Curated advice, guidance, learning and trends in cybersecurity and privacy, as chosen by our consultants.
Business leaders believe cybersecurity risk is accelerating
Cybersecurity risk is accelerating due to AI advances, geopolitical fragmentation, and increasingly systemic cybercrime. That’s what senior business leaders and experts are saying in the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2026 Global Cybersecurity Outlook, now in its fifth year.
A central theme is AI’s dual impact: 94 per cent of leaders see it as the biggest driver of change in cybersecurity, 87 per cent identify AI‑related vulnerabilities as the fastest‑growing cyber risk, and 77 per cent of organisations already use AI for security. Since last year, the number of organisations assessing the security of AI tools has jumped from 37 per cent to 64 per cent. Almost two-thirds organisations (64 per cent) account for geopolitically motivated cyberattacks in their strategies. Most of the largest firms (91 per cent) have changed their cybersecurity approach due to geopolitical volatility, particularly around critical infrastructure and supply chains. The report, published together with Accenture, says cyber resilience is key to lowering risk.
CSO Online led with the AI angle from the report, while BankInfoSecurity’s writeup focused on CEOs’ increasing concern about cyber‑enabled fraud, whereas CISOs are still focused on ransomware and supply‑chain resilience, suggesting a gap between boardroom and front‑line priorities. “This suggests CEOs are prioritising financial loss prevention and preparing for new threats, while CISOs remain focused on operational resilience,” the report said. Help Net Security’s coverage expanded on what the findings mean for security teams.
Irish SMEs are underprepared for cyber threats
A report into the cybersecurity readiness of Irish small and medium businesses found that 78 per cent are “critically underprepared” for modern threats. Micro-enterprises are especially at risk, with 81 per cent found to be in the lowest resilience tier. Only 6 per cent scored high or very highly on a measure of cyber resilience. The finding comes from an analysis of 894 enterprises across 11 industry sectors, carried out by Munster Technological University in collaboration with Ireland’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
The research identified several weaknesses that were consistent across all SMEs, including data backups, multi-factor authentication, incident response planning, cybersecurity training, VPN use, and business continuity planning. The Journal’s account of the findings noted that “No sector in Ireland achieved a cyber resilience score above 6 out of 10, signalling widespread vulnerabilities across the economy”. For context, SMEs make up 99.8 per cent of all enterprises in Ireland and they employ more than 2.29 million people: more than two-thirds of the workforce. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the NCSC also recently published its 2025 national cyber risk assessment. The 64-page document looks at threats to Ireland’s critical infrastructure
Data protection and privacy roundup: AI Act abated, Channels check, and regulatory resources
Get ready for the rollback: EU Member States are said to be coordinating their positions on revisions to the Artificial Intelligence Act. In the current political climate, will the Act’s rules be softened? The revisions are due by April, so let’s keep watching.
WhatsApp’s Channels feature will now fall under enhanced obligations for data protection. Having passed 45 million subscribers in the EU, the app will face more regulatory oversight. Meanwhile EU privacy regulators collectively issued more than €1.2 billion in fines last year, according to figures from DLA Piper. In Ireland, technology regulators are collectively asking for more resources. Citing an expanding remit, the watchdogs privately informed the Government that they don’t have the resources to meet the volume of work.
A new survey from Eir Business, a telecoms provider, casts doubt on how businesses manage the security and transparency of vital personal data. The survey of 1,000 people found that 40 per cent of respondents are not confident their data is safe, and 44 don’t feel informed about how companies use their data. Nearly one in four Irish people have had their personal data compromised, the research found
Links we liked
Secure your stack cost-effectively with one of 40 open source tools. MORE
ENISA explores how cyber policy translates to practice in critical sectors. MORE
NCSC’s Joe Stephens on why cyber regulation is not about ticking boxes. MORE
Trend Micro digs into a new threat known as vibe crime (hint: it involves AI) MORE
Gartner warns security leaders to lock agentic or AI browsers for now. MORE
New security startups emerge from MTU’s Cyber Innovate initiative. MORE
Irish cybersecurity companies had their strongest year yet for VC funding. MORE
“A blueprint for grooming and deception”: handbook reveals scammer secrets. MORE
The IMF’s paper examines cyber risk supervision for the financial sector. MORE
Ransomware’s new playbook is chaos. MORE
Have you signed up to our monthly newsletter? Every month we send out the latest cybersecurity and data protection news, trends and advice from around the globe.
Sign up here
