The days of hackers only targeting large organizations are long gone. If you use PCs at your workplace, you’re going to end up on their radar.
The internet has always had an element of risk, but 2026 has seen a new level of sophistication brought to the table. With the rise of AI, cybercriminals can now craft malware which is faster, more convincing, and harder to detect. Whether you’re checking emails, logging onto Teams, or accessing databases, the threat is growing by the day.
To help keep you on your toes and ahead of these deceptive attacks, we’re going to show you the 5 cyberthreats to watch out for in 2026.
- AI-Generated Phishing Emails: It used to be easy to spot phishing emails. Bad grammar, dodgy logos, and ridiculous requests to transfer $10,000,000 to your bank account were always present. But times have changed. With AI platforms freely available to all, phishing emails are now highly polished and can be tailored to sound as if they’ve been sent by a professional. To stay safe in 2026, always check the sender’s email address for anything unusual e.g. using a 3 instead of an E in admin@googl3.com
- Deepfake Scams: Sticking with AI, the threat of deepfake scams has increased significantly. As the technology to create deepfake videos and audio has become cheaper and more accessible, hackers have started to harness it. In 2024, for example, a deepfake video saw a finance worker paying out an astonishing $25 million to a fake chief financial officer. In order to avoid this, create a company policy which insists that anything sensitive or financial is confirmed through a separate channel before completing it.
- Ransomware-as-a-Service: Hackers have been using ransomware to encrypt data and demand ransoms for some time, but it’s now easier than ever. Previously, launching a successful ransomware campaign required some real technical know-how. Criminal gangs have cottoned onto this and now offer ransomware kits which are ready to go. All hackers need to do is pay a fee. This means ransomware attack numbers are surging dangerously high. To reduce this risk, never open suspicious attachments and always keep regular, tested backups of your critical data.
- QR Code Phishing: Also known as quishing, QR code phishing takes advantage of the modern ubiquity of QR codes. Attackers understand that the public are now programmed to scan QR codes without thinking, and they’re exploiting this trust. These malicious QR codes are being used to redirect to fake websites which are designed to steal your credentials. And as people don’t scrutinize QR codes as closely as URLs, they have surprisingly high success rates. The best rule of thumb here is to always verify the URL which loads from a QR code before interacting with it.
- Information Leaks from Online Services: We all use online platforms these days to help increase productivity. These include AI tools, browser extensions and online storage services. The problem is that we tend to input and save sensitive data into them. With these being third-party platforms, it’s difficult to establish how secure they are. This means that, as we’ve seen with browser extensions, this data is at risk of being breached. Therefore, it makes sense to only use online tools which have been approved by your IT team.
For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.
