The report Cybersecurity 2026: Responsible AI Defense, published by Forvis Mazars, notes that AI has revolutionized the pace of cybersecurity, with attackers leveraging AI to automate reconnaissance, social engineering, and lateral movement to compress the attack cycle from days to hours or even minutes. The report emphasizes that the core challenge for cybersecurity in 2026 is speed, as attacks have shifted from data theft to operational leverage, causing downtime, reputational damage and team distraction. The report recommends that organizations adopt a "responsible AI defense" strategy that includes deploying phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication (MFA), implementing Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR), adopting an Extended Detection and Response (XDR) platform, and creating layered immutable backups. Governance first, human-computer collaboration, and transparency and auditability become the three principles of AI defense.
