Cybersecurity 2026: emerging threats and defence strategies

The threat landscape in 2026Cybercrime now costs the global economy more than 10 trillion dollars a year. African companies are increasingly being targeted, particularly in the banking, telecom and government sectors. Threats are growing in sophistication and frequency.Emerging threatsRansomware as-a-service (RaaS) is democratising encryption-based attacks. Audio and video deepfakes are being used for CEO fraud. Supply chain attacks compromise suppliers in order to reach their customers. Generative AI produces phishing emails that are undetectable by traditional filters.Effective defence strategiesEmployee awareness remains the first line of defence. Regular phishing simulations reduce the click rate by 75%. Network segmentation limits lateral propagation. Immutable backups protect against ransomware. EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) detects suspicious behaviour in real time.The incident response planEvery company must have an incident response plan that is tested and updated regularly. Identification, containment, eradication and recovery are the four essential phases. Crisis communication must be planned in advance.Source: Mandiant annual report (Google Cloud Security), "M-Trends 2026", March 2026