The 2026 Threat Forecast 

In 2026, cybersecurity will no longer be judged by how well organizations plan, document, or certify their defences. It will be judged by how they respond when attackers have already breached the network.

That shift is already visible. Adversaries aren’t forcing their way in anymore; they’re logging in, abusing valid credentials, trusted access, and deeply interconnected systems. The most damaging incidents don’t announce themselves as breaches. They look like normal activity, carried out with malicious intent. And often an organization's first activity is determining whether this is a result of an insider threat or whether a threat actor has gained access.

This fundamentally changes what “being prepared” means. Security teams need to recognize subtle misuse in real time, investigate ambiguous signals, and respond decisively under pressure. That level of readiness doesn’t come from policies or awareness training alone - it comes from experience. Our platform has been designed specifically for that - and allows teams to practise against realistic attacker behaviour, mapped directly to real-world tactics, techniques, and procedures, rather than hypothetical scenarios.

Prevention will continue to fail fast in 2026, not because teams are careless, but because the attack surface is too complex and too dynamic. Threat actors will continue to gain access to organizations' infrastructure by chaining together multiple lower CVSS-rated or incorrectly triaged vulnerabilities that have historically been left unpatched, as many organizations' vulnerability management processes focus solely on zero days. The organizations that stay ahead will be those that assume compromise, focus relentlessly on detection, containment, and recovery, and move their defensive security capabilities from reactive to proactive. 

Immersive One supports this shift by enabling teams to train and exercise specifically on taking proactive steps to identify when access to their network has been gained by threat actors, what happens after access is gained - the moment when prevention has already failed, and judgment, speed, and coordination matter most. Through repeatedly practising these scenarios, teams build the muscle memory required to act quickly when clarity is limited and pressure is high.

The supply chain will remain another defining pressure point in 2026. Modern organizations operate as connected ecosystems of vendors, platforms, integrations, and shared code. Questionnaires and attestations may signal intent, but they don’t demonstrate real capability. What matters is whether partners can detect, escalate, and respond quickly when something goes wrong. Our platform moves beyond trust-by-declaration and instead validate supply chain readiness through shared exercises and simulations. This makes gaps - and delays - visible early, enabling more informed risk decisions before attackers exploit them.

Threat actor attacks, including ransomware, will also continue to evolve beyond purely technical disruption. Increasingly, attackers target people - executives, engineers, and security leaders - using public exposure and psychological pressure to force security teams to engage in remediation activities that don’t align with best practices. These moments test leadership and coordination far more than documentation. This is where crisis simulations become critical. Immersive One enables organizations to rehearse high-pressure incidents involving technical failures, executive decision-making, and communication challenges, helping teams build confidence and alignment long before they face them in real situations.

AI will amplify both opportunity and risk in 2026. Threat actors are already using it to accelerate reconnaissance and exploitation, while organizations struggle with shadow AI that often ingests data from various sources via insecure models and internally ungoverned integrations. AI systems can act autonomously, execute actions quickly, and amplify mistakes across environments.

Treating AI-enabled systems like any other critical infrastructure - something that must be tested, monitored, and stress-tested - is essential. Immersive One makes this possible by continually updating hands-on labs and scenarios to reflect emerging threats, allowing teams to explore AI-related risks safely and build understanding before incidents force the issue.

Even longer-term risks, such as “harvest now, decrypt later,” reinforce the same lesson. Data stolen today can become tomorrow’s crisis. Organizations that rely on static risk registers will struggle to keep pace. Those who continuously validate assumptions and readiness through realistic exercises will be far better positioned to adapt.

All of these point to the defining shift of cybersecurity in 2026: the move from compliance to capability. Completion metrics, attendance records, and written plans offer little insight into how teams actually perform under pressure. What matters is whether people across the organization can demonstrate a proven capability to detect threats, make informed decisions, and act together at speed. And that is the gap our platform is designed to close - aligning hands-on practice, real-world simulations, and measurable outcomes to prove and improve readiness, not just claim it.

Attackers will not respect frameworks, certifications, or intentions. They will exploit hesitation, confusion, and delay. In 2026, confidence will not come from believing you’re ready. It will come from knowing you’ve already proved it.

To start building verifiable capabilities against 2026 threats, try our AI Prompt Injection Lab, which provides a safe, hands-on environment to explore realistic attack scenarios, experiment with mitigation strategies, and see how AI can be manipulated in practice.

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