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A Warning for 2026, ETCISO
Today, attackers are using artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate techniques, tailor phishing campaigns, and evade defenses. As AI continues to integrate with systems and technology, cybersecurity experts warn of a rise in AI-powered cyberattacks in 2026. The coming year could witness a paradox where AI becomes both the most powerful tool for cyberdefense as well as the most potent weapon in the hands of hackers.
There are various studies and reports which are pointing in this direction. According to a report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), AI-powered attacks have become more automated and capable of deception. This is enabling cybercriminals to execute social engineering attacks at scale, increasing in both volume and sophistication. The study also highlighted that CISOs are reporting an increase in AI-enabled threats and GenAI-powered social engineering. Similarly, another report by Trend Micro predicts a surge in AI-driven phishing, malware, and autonomous ransomware threats, as attackers adopt agentic AI systems that can adapt, plan, and execute breaches with little human intervention.
“AI has changed the nature of digital fraud. What we are seeing today is not random or one-off attacks, but well-planned campaigns that are personal, automated, and constantly evolving. Fraudsters are using AI to create convincing phishing links, impersonate banks, brands, and authorities, and time messages to when users are most likely to respond. These attacks learn quickly, adapt fast, and slip past both static security rules and user awareness. At scale, they are quietly breaking trust across digital channels,” says Rajdeep Gupta, Founder, CEO & Managing Director at Route Mobile.
“The year 2026 will see a considerable increase in AI-powered cyberattacks, and the only way to counter them is to deny attack paths with zero trust. And therefore, 2026 must also be the year when enterprises determine how they can invest in operational capabilities by integrating all their existing investments with foundational zero-trust capabilities like microsegmentation to ensure digital resources remain unaffected when the next cyberattack happens,” says cybersecurity leader Agnidipta Sarkar, Vice President CISO Advisory, ColorTokens Inc. and former biocon group CISO.
The AI weaponization trend gains momentum
Cyber threats have evolved over the past year, but the introduction of AI and large-scale language models has accelerated their sophistication. Unlike conventional attack tools, AI-powered threats can adapt to defenses in real time, learn from feedback, and generate social engineering content that can outperform human-crafted messages. With AI tools becoming more accessible, attackers can develop complex exploits. Rather than relying on attack libraries, malware may now include self-modifying components which can change signatures in order to avoid detection.
AI tools can identify weak points, scan target networks, and recommend exploitation sequences at machine speed. This brings advanced persistent threat (APT) capabilities within the reach of threat actors. This trend also heightens the threat of automated reconnaissance. AI-generated phishing messages and identity-based attacks are expanding, overwhelming detection systems and enabling voice cloning, deepfake frauds, and synthetic identity theft at scale, says a Microsoft analysis.
“If an attack manages to bypass existing cybersecurity tools, enterprises must be able to invoke fully exercised business continuity to recover the affected area, but the attack cannot propagate because lateral movement is fully controlled. I also feel that deception technology will make a comeback in AI-enabled form, providing the full MITRE TTPs of an attack, including the source, before attacks materialize,” adds Sarkar.
Many cybersecurity experts said that in 2026, they expected attackers to leverage AI to create hyper-personalized social engineering campaigns that are orders of magnitude more effective than anything seen before. They point out that these won’t be generic scams; instead they will be targeted, context-aware, and indistinguishable from legitimate communication to most users.
Scalable, personalized attacks powered by ML
One of the most important points about AI-driven cybercrime is the ability to generate attacks at scale. Traditionally, phishing campaigns relied on basic templates and limited personalization. On the other hand, AI can create messages using organizational context, public data, as well as psychological patterns in order to increase engagement. This evolution presents a challenge for defense mechanisms, which are tuned to detect patterns or known malicious signatures. Legacy email filters along with detection systems may struggle against adaptive as well as personalized content.
“I feel that the year 2025 should be the last year business leaders get distracted by fancy new tech to combat the latest cyber threat. 2026 must be the year organizations reflect on the investments already made and conduct a Breach Readiness Assessment to determine the current state of preparedness for the next breach,” adds Sarkar.
Evasion and defensive arms race in the offing
AI today is not just enhancing offensive capability, rather it is also redefining the arms race. In the same manner as defenders deploy machine learning in order to strengthen protection and identify anomalies, attackers are also leveraging adversarial AI techniques to confuse, mislead, or even evade defensive systems. Adversarial inputs can frequently be used to misclassify malicious behavior as benign, bypass anomaly detection, or create false alarms which can be a tremendous burden on security resources.
Cloud and endpoint security will emerge as a daunting challenge
The global migration of workloads to cloud and distribution of remote workforce have expanded the attack surface hugely. AI-driven attacks frequently exploit gaps in insecure APIs, cloud misconfigurations, as well as unprotected endpoints.
While cloud providers have been ramping up their security, AI-enabled threats will need better collaboration between security teams, cloud architects, and application owners. Automated policy enforcement as well as zero-trust principles will have to be applied more rigorously as attackers leverage AI to find the smallest misalignment in controls.
At the same time, endpoint security must also evolve. As more and more devices connect from outside enterprise networks, attackers and hackers will continue to target weaknesses in mobile fleets, IoT, as well as remote access systems. Since AI can be utilized to simulate users, this makes unauthorized access attempts that much harder to detect.
Cybersecurity awareness will be key
In spite of all the tech shifts, human behavior will continue to be a major vulnerability. AI-generated content could be weaponized in order to exploit bias at scale, thus, tricking users into providing credentials and compromising systems. Awareness training must adapt to counter AI-generated hacks that are more convincing than previous phishing attacks. Organizations too will need continuous training programs which are able to simulate AI-driven social engineering attacks and are able to reinforce safe digital hygiene and habits.
“The way forward is to build trust into the platform itself. Enterprises need to move beyond alerts and after-the-fact checks, and embed telco-grade identity signals and real-time risk intelligence into every customer interaction. Stopping this kind of fraud will require proactive detection and much closer collaboration between platforms, telcos, enterprises, and regulators,” adds Gupta.
Enterprises will need to proactively invest in adaptive defenses
As the AI wave continues to transform cyber capabilities, the next year looks poised for a major upheaval and could turn out to be a watershed year for the domain of cybersecurity. AI-powered attacks will challenge conventional assumptions in unexpected and unanticipated ways. They would also highlight the importance of a resilient security posture. There is no doubt that organizations and enterprises which proactively invest in innovative defenses, collaboration between security and business functions, and ongoing awareness efforts will be best positioned to withstand this new era of intelligent threats.
