2 2026 RISK AND SECURITY OUTLOOK Preface Risk has always been a part of doing business, but its scale, speed, and impact are changing. What once could be managed within discrete functions is now embedded across platforms, workflows, and decisions, shaped by accelerating technology change, growing interconnection, and persistent uncertainty. The 2026 Risk and Security Outlook examines how this shift is changing the risk environment. Based on a global survey of 1,000 risk and security leaders across industries, we found that technology and AI now sit at the center of the global risk landscape. Digital transformation, cloud migration, and the rapid spread of generative and agentic AI are widening attack surfaces and introducing new vulnerabilities, often faster than defenses can adapt. At the same time, with tightly connected digital ecosystems and global markets, failures rarely stay contained