Cyber risks are set to intensify in 2026 as artificial intelligence reshapes how attacks are launched and how organizations defend themselves.
Three new reports agree that cybercrime is becoming faster, more targeted and more disruptive to business operations. AI is accelerating existing threats and shortening the time between intrusion and impact. According to a report by Moody’s Ratings, this shift is pushing companies into “a new era of adaptive, fast-evolving threats” where manual defenses are no longer sufficient to protect an organization.
This is not just a large company problem. Small businesses are increasingly targeted, often because they are seen as easier to breach than larger organizations.
AI is supercharging cybercrime
AI is now widely used by cybercriminals to scale phishing, automate efforts to find website vulnerabilities and create malware that can modify its code to evade detection.
Moody’s “2026 Cyber Risk Outlook” warns that these tools allow attackers to scan networks continuously, exploit misconfigurations at machine speed and launch campaigns against thousands of targets simultaneously.
The World Economic Forum echoes this concern in its “Global Cybersecurity Outlook,” where 94% of leaders surveyed said AI will be the most significant driver of cyber risk in 2026. Nearly nine in 10 respondents reported an increase in AI-related vulnerabilities over the past year, alongside rising cyber-enabled fraud, phishing and software exploits.
AI-enabled social engineering is a particular concern. Advances in voice cloning and deepfake technology are making impersonation attacks more convincing, especially those targeting executives, finance teams and IT staff. These attacks increasingly bypass technical controls by exploiting human trust rather than technical flaws.
New risks from enterprise AI use
The growing use of AI inside organizations is also creating new exposures. Moody’s found that only 29% of surveyed organizations follow the Open Worldwide Application Security Project’s (OWASP’s) best practices guidance for large language model applications, leaving many vulnerable to data leakage, prompt injection and weak access control.
Research from Google Cloud highlights prompt injection as a rising threat in 2026. In these attacks, malicious instructions are embedded in data or user inputs, causing AI systems to bypass safeguards and expose sensitive data.
Ransomware an ongoing threat
Despite improved defenses, ransomware and data-theft extortion remain among the most damaging cyber threats. Moody’s reports that 44% of ransomware attempts in 2025 were stopped before encryption, up sharply from the year before, largely due to better detection and backup practices.
Large enterprises remain prime targets. Their complex networks create blind spots and attackers increasingly focus on extortion tactics that rely on stolen data rather than locked systems.
Google Cloud researchers note that ransomware, data theft and multifaceted extortion continue to generate cascading economic losses across supply chains, with incidents in 2025 resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in total damage.
What employers can do
While no organization can eliminate cyber risk, the reports point to practical steps that can materially reduce exposure:
Strengthen AI governance. Limit AI system permissions, follow OWASP’s guidance for large language models like ChatGPT and monitor prompt injection attacks and data leakage.
Accelerate detection and response. Automated monitoring and containment tools are increasingly essential as criminals use AI to move quickly through networks.
Plan for data extortion. Create an extortion response plan that addresses regulatory, legal and reputational fallout even when systems remain operational.
Build resilience into infrastructure. Regularly test backups, use cloud systems in multiple locations to spread risk and conduct outage and breach simulations.
Control identity and access. Give staff, systems and applications (including AI agents) only the minimum access they need to do their jobs. Require multi-factor authentication during logins and create just-in-time access protocols so elevated permissions are granted only when needed and automatically removed once a task is complete.
Train employees continuously. Focus on phishing, vishing and executive impersonation scenarios that target human behavior rather than technology.
Secure cyber insurance
Finally, you should consider cyber liability insurance, which can help your business recover quickly from an attack by covering costs such as:
- Data recovery and system restoration after a breach or ransomware attack.
- Legal and regulatory expenses if sensitive customer or employee data is exposed.
- Notification and credit monitoring services for affected parties.
- Business interruption losses from downtime or system failure.
- Public relations and crisis management to help rebuild trust.
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Note:Â Cyber insurance may cover ransomware payments, but coverage is often conditional, increasingly restricted and dependent on policy wording and the circumstances of the attack.