2026 GLOBAL CYBER RISK OUTLOOK — KEY FINDINGS (QUORUM CYBER)

Quorum Cyber’s 2026 Global Cyber Risk Outlook provides a data-driven view of how cyber threats evolved through 2025 and what security leaders should prepare for in 2026. The findings indicate a rapidly industrialising cybercrime ecosystem, accelerated by AI, Ransomware‑as‑a‑Service (RaaS), and increasingly capable nation-state actors.

📌 30% Increase in Newly Formed Ransomware Groups = The report confirms a 30% rise in newly established ransomware groups in the year up to October 2025.

📌 Global Vulnerability Disclosures Up 21%, Surpassing 35,000 = Global vulnerability disclosures increased by 21%, exceeding 35,000 documented vulnerabilities for the first time.

📌 First Evidence of Nation-State AI Agents Automating 90% of Intrusions = Quorum Cyber identified the first confirmed instance of a nation-state threat group using AI agents to automate up to 90% of the intrusion lifecycle, representing a major escalation in offensive capability.

📌 Shift Away from Encryption Toward Fast, Low-Cost Data Exfiltration = Cybercriminals are pivoting from traditional encryption-based ransomware toward rapid data‑theft‑and‑extortion operations, which offer lower costs, faster execution, and reduced operational complexity.

📌 Rise of White-Label Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) = The report highlights the emergence of white-label RaaS platforms, enabling even low-skilled threat actors to launch fully branded ransomware or extortion operations with minimal setup time.

📌 Ransom Demands Surge: 179% in Financial Services, 97% in Manufacturing = Average ransom demands increased sharply across industries:

• 179% increase in financial services
• 97% increase in manufacturing
  These spikes correlate with the shift toward high-value data exfiltration‑as the first attack model.

📌 Nation-State Threats: Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea = The report reinforces that:

• Russia, China, and Iran-linked groups remain the top public sector threats.
• North Korea-associated actors likely earned over $2 billion from cybercrime in 2025, largely through cryptocurrency theft and state-directed hacking.

Overall Outlook

The 2026 threat environment reflects an industrialised cybercrime economy, characterised by:

• AI-enabled threat automation
• Faster attack lifecycles
• Expanded RaaS ecosystems
• Shrinking detection windows
• Lower barriers to entry for aspiring cybercriminals

Organisations should strengthen fundamentals—asset visibility, vulnerability management, identity security, and incident readiness—as increasingly complex tools become more widely available across threat actor tiers.

SOURCES

• [gracker.ai], https://gracker.ai/news/quorum-cyber-2026-outlook-ai-driven-cybercrime-escalates
• [cybersecur...siders.com], https://www.cybersecurity-insiders.com/quorum-cyber-2026-global-cyber-risk-outlook-finds-cybercrime-has-entered-an-industrial-phase-driven-by-ai-and-ransomware/
• [cyberdefensewire.com], https://cyberdefensewire.com/quorum-cybers-2026-global-cyber-risk-outlook-reveals-cyber-crime-enters-an-industrial-phase/
• [quorumcyber.com],   https://www.quorumcyber.com/reports-and-whitepapers/2026-global-cyber-risk-outlook/