Unit 42’s 2026 Global Incident Response Report offers frontline intelligence drawn directly from global investigations. The report spotlights four defining trends shaping the threat landscape. We’ll take a closer look at Trend 1: AI Has Become a Force Multiplier for Attackers.
What the Report Explains
Drawing on hundreds of incident response engagements, the Unit 42 2026 Global Incident Response (IR) Report provides evidence-backed insights that illustrate how threat actors leverage AI to reduce the friction behind attacks. Specific use cases include shortening development cycles, automating content generation and streamlining reconnaissance techniques. These operational efficiencies have effectively compressed the attack lifecycle, transforming what once took days into a matter of hours.
Yet, while the speed of AI has undoubtedly impacted the attack surface, the fundamental threat landscape has remained relatively consistent over the past year. The attacks observed in recent investigations are largely consistent with historical patterns. Threat actors continue to rely on established techniques such as credential theft, phishing, exploitation of known vulnerabilities and ransomware deployment.
This points us to the conclusion that AI is acting as a force multiplier to increase the speed and efficiency of attacks, but is not significantly redefining methods of compromise. This also implies that defenders already have the knowledge and capabilities to prevent, detect and respond to AI-enhanced cyberattacks.