If anything, 2026 has made clear that cybersecurity is no longer a background concern. Security is at the front and center of many conversations, woven into almost every major story of the year. Wars are fought on digital fronts as well as physical ones; governments are weaponizing citizens’ own data against them; botnets are quietly undermining democratic institutions; nation-state hackers are targeting civilian infrastructure, from power grids to water systems; and ransomware gangs are holding companies and institutions hostage for massive payouts. The attacks are getting bolder, more destructive, and harder to contain.

Questions of DOGE’s massive swipe of Social Security data linger. After operatives with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) swept through federal agencies, lawsuits are still going on in federal courts. The most alarming claim is that DOGE uploaded a live copy of the Social Security database to an unsecured third-party server, potentially exposing the Social Security numbers and associated personal information of most living Americans.

Hackers are increasingly targeting U.S. water systems and European energy grids to sow chaos. A rash of cyberattacks has set a troubling trend, with several hacks attributed to (or partly blamed on) Russia. This year, Russian hackers targeted Poland’s water treatment plants. Now, thanks to the recent U.S. and Israel war against Iran, Iranian hackers are actively hacking critical infrastructure across the United States, including privately owned water utilities, which often lack basic funding and cybersecurity protections.

Klue, a market research provider, was at the center of a huge data breach that affected close to 200 companies, including cybersecurity giants such as Jamf, HackerOne, and LastPass. The company had admitted that an extortion gang, dubbed Icarus, broke into its systems using a credential issued in 2022. In the data breach, Klue exposed the keys to its customers’ cloud services, allowing the hackers to break in and steal those stores of data to extort the companies for a ransom.

Thousands had their Instagram accounts hijacked thanks to Meta’s AI chatbot. People abused the AI chatbot to reset others’ account passwords, gaining access to their victim’s account. The hijackings, first reported by 404 Media, happened over the course of several months and were only noticed after news of the exploit began to leak online.