Cybersecurity Threats Hitting Global Infrastructures in 2026: A Growing Global Risk

A new type of cyber attack on Infrastructure Worldwide has been predicted to significantly increase Cyber Threats faced by the Digital Modern Society’s Backbone by 2026.  Vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure systems will continue to be discovered due to Cyber Attacks and Cyber Actions; therefore, an urgent reassessment of how to protect critical infrastructure systems will be necessary to react to Cyber Attacks.

According to experts, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Geopolitical Tensions, combined with the increasing sophistication of Criminal Toolsets, will contribute to making 2023 a Challenging Year for Infrastructure cybersecurity.  Awareness of the Emerging Threats as the Digital Transformation continues to grow and associated risks are therefore critical.

AI‑Powered Attacks and Ransomware Escalation

Artificial Intelligence is both a tool for defence and offence. On the one hand, it increases the speed at which an organisation monitors for attacks; on the other hand, it gives increased capability to attackers to create AI‑driven threats that will become more sophisticated, and allow them to exploit vulnerabilities at a significantly faster pace than teams can respond to by patching them. As a result, AI‑driven threats will become more pinpointed and scalable in 2026.

Ransomware has become one of the most prevalent global threats, evolving into a multitude of different forms, including double extortion and triple extortion. In addition, as a result of the use of social engineering to perpetrate these attacks, attackers are now leveraging breached data to threaten their victims and partners with publishing the data on social media unless multiple ransom payments are made, magnifying the adverse effects on the organisations that operate the infrastructure.

Nation‑State Activity and Geopolitical Cyber Warfare

Cyber Warfare and Geopolitical Tensions Morph into Nation‑State ActivityCyber Warfare is being shaped by the growing geopolitical tensions between countries around the world. The state‑endorsed actors are conducting attacks against the critical infrastructure of countries worldwide as a mechanism of Espionage and Disruption. In 2025, Taiwan recorded an average of 2.6 million cyberattacks per day against its key infrastructure services – primarily from state actors in China. This trend is likely to continue and will influence how the threats are being conducted in 2026.

Key Threat Vectors in 2026

Threat Type	Description	Potential Impact
AI‑Driven Attacks	Automated exploitation and deepfake‑assisted intrusions	Faster, harder to detect breaches
Ransomware Evolution	Double/triple extortion with public data leaks	Severe service disruptions
Supply Chain Compromise	Attacks through third‑party vendors	Broad systemic risk
Nation‑State Campaigns	Geopolitical cyber operations	Infrastructure downtime & espionage
IoT/OT Exploitation	Insecure devices and operational tech	Physical & digital system failures

Vulnerabilities in the Supply Chain and Cloud Computing

It is becoming increasingly common for cybercriminals to attack supply chains as a cost-effective way of attacking multiple organisations through one vendor (i.e. Cloud Provider, Authentication Services or Software Libraries) – meaning that by breaching one vendor, they expose hundreds of dependent organisations almost simultaneously. Current trends indicate that there has been a significant increase in the use of malicious open-source packages and dependencies to attack infrastructure tools.

To protect themselves, organisations must understand how they can increase the protection of their Operational Technology (OT) and their Network Security. For more information, visit Best Practices for Operational Technology Cybersecurity in 2026 to learn how you can increase the protection of your OT and Network Security. 

Insights for Construction of Resilience

Leaders in the industry are utilising Zero Trust models of management with “Continuous Management of Threat Exposure” in order to address the expansion of their position’s Threat Surface. Both zero trust and continuous risk assessment, both led by an assumption of a threat or breach, allow you to check every request made to access an account and continually assess the associated threat and risk, particularly within the hybrid cloud environment.

Regular Updates (or Patching) and Management of Identity and Authorisations (IAM), and the Introduction of AI-Enhanced Monitoring Tools, as an example of these types of “standardised” measures, to dramatically reduce vulnerability response intervals when incidents occur.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the most serious cyber threats to Global Infrastructure in 2026?

In 2026, the most serious cyber threats will include (1) Cyber attacks driven by AI. (2) Ransomware tactics that have been improved. (3) Supplier compromises; and (4) Cyber operations conducted by nation states targeting Energy, Healthcare, and Transportation Systems as primary targets.

2. How do AI-based attacks impact the Cybersecurity of Infrastructure?

The automation of identifying and capitalising on threats through AI allows malicious agents to use tailored, personal phishing, deepfake, and automated breach campaigns that are beyond reach, rendering any traditional defence ineffective.

3. What is double or triple extortion ransomware?

Double or triple extortion ransomware refers to the method of operation whereby malicious agents encrypt and steal the data and demand an additional payment for releasing both the encrypted data and for threatening to expose any sensitive information to the general public or also to target partners.

4. Why are supply chain vulnerabilities important for the security of Infrastructure?

If there is a compromise to the services or software supplied by 3rd party suppliers, it creates a potential for exposure of downstream organisations, and establishes a systemic risk and risk of widespread service delivery interruptions.

5. What can an organisation do to enhance the Cybersecurity of Critical Infrastructure?

A strong foundation of Zero Trust and a robust Identity Management Process, along with Continuous Monitoring and Regular Patching of all applications and systems, will help reduce the attack surface and increase the resilience of the organisation.