2026 Cyber Predictions From Forta

The Fortra Intelligence and Research Experts (FIRE) team have released 2026 predictions that uncover the darker side of AI and the next evolution of cyber defense.

John Grancarich, Chief Strategy Officer

Brand protection will expand the attack surface. The attack surface as it stands now includes an organization’s brand, its executives and its online reputation. By 2026, protecting trust beyond the network – across the open web, social platforms and dark web – will become as critical as protecting the network itself.

Tyler Reguly, Associate Director, Security R&D

Companies that over invest in AI and put emphasis on AI over humans will start to struggle. As everyone likes to say, ‘Today, AI is the worst it will ever be.” With that said, AI isn’t great. It is costly and limited in capabilities. While some tasks are performed amazingly, others demonstrate the real weakness in reliance on AI. AI is a tool and should be treated as such. It can increase productivity, but it can’t be productive on its own. That requires human expertise and companies that realize that early and retain their experts will prosper over those that adopt AI-only strategies. 

Josh Taylor, Lead Security Analyst, Fortra

Attacks on critical infrastructure will accelerate. Nation-state and criminal actors will target energy, healthcare, and transportation systems with cyber-physical impacts, turning outages and disruptions into strategic weapons. Enterprises in these sectors must treat cybersecurity as a safety imperative and plan for worst-case operational scenarios.

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