What lies in store for the security world in 2026? | Computer Weekly

"If 2024 and 2025 were the years organisations felt the strain of tightening budgets, 2026 is the year those decisions will fully manifest in their cyber risk exposure. Across both the private and public sectors, years of belt-tightening have led to reduced headcount, ageing infrastructure and postponed modernisation. Analyst reports show growth in cyber security spending has slowed markedly and many security teams are operating with fewer specialists than they had three years ago."

"A major supply-chain compromise of Oracle Cloud reportedly exposed millions of records and impacted more than 140,000 tenants. The Salesloft/Drift breach illustrated how attackers can exploit interconnected SaaS ecosystems to cascade access across multiple organisations. Meanwhile, Jaguar Land Rover's cyber incident halted vehicle production and disrupted supply chains for weeks, demonstrating how even relatively mature, well-funded industries can be brought to a standstill by a single compromise. These incidents reveal a systemic weakening of defensive capacity and third-party oversight."

"With smaller teams and constrained resources, adversaries will enjoy longer dwell times, greater freedom to move laterally and more opportunities to exploit unpatched systems. Supply-chain compromise and zero-day exploitation will remain primary attack vectors, especially in environments where patch cycles have slowed or asset inventories are incomplete. Compounding this is the fact that several national cyber bodies have themselves faced funding and workforce reductions, limiting their abil"

Budget reductions and belt‑tightening since 2024–25 have reduced headcount, aged infrastructure, and postponed modernisation across public and private sectors. Cybersecurity spending growth has slowed and many teams have fewer specialists than three years ago. Recent incidents show these gaps translate directly into risk, including large supply‑chain compromises, cascaded SaaS breaches, and operational stoppages in manufacturing. Smaller security teams and constrained resources increase adversary dwell time, lateral movement, and exploitation of unpatched systems. Supply‑chain compromise and zero‑day exploitation will remain primary vectors, while national cyber bodies face funding and workforce constraints that limit response capacity.

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