Why AI-Driven cybersecurity threats are the biggest risk facing CEOs in 2026

Author: Joe Galvin – Chief Research Officer for Vistage Worldwide

As we kick off 2026, cyberattacks remain the single greatest threat to businesses and individuals. They can swiftly shut down a business. They can compromise its data, or drain a Bitcoin account in one fell swoop. And with the rapid adoption of AI, they are only gaining momentum.

In 2025, 4.3% of small- to midsize-business (SMB) CEOs who responded to a Vistage survey said their businesses had experienced a cyberattack resulting in data loss. Meanwhile, another 19% reported having attacks that did not end in a loss. And while roughly 23% (nearly a quarter) of SMBs experiencing a cybersecurity issue may not seem like a mass issue requiring immediate attention, the potential price tag of an attack is unignorable: IBM reports that data breaches hit an all-time high for U.S. businesses in 2026, costing an average of $10.22M.

Plus, separate research suggests that roughly 40% of cyber incidents go unreported. That means the problem is even more widespread than what we see on paper. Cybersecurity remains a critical concern for businesses of all sizes and industries. It is also a significant concern for CEOs on an individual level. Their perceived wealth makes them prime targets for cybercriminals seeking their next victim.

Despite this clear and present danger, cyber readiness has remained relatively stagnant over the past four-plus years. Recent Vistage research shows that 15.5% of SMBs still lack a cyber strategy as we enter 2026. Nearly two in ten organisations are risking devastating business impacts every single day.

From a CEO’s perspective, the cyber landscape may not seem vastly different than 2020. The reality however, is it’s evolving rapidly. Artificial intelligence has quickly become the most powerful tool in every cybercriminal’s arsenal. It has drastically shifted the advantage to the attacker. Today, criminals can create high-quality phishing attacks at scale. In effect, cybercrime has been industrialised.

With the click of a button, they can scan businesses’ networks for vulnerabilities and deploy deep fake audio, visuals. They can send seamless email impersonations of leaders and people in positions of power. All of this happens at the speed of AI. These attacks are cheaper. They are faster. They are far more targeted. SMBs that were once too small to hunt are now easy prey. They are exposed by vulnerabilities and a lack of preparedness compared to enterprise organisations.

Given how quickly technology is transforming, CEOs need to understand that their cyber strategy cannot be set and left on a shelf. New tactics are emerging overnight, rendering prior approaches obsolete.

The following are a few best practices every CEO should keep in mind when strengthening cyber preparedness in 2026 and beyond:

• Ensure your business’s cyber provider is embedding and updating their AI capabilities regularly to reflect this rapidly changing landscape.
• Insist on multifactor authentication at all points of contact.
• Provide more workforce training to raise employees’ awareness — not only of how to spot a traditional attack, but also of the ways a deep fake or an AI impersonation could try to trick them.
• Include cybersecurity in your overall AI strategy, with both preventive measures to keep your business safe and reactive measures to respond if your business is impacted.

In general, you should always have a “doomsday bag” at the ready in case of a cyber-attack. This entails having an answer to the following question: if you were to lose your data in the next 30 seconds, what would you do in the 30 seconds that follow?

Many CEOs treat cyber as an IT department cost, viewed as part of the infrastructure and a lower priority because it is not a growth enabler. But put simply, it’s the unavoidable cost of doing business in the modern world. Like insurance, you don’t need a cyber strategy until you do and in today’s AI-driven world, every company is one click away from data darkness.

This story first appeared in Inc. and published on the Vistage Research Centre.