Cybercrime will become the world’s third-largest economy in 2026, driven by advanced AI, deepfakes, and quantum threats. Businesses face new, growing risks but have opportunities to strengthen defenses.
Main Trends for 2026
- AI Agents: Autonomous AI tools escalate both attacks and defensive responses, increasing risk and sophistication on both sides.
- Deepfakes: More convincing fake audio and video will make social engineering attacks easier and more common.
- Ransomware: Ransomware attacks will grow and evolve, aided by deepfakes, ransomware-as-a-service, and anonymous cryptocurrencies.
- Human Factor: Humans remain the weakest link; companies will focus more on employee training and building security awareness.
- Quantum Security: Quantum computing threatens current encryption; focus shifts to quantum-resistant encryption methods.
- Regulations: Governments introduce stricter reporting and resilience requirements for companies, but effectiveness is unclear.
- Cyberwarfare: Nation-state and terrorist cyberattacks grow, targeting infrastructure, sowing chaos, and using disinformation.
Organizations should invest in quantum-safe encryption, AI-driven security, and human training now to prepare for the escalating threat of cybercrime.