“Attackers don’t need to be more technical if they can convince someone to hand access over.”
This episode introduces a new way for us to check in on what’s happening across the security landscape. Instead of going deep on one topic, we step back and look at what’s shaping security conversations as we move into 2026. Using Google’s cybersecurity forecast as a guide, we focused on three areas that continue to influence how organizations think about risk: AI, cybercrime, and nation-state activity.
AI remains at the center of nearly every security discussion. Attackers are using it to move faster, scale their efforts, and improve social engineering tactics like phishing and voice scams. At the same time, defenders are learning how to use automation, monitoring, and agent-based tools to reduce manual effort and catch issues earlier. That balance between speed and visibility is becoming more important as AI shows up in more tools and workflows, sometimes without organizations even realizing it.
Cybercrime trends look familiar, but that doesn’t make them less dangerous. Ransomware, extortion, and data theft are still major disruptors. What continues to stand out is how often attackers rely on human interaction rather than technical exploits. Convincing someone to click, respond, or trust the wrong request remains one of the easiest paths in.
We also touched on nation-state activity, with a closer look at North Korea. Financial motivation, malicious hiring practices, and AI-assisted deception are making these threats harder to spot, especially for organizations with remote roles.
This conversation isn’t meant to predict the future perfectly. However, it should encourage you to pause and notice patterns. When you understand what’s repeating and what’s accelerating, it becomes easier to ask better questions and make steadier decisions. That kind of awareness tends to linger long after the conversation ends.
Episode Highlights
- [01:27] AI accelerating attacks and phishing
- [02:34] Prompt injection and AI misuse
- [04:19] Shadow AI and visibility risks
- [04:55] Ransomware and extortion trends
- [06:35] Infrastructure and virtualization risks
- [07:30] Nation-state focus and hiring threats
- [08:32] AI-enabled malicious hiring scams
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Contacts
- Matt Mock: [email protected]
- Meghan McLeod: [email protected]