The year 2025 saw the cybersecurity landscape become increasingly complex, with a dynamic threat environment and the advent and implementation of advanced technologies to address it. AI matured as a technology, and securing an AI model was among the top priorities across organizations. Data privacy became a key boardroom discussion point in India, with senior management working to ensure their organizations successfully met the mandate of the DPDPA (Digital Personal Data Protection Act). According to Research from KELA, the number of ransomware incidents rose to 4,701 between January 1st to September 2025 from 3,219 recorded during the same months of 2024.
Ransomware was involved in 44% of breaches in 2025, up from around 32% in 2024. Phishing was the leading initial attack vector responsible for 16% of breaches, and supply chain compromises accounted for 15%, doubling in prevalence YoY. The top targeted industries in 2025 were Manufacturing, Finance, Healthcare, Professional Services, Technology, Education, Transport, Retail, and Government. (DeepStrike).
In this article, let us look into the key cybersecurity trends that are beneficial to enterprises preparing to strengthen their digital defenses and improve their cyber resilience.
- Autonomous AI-driven Defense to go mainstream
In the coming year, more cyber criminal activities will include the stealing of data and the manipulation of reality, with attackers racing to leverage AI to exploit vulnerabilities and surpass defenses. However, the same AI tools will power cybersecurity innovation to drive data processing, identify anomalies, and automate responses more rapidly when compared to human analysts, ensuring protection in real time. Autonomous ‘agentic’ AI systems will be leveraged by criminals to adapt and exploit, while defenders will leverage them to contain threats. Self-defending environments will be created in security operations centers (SOCs), which will be powered by autonomous security operations and predictive analytics, operating with minimal human intervention.
- Zero-trust Security Models to mature
In 2026, zero-trust will move into enterprise-wide, large-scale deployment. Organizations will further focus on maturing their model, driven by the rise in use of AI in cybersecurity tools. This development will ensure verification to access on an ongoing basis, significantly reducing the attack surface. Microsegmentation, continuous authorization, and adaptive access models will become standard practices across organizations with the implementation of zero-trust architecture. The growing risks and operational challenges faced by IT and security professionals with VPN services have led to 81% of organizations planning to implement zero-trust strategies within the next 12 months, according to Zscaler ThreatLabz 20265 VPN Risk Report. AI-driven access management in the ‘trust no one, verify everything,’ zero-trust model will support in analyzing contextual data rapidly, enabling quick intelligent access decisions. Gartner predicts that by 2026, 10% of companies will have a comprehensive, mature, and measurable zero-trust program in place.
- Increase Reliance on MSSPs
Most organizations are struggling to hire Level 3 analysts, resulting in a massive shortage of skilled, experienced cybersecurity professionals. According to the World Economic Forum, prediction, the cybersecurity industry is impacted by a global shortage of workers. Two-thirds of organizations are facing additional risks due to this, with only 15% of firms expecting cyber skills to significantly ramp up by 2026. Furthermore, the 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, organizations paid an average of USD 5.74 million after a breach due to a severe shortage of security team compared to those with strong security talent that paid relatively less amount, which was USD 3.98 million. Such situations can be addressed easily by outsourcing the task to managed security services providers (MSSPs) to stabilize the organization’s security posture. In 2026, the number of organizations partnering with MSSPs will dramatically increase as it turns into a strategic necessity. MSSPs are gearing up to deliver AI-augmented expertise and proactive threat hunting.
- Enterprises increasingly prepare for deeper IT–OT convergence
Globally, industrial operations were put at high risk in recent times due to ransomware campaigns, supply chain vulnerabilities, and AI-driven attacks. It becomes crucial to continuously monitor the OT security environments for both known and unknown threats to detect and mitigate risks. In 2026, there will be an increase in IT, OT, and Cloud infrastructure being integrated to facilitate monitoring across organizations, but this will introduce unique challenges, too, driving the need for robust and coordinated security management. To address the challenges, organizations should employ OT security best practices such as implementing zero-trust architecture, network segmentation, patch management, and more. All employees who have access to IT and OT assets should be offered the relevant security training. Employees, third-party contractors, and other associates who have access to sensitive information should be vetted on an ongoing basis.
- Identity security to take center stage
Identity and Access Management (IAM) is no longer about just granting access to the right individual for the right period of time. With a hybrid and remote workforce and cloud-based services, zero trust architecture, and pressure from regulatory bodies, identity has transformed as the new perimeter redefining security. In 2026, organizations will increase investments in passwordless authentication, identity threat detection and response, privileged access protection, identity governance and administration, and AI/ML-based analytics, among others. Identity is becoming the keystone of cybersecurity, and organizations will be placing it at the center of their cybersecurity strategies to ensure hassle-free digital experiences. In the coming days, AI will also be interwoven with IAM, which in turn is already intertwined with modern cybersecurity.
In the year 2026 and beyond, cyber resilience will define an organization’s success in modern cybersecurity, with the integration of AI, automation, and a robust security culture as key. Businesses that adopt a proactive stance in implementing layered and adaptive defenses are empowered to effectively address the evolving landscape and stay a step ahead of threats.
The article has been written by Chetan Jain, Cofounder & Managing Director, Inspira Enterprise
