Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

In 2024, we talked to AI. In 2026, AI is talking to our systems, our customers, and increasingly, acting on our behalf. With AI agents, we are moving AI from a tool to an actor, from assistance to agency and from outputs to actions. And that changes the nature of risk. AI agents plan, execute, and interact with the world on our behalf. They send emails, move data, trigger workflows, and increasingly operate across systems without human intervention.

Threat actors are increasingly augmenting their attacks with AI tools, according to researchers at Google’s Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG). For the first time, GTIG observed a threat actor using a zero-day exploit developed by AI, although Google blocked the attack before it succeeded. Threat actors also continue to use Large Language Models (LLMs) for research, reconnaissance, and malware development.

The era of "typing into a box" is over. For years, we viewed artificial intelligence as a digital assistant—a sophisticated autocomplete tool that waited for human input. But according to Martin Kraemer, KnowBe4’s CISO Advisor for Europe and the Middle East, that dynamic has shifted. We have moved from asking AI questions to giving AI jobs. In a recent deep-dive webinar, Martin explored the transition from AI tools to AI agents.

2026 has officially become the year of speed, scale and support. The delta between a phishing email landing and a full organizational compromise has shrunk to mere seconds. The reality by the numbers: To close this window, your defense strategy must evolve into a two-step strategy of accuracy and automation.

There is no question that AI is changing cybersecurity in a massive way. In many respects, its impact is comparable to the rise of the internet. AI tools are helping organizations improve efficiency, automate repetitive tasks, and process data at a speed humans simply cannot match. Unfortunately, the same technology helping defenders is also being adopted by cybercriminals just as quickly. For cybersecurity professionals, keeping up with AI and agentic developments is no longer optional.

GitHub disclosed that attackers accessed its internal repositories after compromising an employee device through a poisoned Visual Studio Code extension. The company said the activity appears limited to GitHub-owned internal repositories, with the attacker’s claim of roughly 3,800 repositories being “directionally consistent” with its investigation. GitHub also said it found no evidence that customers’ own enterprises, organizations or repositories were impacted.

A phishing campaign exploited a glitch in Robinhood’s account creation process to send phishing emails from the investment platform’s own systems, SecurityWeek reports.

UK residents lost £102 million ($138 million US) to romance scams in 2025, according to a new report from the City of London Police. “Data shows 10,784 reports of romance fraud were made to Report Fraud last year - a 29 percent increase compared with 2024,” the report says. “Police believe this rise is partly driven by increased awareness and confidence in reporting, but it also highlights the ongoing scale and impact of a crime that often unfolds over weeks or months.

Researchers at Guardo Labs are tracking a major phishing campaign that abused Google AppSheet as a relay to send phishing emails. The researchers identified more than 30,000 Facebook accounts that were compromised by this campaign. Since the emails are sent from Google’s legitimate infrastructure, they’re much more likely to land in users' inboxes.

Attackers are abusing the storage and sharing features of Kuse, a free AI app, to assist in phishing campaigns, according to researchers at Trend Micro. Kuse is a legitimate agentic AI platform used by employees to streamline workflows. Users can share files with coworkers, which generates a link hosted by Kuse’s domain. In this case, attackers are abusing the share feature to generate legitimate-looking phishing links.

At the Milken Conference in May 2026, Robert F. Smith, founder and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, described a shift that every security leader should hear. Software, he said, has moved through three states: product, then service and now worker. "That agent, that software, actually does work." Companies that do not make the transition to software as a worker, he was blunt, risk being disintermediated entirely.

A new report from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has found that Americans lost $2.1 billion in 2025 to scams that began on social media. Nearly 30% of people who reported losing money to a scam said it started on social media, far outpacing other modes of contact.

Researchers at Bitdefender are tracking 40 separate SMS phishing (smishing) campaigns impersonating transport authorities, toll operators, and parking services around the world. The researchers have observed more than 79,000 scam text messages with over 29,000 unique variants. The attacks are targeting users in multiple languages. “These scam messages are designed to create a sense of urgency and pressure drivers into acting quickly,” the researchers write.

The launch of platforms like Moltbook, OpenClaw, and RentAHuman in early 2026 has provided an unsettling glimpse into the future. We are entering a phase of the digital workplace where AI agents no longer just assist us, they interact with one another, act autonomously in the physical world, and even hire humans for manual labor. In this environment, the traditional lines of control and agency are being redrawn.

It's getting harder to distinguish legitimate emails from malicious ones as phishing messages mimic real conversations, use trusted domains and increasingly leverage AI to scale and refine attacks. This shift is forcing organizations to rethink how they approach email security. Static controls that rely on known indicators can't keep up with threats that are evolving daily. To close that gap, teams need email security systems with integrated threat intelligence feeds.

Researchers at Bitdefender warn that Netflix-themed phishing attacks can have far-reaching consequences if users follow poor security practices. While Netflix is generally associated with a user’s personal life, phishing attacks targeting personal accounts can put users’ employers at risk. “Your Netflix account is just the starting point. It’s not the final target,” Bitdefender says. “Most people reuse passwords across multiple platforms.

A major phishing operation is targeting soccer/football fans ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which begins in June, according to researchers at Flare. The attackers have set up at least 79 phishing sites impersonating the official FIFA website.

This Anti-Ransomware Day, it's important to recognize the ever-changing landscape of cyber threats and how organizations can fortify their defenses. The evolution from traditional ransomware to cyber extortion over the last few years reflects a professionalized, decentralized ecosystem. To arm your organization against this danger, understanding the current landscape and implementing robust defense strategies is essential.

43% of businesses in the UK reported a breach last year, with phishing driving the vast majority (85%) of these attacks, the Register reports. A survey by the British government found that attacks involving only phishing grew by six percent in 2025.

The Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) region, with its dynamic economic growth and technological advancements, presents unique challenges and opportunities in the realm of human risk management and agentic risk management, particularly within the financial services sector. As financial institutions strive to protect themselves from increasing cyber threats, they must align their security practices with the regulations set forth by central banks across the countries.

The Philippines, like many other nations, is witnessing a dramatic increase in cyber threats, fueled by the rapid adoption of digital technologies and the proliferation of sophisticated cybercriminals. This article examines the evolution of cyber threats in the Philippines, with a focus on phishing, email security and the risks posed by agentic AI.

The Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) region, with its dynamic economic growth and technological advancements, presents unique challenges and opportunities in the realm of human risk management and agentic risk management, particularly within the financial services sector. As financial institutions strive to protect themselves from increasing cyber threats, they must align their security practices with the regulations set forth by central banks across the countries.

2026 has officially become the year of speed, scale and support The delta between a phishing email landing and a full organizational compromise has shrunk to mere seconds. The reality by the numbers: To close this window, your defense strategy must evolve into a two-step powerhouse of accuracy and automation.

We’ve long defined cybersecurity as the technical discipline of protecting networks, data and systems. But when viewed through a geopolitical lens, then this definition is no longer sufficient. What we are dealing with today goes beyond protecting organisational data, to protecting economies, sovereignty, and increasingly, human perception.

World Password Day is no longer just a nudge to pick stronger passwords, it’s a moment to rethink identity. Attackers rarely “hack” systems today; they log in as you. Combine expert guidance on phishing, MFA, password managers, behavioral defenses, and new threats from AI and quantum computing to better secure your accounts now and for the future.

Researchers at Google’s Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) are tracking a new threat actor that’s impersonating help desks to trick users into installing malware. The threat actor, which GTIG tracks as “UNC6692,” begins by sending a large volume of spam emails to the victim, then initiates contact via Microsoft Teams to ostensibly help the user block the spam.

Cybercriminals are getting smarter and faster. Social engineering attacks are evolving rapidly, and AI is making them more convincing than ever. According to the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, up to 68% of cyberattacks involve some form of social engineering. Meanwhile, 95% of cybersecurity professionals say AI is making phishing attacks harder to detect, and 65% believe attackers will soon rely on AI as their primary tool. This isn’t just theory.

Deepfake-driven fraud has caused $2.19 billion in losses globally, with $1.65 billion reported in 2025 alone, according to an analysis by Surfshark. More than half of these losses were due to investment scams using deepfakes of high-profile figures.

Microsoft warns that a new criminal threat actor dubbed “Storm-2755” is launching payroll-pirate attacks against Canadian users. These attacks use social engineering to compromise employee accounts and divert salary payments to attacker-controlled bank accounts.