AI-powered cyberattacks & talent shortages raise security risks

Organisations face an increasingly complex and volatile cyber threat landscape in the year ahead, with both the volume and sophistication of attacks set to rise. AI-driven tools, shifting attack tactics and a shortage of experienced talent are predicted to deepen existing challenges for security teams and business leaders alike, according to sector experts.

Rising threat

"High-profile cyberattacks are a stark reminder that no organisation is immune. They show that businesses of every size and sector are being targeted and underline the urgent need for robust security measures and constant vigilance. At the same time, cyber threats are becoming faster, smarter, and more industrialised. AI-powered attacks are rising sharply, and there's no sign of that slowing. The onus is now on security teams - and, critically, the wider business - to keep pace," said Kamran Ikram, Security Lead, UK & Ireland, Accenture.

The emergence of AI-powered attacks presents a persistent dilemma for businesses relying on traditional defences. AI enables attackers to automate reconnaissance, adapt in real time to obstacles, and tailor phishing campaigns that are harder for even trained personnel to spot. As a result, security operations must keep pace not just with a growing volume of incidents, but with threats that learn and adapt.

Boardroom priorities

"As infrastructure robustness is pushed up the boardroom agenda, we'll likely see renewed investment in decentralised architecture and diversified cloud strategies as standard. Simply having backups is no longer enough; businesses will look to shorten recovery windows, isolate trusted environments, and rehearse 'lifeboat' scenarios that can keep core services running in the face of disruption," said Ikram.

Business continuity is now underpinned by recovery speed and the ability to maintain trusted operations under stress. This means increased spending on both technical measures, such as immutable backups and segmentation, and organisational readiness, including incident simulations and crisis management rehearsal. Board-level awareness of cyber resilience is expected to drive wider adoption of diversified storage, cloud redundancy, and proactive response planning.

Changing cyber skills

The demand for skilled cybersecurity and AI talent will become acute as organisations implement rapidly evolving defences. "Every technology boom creates talent market disruptions. The narrative of 'AI replacing jobs' is not correct. Instead, we face a shortage of highly-skilled, AI-native talent. Every CEO is - or should be - worried about recruiting and training these AI operators who are capable of utilizing AI tools in the most effective way," said Ev Kontsevoy, Chief Executive Officer, Teleport.

This talent shortage is expected to be a key factor in determining which businesses can effectively defend against new threats. Security leadership is expected to prioritise internal training programmes to better equip staff for identifying and responding to advanced phishing and deepfake attacks, as well as hiring for specialist AI capabilities to analyse and act on large volumes of threat data.

Identity convergence

According to Kontsevoy, identity management in cybersecurity is undergoing significant change as human, machine, and AI identities increasingly overlap. "Organisations will stop deploying security strategies for classes of identities (e.g., humans, machines, AI) and will instead start to tackle identity types in a unified way. Even for those stuck in the legacy way of thinking: when the machines are behaving increasingly similar to humans, what is the advantage of separating humans and non-humans in the era of AI?" said Kontsevoy.

Industry consolidation is already visible as vendors race to offer integrated identity solutions that can handle complex, mixed environments. This trend is expected to accelerate as businesses seek to address threats posed by sophisticated bots, autonomous systems and human attackers through unified controls.

Deepfake detection

"Deepfakes are becoming increasingly difficult to detect. In 2026, firms will prioritise more cybersecurity training. Ensuring that every employee can identify and thwart phishing attempts - and then act quickly if they suspect a breach - is now essential for keeping a business running and safeguarding trust and reputation."

said Ikram.