Fortinet has released its 2026 Cyberthreat Predictions Report, warning that global cybercrime will become a fully industrialized system driven by automation, specialization, and artificial intelligence (AI).
The company says 2026 marks a shift from innovation to throughput—where attackers focus on executing proven methods faster and at scale.
According to the report, “cybersecurity has become a race of systems, not individuals,” as both attackers and defenders work to automate discovery, intrusion, and response processes.
Attackers embrace automation and AI
Fortinet’s threat intelligence team expects cybercriminals to leverage AI across every stage of the attack chain—rapid reconnaissance, credential theft, lateral movement, and even personalized ransom negotiation.
Automation will allow ransomware affiliates to run dozens of simultaneous campaigns rather than just a few, shrinking the time from intrusion to impact “from days to minutes.” AI will also accelerate monetization by instantly analyzing stolen databases, identifying the most profitable victims, and generating customized extortion messages.
The underground economy is evolving into a mature commercial marketplace with reputation scoring, customer support, automated escrow, and tailored access rentals based on sector or geography.
Defense must speed up too
To counter these trends, Fortinet says organizations must shift to machine-speed defense—a continuous cycle of intelligence, validation, and containment.
Frameworks like continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) and MITRE ATT&CK will play a bigger role in real-time risk prioritization. Identity security will become critical not only for users but also non-human identities such as bots, automated agents, and AI processes.
Collaboration and global deterrence
Industrialized cybercrime also requires coordinated responses. Fortinet points to cross-sector efforts including INTERPOL’s Operation Serengeti 2.0 and the Fortinet–Crime Stoppers International Cybercrime Bounty program, enabling communities to safely report emerging threats.
Education and deterrence campaigns will target younger populations increasingly recruited into criminal cyber activity.
What’s ahead
By 2027, Fortinet expects cybercrime to operate at a scale “comparable to legitimate global industries,” driven by agentic AI and swarm-based attacks targeting embedded systems and the software supply chain.
Organizations that integrate predictive intelligence, automation, and human expertise “into a single, responsive system” will be in the best position to withstand these threats.
Jonas Walker, Director of Threat Intelligence APAC & Middle East, FortiGuard Labs, said: “The findings clearly show that cybercrime is no longer an opportunistic activity, it is an industrialized system operating at machine speed. As automation, specialization, and AI redefine every stage of the attack lifecycle, the time between compromise and consequence continues to collapse. The road ahead will be shaped by how quickly defenders can adapt to this reality. Cybersecurity has become a race of systems, not individuals, and organizations will need integrated intelligence, continuous validation, and real-time response to stay ahead of adversaries who measure success by throughput, not novelty.”
Bambi Escalante, Fortinet Philippines Country Manager, added: “For defenders, the shift we are seeing is profound. Static configurations and periodic assessments can’t keep pace with an environment where attackers automate reconnaissance, privilege escalation, and extortion in minutes. What organizations need is a unified, adaptive security posture, one that brings together threat intelligence, exposure management, and incident response into a continuous, AI-enabled workflow. At Fortinet, our focus is on helping customers build this level of resilience so they can act at the same speed as the threats they face and strengthen their ability to contain attacks before disruption occurs.”
Fortinet encourages organizations to review the full 2026 Cyberthreat Predictions Report for detailed analysis and recommended strategies.
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