A profound and rapid reordering of the global corporate risk landscape is underway, revealing a new environment where long-standing threats are intensifying while technologically supercharged dangers emerge at an alarming pace. An in-depth analysis of current business priorities underscores a reality defined by three dominant themes: the unyielding dominance of cyber incidents as the paramount global threat, the meteoric rise of risks associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the increasingly interconnected nature of these challenges. This dynamic shift demands that organizations move beyond traditional risk management playbooks and adopt a more holistic, integrated approach to building resilience in an era of unprecedented complexity and volatility. The solidification of familiar threats alongside the startling emergence of new ones has created a landscape that requires constant vigilance and strategic adaptation from businesses of every size and in every sector across the globe.
The Unyielding Reign of Cyber Threats
For the fifth consecutive year, cyber incidents have maintained their position as the most pressing concern for businesses, but their significance in 2026 has expanded to an unprecedented degree. This category is now unanimously ranked as the number one corporate risk across every geographical region and for all companies, regardless of their scale. This universal consensus highlights the pervasive and escalating nature of the digital threat environment. Even as large corporations make substantial investments in cybersecurity infrastructure, yielding positive results in early attack detection and response, the risk itself continues to morph and evolve. The core of this challenge lies in the sophisticated ability of cyber criminals to identify and leverage vulnerabilities, targeting weak points in supply chains and even manipulating employees to gain unauthorized access to critical systems and sensitive information, ensuring that this threat remains a top-of-mind issue for executives and boardrooms worldwide.
The ongoing evolution of cyber threats is largely driven by two powerful forces: increasing corporate reliance on third-party providers and the weaponization of AI. As businesses outsource critical data management and other essential services, they inadvertently create new vectors of vulnerability that malicious actors are quick to exploit. Concurrently, AI is acting as a potent threat multiplier, “supercharging” malicious activities by expanding the potential attack surface and exploiting existing system weaknesses with unparalleled speed and precision. This technological advancement has broadened the geographical scope of attacks beyond traditional targets, with notable incidents spreading across new regions. An analysis of the financial impact reveals that ransomware remains the single most significant cyber threat, responsible for a staggering 60% of the total cost of large cyber insurance claims and cementing its status as a primary driver of financial and reputational damage for affected organizations.
The Startling Ascent of Artificial Intelligence Risks
The most dramatic shift in risk rankings this year is the monumental ascent of Artificial Intelligence. Previously considered a lower-tier concern, AI-related risks have surged from the number ten position in 2025 to become the second-most critical risk globally. This explosive jump is particularly pronounced in the Americas, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East. The report attributes this rapid rise to the dual nature of AI, which functions as both a revolutionary business tool and a formidable weapon. Malicious actors are now leveraging AI to automate and accelerate sophisticated cyberattacks, launching incidents with greater speed and efficiency than ever before. Critically, AI also democratizes cybercrime by empowering individuals who lack advanced technical skills to initiate highly effective attacks, lowering the barrier to entry and expanding the pool of potential adversaries for every organization.
Companies now perceive AI not just as a strategic opportunity but also as a complex source of operational, legal, and reputational risk. A crucial disconnect has emerged where the pace of AI adoption is far outstripping the development of adequate governance, regulation, and workforce readiness, pushing it into the top tier of global threats. These risks are broken down into three distinct categories: Operational risks, which include business interruption and the potential for errors to cascade through automated systems; Legal and compliance risks, encompassing failure to adhere to emerging regulations and liabilities from AI-driven outcomes; and Reputational risks, which involve brand damage from AI-generated misinformation, unethical applications, or biased decision-making. While many leaders believe AI will bring more benefits than risks, there is “huge uncertainty about the longer-term implications for employment, cybersecurity, regulation and geopolitics.”
A Reshuffled Deck of Traditional Concerns
Beyond the dominant technological threats, the 2026 risk barometer indicates a significant reshuffling of other major concerns. Business interruption and supply chain disruption, while still a formidable challenge, dropped slightly from second to third place. Persistent geopolitical tensions continue to place immense strain on global supply chains, with only a scant 3% of business leaders considering their own supply chains “very resilient.” As a strategic response to these vulnerabilities, 35% of companies are actively exploring nearshoring and domestic manufacturing to shorten supply lines and mitigate the impact of international instability. Meanwhile, changes in legislation and regulation held steady as the number four risk globally, with corporate concerns centering on the proliferation of tariffs, new supply chain regulations, and the impending global rules that will govern the development and deployment of Artificial Intelligence across various industries.
Reflecting a quieter hurricane season, the risk of natural catastrophes saw a notable drop from third place to fifth, while the closely related concern of climate change also moved down one spot to sixth place. In stark contrast, political risks and violence climbed two positions to become the number seven concern, a rise largely attributed to ongoing war perils and shifting geopolitical boundaries that threaten international stability and commerce. Continuing a multi-year trend, macroeconomic developments declined in perceived importance, falling to the eighth position, although experts warn that the business operating environment is becoming “more volatile, more fragmented and more strategically contested.” Rounding out the top ten, fire and explosions dropped from sixth to ninth place, while market developments fell one spot to tenth, buoyed by strong M&A activity and the expectation that AI will drive significant productivity gains in the coming year.
The Imperative for an Integrated Resilience Strategy
An overarching consensus that emerged from the analysis of the current risk environment was the critical need for a fundamentally new approach to risk management. The historical and widespread practice of managing complex threats such as climate change, geopolitical instability, and cyber risks in separate, isolated silos was deemed no longer viable in the face of today’s interconnected challenges. Instead, experts advocated for an “integrated resilience strategy” that weaves together disparate capabilities—including cyber defense, AI governance, supply chain diversification, climate adaptation, and crisis response—into a single, cohesive framework. The key insight was that true corporate resilience can only be achieved by connecting these distinct functions, allowing an organization to anticipate, withstand, and adapt to disruptions more effectively. This holistic perspective marked a necessary evolution from reactive problem-solving to proactive, strategic resilience building for the modern enterprise.
