom payment doubles in a single quarter
SC Media – Critical infrastructure: the five sectors hit hardest by cyberattacks in 2024
