WEF: Cybersecurity Priority

The World Economic Forum says cyber risk now belongs in the boardroom, not just the information-technology department. (weforum.org) Its Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026 was published on January 12, 2026, in collaboration with Accenture. The report says attacks are getting faster and more complex as artificial intelligence use expands, geopolitics hardens and supply chains stay difficult to secure. (weforum.org) The report draws on survey responses from more than 100 chief executives, and the full study says it also gathered input from 804 respondents across 92 countries. It says 94% of respondents expect AI to be the most significant driver of cybersecurity change in the year ahead. (weforum.org 1) (weforum.org 2) The report describes cyber resilience as the ability to keep operating, recover quickly and limit damage when systems are hit. That framing moves the issue from preventing every breach to making sure a company, hospital, bank or power operator can keep functioning during one. (weforum.org 1) (weforum.org 2) Artificial intelligence sits at the center of the warning because it helps defenders detect threats faster, but it also helps attackers automate scams and sharpen targeting. The Forum says concerns have shifted toward unintended data exposure from generative AI systems as companies roll those tools into daily work. (weforum.org 1) (weforum.org 2) Chief executives are also looking beyond ransomware. The Forum says cyber-enabled fraud affected 73% of respondents in 2025 and became the top concern for CEOs worldwide, while chief information security officers still ranked ransomware as their leading worry. (weforum.org) (weforum.org) Geopolitics is the other big driver. The report says less than 45% of private-sector CEOs are confident their country could respond effectively to a major cyberattack on critical infrastructure, a sign that corporate risk planning is now tied more closely to national resilience. (weforum.org) Supply chains remain a weak point because companies depend on software vendors, cloud providers and outside contractors they do not fully control. The report says concentration and opacity in those chains can spread a single failure across many organizations at once. (weforum.org) The Forum’s prescription is broader oversight: board attention, clearer governance, more intelligence sharing and closer public-private coordination. Its message is that cyber resilience now sits alongside finance, operations and legal risk as a core leadership job. (weforum.org) (weforum.org)