- IBM X-Force 2026 Report Shows 44% Increase in Attacks Against Public Applications
- Vulnerability exploitation causes 40% of incidents, while ransomware operators have increased by almost 50%
- GenAI Lowers Barriers for Low-Skilled Actors, Accelerating Attacks on Supply Chains and SaaS Integrations
Hackers are getting faster and more effective at exploiting vulnerabilities, all thanks to deeper integration of Gen AI tools into daily operations, experts have warned.
The IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2026 report lists some rather worrying statistics on the state of enterprise security, reporting a 44% increase in cyberattacks exploiting public applications (including e-commerce websites and portals, email services, online banking applications, APIs, etc.) compared to the previous year.
These attacks are driven by an increase in vulnerability exploitation which IBM estimates is responsible for 40% of all cyber incidents observed in 2025. At the same time, the number of active ransomware operators has increased by almost 50%, while the number of publicly disclosed attacks has increased by 12%.
Reassessing traditional security assumptions
“Attackers aren’t reinventing strategies, they’re accelerating them with AI,” said Mark Hughes, global managing partner of cybersecurity services at IBM. “The core problem is the same: businesses are overwhelmed by software vulnerabilities. The difference now is speed.”
These days, threat actors primarily target large supply chains and third-party partners, IBM added, saying the number of incidents against these entities has increased nearly fourfold in five years.
Software, deployment environments, SaaS integrations, and CI/CD automation in development workflows appear to be the number one targets for these attacks.
In discussing AI’s place in this narrative, IBM says it primarily lowers the barriers to entry, making low-skilled ransomware actors a huge threat as well. Smaller groups, with limited resources, can use AI to automate parts of their operations, becoming faster and more disruptive.
Looking ahead, IBM expects bad actors to begin using AI for research, data analysis, and refining attack paths, all in real time.
Via Infosecurity magazine
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