Top 10 Cybersecurity Facts and Trends for 2026

As the world remains constantly connected, the risk of cyberattacks against businesses has never been greater. Here’s a few of the many high-profile cyberattacks in recent years:

• December 2024: PowerSchool, a K-12 education tech provider, suffered a data breach affecting 62.4 million students and 9.5 million educators.
• January 2025: United Healthcare had the health insurance information, medical records and financial details of 190 million patients exposed.
• July 2025: TransUnion suffered a major data breach linked to a third-party application exposing the personal information of over 4.4 million individuals.

This isn’t slowing down, as the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) website is continually publishing press releases about cybersecurity warnings and announcements. 

We could write up a massive list of these attacks, but the bottom line is businesses need to be more diligent than ever. To help, we’ve compiled 10 top cybersecurity facts and trends — including some statistics that may surprise you. 

1. Small-to-Medium Businesses Are More Likely to Experience a Data Breach
2. Ransomware Dominates the Threat Landscape
3. Phishing Remains a Top Threat
4. AI Is Both a Threat and a Defense Tool
5. Generative AI Has Been Fueling New Attack Vectors
6. Cybercrime-as-a-Service Is Growing
7. Zero Trust Security Is Becoming a Business Standard
8. The Average Cost of a Data Breach in the US is $10.22 Million
9. Cybersecurity Burnout Is Real
10. Cybersecurity Skills Shortage is Worsening

Let’s dive into the top cybersecurity facts and trends shaping today’s digital landscape — starting with a surprising reality for many smaller businesses.

1. Small-to-Medium Businesses Are More Likely to Experience a Data Breach

According to the 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report conducted by Verizon, small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs with fewer than 1,000 employees) are being targeted nearly four times more than large organizations. This could be the result of smaller businesses having limited resources, falling short of necessary defenses. Enlisting the help of a fully managed technology service provider can often be a cost-effective and refreshing approach to combat this statistic.

2. Ransomware Dominates the Threat Landscape

A 2025 report found that ransomware accounts for 68% of all detected cyberattacks. And according to recent cybersecurity statistics, ransomware hits 1.7 million times daily with 236 million cases recorded globally last year.

3. Phishing Remains a Top Threat

Phishing is the number one publicly reported cybercrime according to the FBI’s 2024 Internet Crime Report. Plus, Mimecast’s 2024 State of Email & Collaboration Security Report found that email remains the number one attack vector for cybercriminals.

4. AI Is Both a Threat and a Defense Tool

AI-driven malware has been found to mutate in real-time to evade detection. However, AI can also be used to enhance, automate and speed up threat detection and remediation responses. While safeguards such as SIEM tools are available, not all organizations have implemented this technology.

AI has been, and we expect it to continue to be, a huge topic. We recommend that you bookmark our blog to stay up to speed.

5. Generative AI Has Been Fueling New Attack Vectors

New attack vectors developed by generative AI are on the rise. Prompt injection attacks and AI deepfakes are two of the most common. In fact, deepfake content on social media has grown 550% between 2019 and 2023. This exponential growth is expected to continue.

6. Cybercrime-as-a-Service Is Growing

Cybercrime-as-a-Service (CaaS) has emerged as a way to enable non-technical individuals to launch cyber attacks by renting malware kits. This decentralized model makes malware much more difficult to detect. CaaS models are diverse as they use a variety of techniques and behavior patterns to achieve their goal.

7. Zero Trust Security Is Becoming a Business Standard

Old security assumptions are moving to the wayside as businesses are taking a more proactive and comprehensive approach to network protection. Based on the paradigm of “never trust, always verify,” Zero Trust Security views a network as being continually at risk from a wide variety of internal and external threats. In this manner, access is granted to devices and files selectively on an individual user basis.

8. The Average Cost of a Data Breach in the US is $10.22 Million

According to the Ponemon Institute & IBM’s most recent Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach at a US company is $10.22 million, with healthcare breaches often being the most costliest. That’s more than double the worldwide average of $4.44 million. 

And this isn’t just about internal fixes; did you know that you could potentially be sued if your data is breached? Mark that down as another reason preventive measures are so critical.

9. Cybersecurity Burnout Is Real

Cybersecurity team burnout is a key concern for businesses, according to technology research advisor, Gartner. Faced with high stress due to complex threats, limited resources and constant pressure, businesses are beginning to invest in wellbeing initiatives to improve cybersecurity team resilience and reduce turnover.

10. Cybersecurity Skills Shortage Is Worsening

The skills gap for cybersecurity professionals increased by 8% in 2024, with two-thirds of organizations facing moderate-to-critical talent shortages. As the world of cyber security changes, many businesses are looking toward outside consultants to help fill this gap.

How Secure is Your Business? 

Cybercrime will continue to evolve. Your business needs to evolve with them to stay ahead of possible attacks. Are you as ready as you think you are?

We want to help you get a clear understanding of where you stand in your cybersecurity risk. Click below to take a few minutes and answer some key questions, and we’ll send you your results with suggestions for next steps.