AI emerges as biggest cyber disruptor as fraud fears surge: WEF

New Delhi: AI has emerged as the biggest cybersecurity disruptor globally, with 94% organisations identifying AI as the most significant force reshaping cyber risks in 2026, while 87% flagged AI vulnerabilities as the fastest-growing cyber threat, according to a World Economic Forum report.The Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026 report also stated that 73% of respondents said they or someone in their professional or personal network had been affected by cyber-enabled fraud.Escalating geopolitical tensions, deepfake-driven fraud, AI-powered phishing attacks, weak public-sector cyber resilience and growing supply-chain dependencies are creating a “fast-paced, metamorphic landscape” where “speed and scale of attacks are testing the limits of traditional defences”, it warned.The report said AI was “reshaping risk, accelerating both offence and defence”, with cybercriminals increasingly exploiting generative AI to automate phishing campaigns, produce deepfake audio and video, and carry out more sophisticated social engineering attacks.Data leaks associated with generative AI emerged as the top concern for 34% of respondents in 2026, up sharply from 22% in 2025, while 29% flagged the “advancement of adversarial capabilities” such as AI-enabled phishing, malware creation and deepfakes as a risk.

A shift was visible in corporate priorities. While ransomware remained the top concern for chief information security officers (CISOs), chief executive officers (CEOs) ranked cyber-enabled fraud and phishing as their biggest fear in 2026, overtaking ransomware for the first time. The report said this reflected concerns over financial losses, reputational damage and erosion of trust caused by digital scams and AI-powered fraud.Cyber fraud is increasingly affecting ordinary users. According to the survey, phishing, vishing and smishing attacks were the most common, impacting 62% of respondents, followed by payment fraud at 37% and identity theft at 32%.The report showed a sharp rise in AI security governance as organisations attempted to plug vulnerabilities. The share of organisations assessing the security of AI tools before deployment almost doubled from 37% in 2025 to 64% in 2026.

However, 29% of organisations still lacked any formal process to review AI security before deployment.Geopolitics has become central to cybersecurity planning. About 64% of organisations said geopolitically motivated cyberattacks now shaped their cyber risk mitigation strategies, while 91% of the world’s largest organisations had altered cybersecurity strategies because of geopolitical volatility. Confidence in govt’s cyber preparedness also weakened, with 31% of respondents lacking confidence in their country’s ability to respond to major cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, up from 26% last year. The report found that 23% of public-sector organisations admitted insufficient cyber resilience, compared with 11% in the private sector, while 78% of resilient organisations identified third-party and supply-chain vulnerabilities as their biggest cyber challenge globally today.