Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026: Overcoming Risk Through Collaboration
Accelerating AI adoption, geopolitical fragmentation and widening cyber inequity are reshaping the global risk landscape, finds the latest Global Cybersecurity Outlook from the World Economic Forum.
Based on data from 800 global leaders, the 2026 report reveals that as attacks grow faster, become more complex and unevenly distributed, organizations and governments face rising pressure to adapt amid persistent sovereignty challenges and widening capability gaps. In the face of these challenges, three clear themes emerge:
AI is supercharging the cyber arms race
When it comes to AI cybersecurity readiness, the data indicates a mixed picture. While the percentage of respondents assessing the security of AI tools ahead of deployment has nearly doubled over the past year (from 37% to 64%), 87% of leaders see AI-related vulnerabilities as the fastest-growing cyber risk.
Geopolitics is a defining feature of cybersecurity
When considering mitigation strategies, respondents are most likely to focus on geopolitically motivated attacks, the report says. In fact, 91% of organizations with over 100,000 employees have evolved their strategy because of geopolitical volatility.
There are also wide variances between different regions’ confidence that national cyber responses would protect critical infrastructure. While 84% of respondents in the Middle East and North Africa believe their countries are prepared, just 13% of those in Latin America and the Caribbean share this level of belief.
The regional contrasts underscore the importance of context in shaping cyber resilience. To gain deeper insights into how risks, preparedness levels and strategic priorities vary across different parts of the world and what this means for collaboration and collective action, explore these regional analyses of the Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026.
Cyber-enabled fraud is threatening CEOs and households alike
Almost three-quarters of respondents (73%) say that someone in their network was personally affected by cyber-enabled fraud in 2025, with phishing (fraudulent emails), vishing (voice call scams), and smishing (text message scams) being the most common methods. When looking at organizations’ preferred risk responses, a clear gap emerges between CEOs and CISOs, with the former most concerned over cyber-enabled fraud and phishing, and the latter ranking ransomware attacks as the greatest risk.
Following the report’s launch, I explored the key findings with an expert panel in a LinkedIn Live session. Participants agreed that collaboration will be vital over the coming years – organizations and governments must find ways to work together to strengthen baseline cybersecurity.
