- IBM X-Force 2026 report claims 44% increase in attacks on public-facing apps
- Vulnerability exploitation drove 40% of incidents, while ransomware operators increased nearly 50%
- GenAI lowers the barrier for low-skilled actors, accelerates supply chain attacks and SaaS integrations
Hackers are becoming faster and more successful at exploiting vulnerabilities, all thanks to deeper integration of Gen AI tools into day-to-day operations, experts have warned.
The 2026 IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index report listed some pretty worrying statistics about enterprise security, claiming a 44% increase in cyber-attacks exploiting public applications (including websites and e-commerce portals, email services, online banking apps, APIs and the like) compared to the previous year.
These attacks are driven by an increase in vulnerability exploitation, which according to IBM is responsible for 40% of all cyber incidents observed in 2025. At the same time, the number of active ransomware operators increased by almost 50%, while the number of publicly disclosed attacks grew by 12%.
Re-evaluating traditional security assumptions
“Attackers aren’t reinventing playbooks, they’re accelerating them with artificial intelligence,” said Mark Hughes, global managing partner for cybersecurity services at IBM. “The core problem is the same: companies are overwhelmed by software vulnerabilities. The difference now is speed.”
These days, threat actors are primarily targeting large supply chains and third-party partners, IBM added, saying the number of incidents against these entities increased by nearly fourfold in half a decade.
Software, deployment environments, SaaS integrations, and CI/CD automation in development workflows appear to be the main targets of these attacks.
Discussing how AI fits into this narrative, IBM says it primarily lowers the barrier to entry, making even low-skilled ransomware actors a huge threat. Small groups with limited resources can use artificial intelligence to automate parts of their operations, making them faster and more disruptive.
Looking ahead, IBM expects the uninitiated to start using artificial intelligence for research, data analysis, and attack path adjustments, all in real time.
Via Information security Magazine
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