Principal Security Consultant Paul McLatchie provides proactive steps to help your organisation stay resilient in a rapidly changing cyber landscape.
The cyber security landscape in 2026 is dramatically different from what it was just a few years ago. Digital transformation, hybrid working, cloud adoption and the widespread deployment of AI have expanded both organisational capabilities and their potential attack surfaces. Cyber risk is no longer just an IT concern, it’s a core business issue that CEOs and executive teams must own and govern.
From the rise of AI‑driven threats and fraud to supply‑chain vulnerabilities and talent shortages, today’s environment demands a strategic, resilient and holistic approach, not simply compliance checkboxes. Our guidance for organisations continues to emphasise strengthening fundamentals while aligning security with broader business objectives.
A strategic mindset for 2026
Before exploring tactical actions, it’s worth underscoring a few modern cyber realities:
1. Cyber risk is board‑level business risk
CEOs are now more concerned about cyber‑enabled fraud and AI misuse than traditional ransomware alone. Treating cyber security solely as a technical IT problem is no longer defensible. Security must be embedded into business strategy, risk reporting and financial planning, with governance and accountability at board level.
2. AI, a double‑edged sword
Artificial intelligence amplifies both opportunity and risk. While it empowers organisations to detect threats faster, automate responses, and streamline operations, it also provides attackers with sophisticated tools to breach systems and exploit vulnerabilities.
Leading organisations don’t just adopt AI, they govern it: maintaining a clear inventory of AI applications, assessing security and compliance risks, and ensuring human oversight of automated decisions to prevent unintended consequences.
3. Geopolitics & third‑party risk
Geo‑political tensions and economic sanctions continue to shape threat landscapes and supply‑chain risk. Attacks against third parties and shared suppliers can cascade quickly into your organisation, making vendor security and joint incident preparedness vital.
4. The cyber skills gap remains a constraint
Recruiting and retaining skilled cyber professionals, especially in threat intelligence, identity and DevSecOps remains difficult. We recommend blending internal capability with specialist partners to achieve scale and continuous monitoring.
Turning insight into resilience
Understanding the strategic cyber landscape is only the first step. With risks spanning AI misuse, supply‑chain vulnerabilities, fraud, and third‑party exposure, organisations must translate awareness into concrete action.
The following key steps provide a practical roadmap for strengthening cyber resilience, ensuring that strategy, governance, and operational security work together to protect your people, assets, and services in 2026 and beyond.
1. Identify and patch vulnerabilities
Strong vulnerability management continues to be foundational: ensure all systems, network hardware, cloud services, IoT devices and software are patched promptly and consistently. Deploy tooling that discovers unknown devices and surfaces gaps needing remediation.
Modern attackers exploit not just unpatched flaws but also weaknesses in integrated third‑party systems, so continuous and automated vulnerability scanning is critical.
2. Strengthen identity and access controls
Identity has become the new perimeter. Compromised credentials are a key cause of breaches globally, and advanced authentication controls are increasingly essential.
- Enforce multi‑factor authentication (MFA), preferably phishing‑resistant methods (e.g., passkeys).
- Adopt zero trust principles: verify every access request, enforce least privilege and need to know security principles, and continuously monitor behaviour.
- Use privileged access management (PAM) and just‑in‑time access for critical systems.
- Integrate identity‑centric threat detection and response (ITDR) to monitor risky credential use.
3. Limit fraud and phishing exposure
With cyber‑enabled fraud now topping executive concern, phishing and social engineering require elevated attention.
- Run regular phishing simulations linked to real threat scenarios.
- Deliver experiential, AI‑aware security training, moving beyond annual compliance videos to behavioural outcomes.
- Harden email security with advanced detection and impersonation protection.
4. Enabling defence in depth
Hybrid and cloud‑native infrastructures create complex security considerations:
- Use next-generation firewalls, intrusion prevention systems (IPS), malware sandboxing, and continuous tuning of security controls.
- Web filtering and secure remote access policies should protect users everywhere.
- Expand Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) capabilities for consistent policy enforcement across cloud and on‑premises resources.
- Cloud responsibility models and continuous monitoring help ensure that security protections scale with adoption.
5. Backup, resilience and recovery - test, don’t assume
Resilience goes beyond minimal compliance; it requires proven capability.
- Maintain backups following the 3‑2‑1 rule with immutable copies.
- Regularly test restores under real conditions to ensure readiness.
- Build disaster recovery playbooks into business continuity plans and rehearse them.
Organisations that invest in tested recovery reduce operational and financial impact when incidents occur.
6. Real‑time threat intelligence and monitoring
Cyber threats evolve rapidly, especially with AI‑enabled tactics. Staying current is essential:
- Subscribe to real‑time threat feeds and vulnerability alerts.
- Use AI‑enhanced SIEM and monitoring platforms to detect anomalies before they escalate.
- Consider services or partnerships for 24/7 security operations and continuous threat hunting.
7. Improve incident response and governance
An incident response plan that sits in a drawer isn’t enough. It must be current, practised and fully integrated with governance workflows:
- Define roles, escalation paths and regulatory reporting requirements in your response playbook.
- Conduct annual full‑scale simulations, including scenarios involving key suppliers.
- Use lessons from exercises to improve governance and executive visibility.
- Don’t fall into the trap of making these exercises “IT only” events, cross-business representation is the key to fruitful incident response simulations.
Strengthened governance around incident management instils confidence in decision‑makers and stakeholders alike.
Next steps
This may feel like a lot, but these steps are the fundamentals that keep organisations secure in 2026. We are here to guide you, turning strategy into action and helping you build resilience across people, processes, and technology.
With deep experience securing complex digital environments, we work alongside you to manage risk, govern AI, close skills gaps, and ensure tested recovery plans are in place. Cyber security isn’t a one-off project, it’s a journey, and we’re with you every step of the way.
About the author
Paul McLatchie is a security strategy consultant working at Daisy Corporate Services with over 25 years’ experience in technical architecture and cyber security roles. CISSP qualified, Paul works with Daisy customers in providing consultative analysis of their organisational security posture and in developing strategic cyber security roadmaps.
