Trend Micro predicts industrialization of cybercrime in 2026

Trend Micro’s 2026 Security Predictions Report warns that AI-driven automation will transform cybercrime, making attacks faster, larger, and more complex. Enterprises must adopt proactive, resilient strategies across AI, cloud, and software supply chains.

Trend Micro Incorporated, a global cybersecurity leader, has released its annual Security Predictions Report for 2026, warning that cybercrime is entering a fully automated era. The report notes that AI and automation now allow attackers to run entire campaigns autonomously, from reconnaissance to extortion, creating unprecedented speed, scale, and complexity for enterprise defenders.

Generative AI and agentic systems are changing cybercrime economics. Autonomous intrusion campaigns, polymorphic malware, and deepfake-driven social engineering will become standard. Attackers may flood businesses with synthetic code, poisoned AI models, and flawed modules hidden in legitimate workflows.

Sharda Tickoo, Country Manager for India & SAARC at Trend Micro, said, “2026 will be remembered as the year cybercrime stopped being a service industry and became a fully automated one. We are entering an era where AI agents will discover, exploit, and monetize weaknesses without human input. The challenge for defenders is no longer simply detecting attacks, it’s keeping pace with the machine-driven tempo of threats.”

Targeted attacks and ransomware evolution

Hybrid cloud environments, AI infrastructures, and software supply chains are expected to be the main targets in 2026. Attack vectors will include poisoned open-source packages, malicious container images, and over-privileged cloud identities, while state-sponsored groups may adopt “harvest-now, decrypt-later” strategies against quantum computing advances.

Ransomware is evolving into an AI-powered ecosystem capable of identifying victims, exploiting weaknesses, and negotiating with targets via automated “extortion bots.” These attacks are expected to become faster, harder to trace, and more persistent, driven by data rather than encryption alone.

Trend Micro advises organizations to shift from reactive defense to proactive resilience, embedding security across AI adoption, cloud operations, and supply chain management. Enterprises integrating ethical AI use, adaptive defense, and human oversight will be best positioned to succeed.

The report emphasizes balancing speed with governance and intelligence with ethics to ensure trust and resilience in an increasingly autonomous cyber world.