The Arctic Wolf 2026 Threat Report analyzes global incident response activity and shows attackers exploiting identity, remote access, trusted platforms, and familiar weaknesses. Ransomware represented 44% of IR cases, BEC 26%, and data incidents 22%, together accounting for 92%. Data incidents rose sharply as some actors shifted from encryption to theft and extortion, while 5% of cases involved ransomware stopped before detonation. Remote access abuse appeared in 65% of non-BEC cases, and phishing caused 85% of BEC fraud incidents. For 2026, Arctic Wolf expects persistent ransomware, more data extortion, AI-assisted social engineering, routine criminal use of AI, and information warfare. Priorities include identity controls, segmentation, patching, credential rotation, phishing defenses, m

Join for free to read