Data security predictions 2026

The last 12 months have seen some of the most costly breaches and security incidents to date; the result of ransomware, poor vulnerability management and limited visibility of supply chain risks. Meanwhile, governments arguably fell short of implementing effective regulation, juggling consumer safety against enabling growth and innovation.

In this post, we look ahead and share our predictions for the changes that will impact the data security landscape in 2026 and beyond. 

AI mega breach

As businesses race toward the opportunity of the AI-powered future, we don’t see breach trends slowing any time soon. In fact, we expect 2026 to bring its own raft of mega breaches, in no small part driven by the rising use of generative AI (genAI) among consumers and businesses alike.

Early in 2026, genAI – the technology behind ChatGPT, Copilot, DeepSeek, Gemini, Perplexity and more – will result in a major ransomware incident or breach event. Phishing lures generated by GenAI tools are now all but indistinguishable from legitimate messages. The extent to which organizations’ defenses can identify and block these attacks will be tested to the limit, and the consequences when they fail will be significant.

Alongside convincing phishing lures, cybercrime will continue its own AI adoption journey, refining darkweb AI models designed for malware development. Additionally, the availability of such tools will further lower the barrier to entry for would-be cybercriminals and ‘script kiddies,’ driving greater attack volumes. 

Just as genAI has taken the world by storm, organizations are rapidly deploying agentic AI solutions. These autonomous agents process information to make decisions and solve problems. However, they are vulnerable to a host of novel manipulation attacks that is likely to result in a high-profile data leak within the coming year.

Rising pre-quantum threat

Another factor driving the continued breach trend is quantum computing and its promise to break current encryption algorithms in the next 3-5 years. 

Over the last few years, ransomware has shifted from limiting availability of information through encryption to additionally exfiltrating the data for later extortion. Considering the threat quantum computing poses to current encryption methods, the lack of organizational readiness to combat it, and as the reality of the quantum future gets closer, this trend is likely to continue. 

Threat actors will target large data stores, regardless of encryption status, stockpiling data in advance of mainstream quantum computing capabilities. As decryption becomes possible, cybercriminals will have vast stores of stolen data ready to exploit.

Data governance goes mainstream

As businesses grapple with AI threats, shadow IT, system misuse and the continued bombardment of cyber-attacks, data governance will accelerate to the top of the security agenda for large and small businesses alike.

Shadow IT will continue to be a significant and growing challenge for organizations, not only in identifying new storage buckets, dark data and SaaS services, but also on- and off-network use of AI tools for business purposes. 

To address these challenges, more comprehensive data security posture management solutions (DSPM) will enter the marketplace enabling more effective identification, indexing, classification and management of sensitive information. Businesses will invest in DSPM solutions capable of indexing and tracking the huge quantities of data ingested and created daily, to help monitor and manage data security risk from a proactive position. 

Additionally, pressure on governments to introduce new laws and regulations with adequate enforcement powers will grow, in an effort to ensure responsible data use that defends consumer privacy rights and delivers data security. This will include convergence towards a global framework governing AI development, further introduction and revision of privacy laws worldwide and the introduction of new standards aiming to mitigate future data security threats.  

AI-powered cybersecurity 

The trend of integrating AI capabilities into cybersecurity tools and solutions will lead to stronger and more adaptable organizational defenses. The industry has already seen significant results by integrating AI in threat analysis and response tools. 

This will expand across all aspects of data governance, risk management and compliance, and will continue to mature in threat management scenarios. This will facilitate real-time, proactive decision-making and response, as well as support the automation of front-line security functions. 

The way forward with Ground Labs

The coming year will be full of exciting opportunities and technological innovations, but unless organizations are able to adequately identify, classify and protect their data, they may find themselves both falling behind their competitors and exposed to cyber-attacks. 

As we’ve highlighted, data governance will become a key priority for all organizations, as threats continue to evolve and the demand for data only increases. Effective data security management is crucial not only to defend against modern cyber-threats, but also to leverage new technologies including AI. Ground Labs delivers robust data discovery and DSPM capabilities, providing the foundation for effective data governance, fit for the AI era and beyond.