Top 3 Cybersecurity Risks for 2026
How emerging threats are evolving and how FRONTSTEPS helps protect your community operations and financial data.
The Threat Landscape
is Evolving
The following highlights the most critical cybersecurity risks facing organizations in 2026, along with practical steps to reduce exposure and how FRONTSTEPS supports a more secure operating environment.
AI-Powered Social Engineering and Payment Fraud
What’s the exposure?
Attackers are using artificial intelligence to create highly convincing emails, voice calls, and impersonations of executives, vendors, and employees. These attacks target human decision-making rather than technical systems. Even with strong security controls in place, organizations remain vulnerable if a user is manipulated into approving a request or transferring funds.
What action should you do to protect your company?
Require verification phone call
Implement strong approval workflows and separation of duties
Provide ongoing, real-world user training focused on recognizing modern social engineering tactics
How FRONTSTEPS mitigates this risk
FRONTSTEPS enforces strict access controls, role-based permissions, and audit logging across financial and administrative actions. Sensitive changes and transactions are controlled through approval workflows and monitored for anomalies. We also promote security awareness and customer guidance to reduce human risk exposure.
Sources:
Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (2024–2025)
Proofpoint Human Factor Report (2024)
Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Report (2024)
Identity-Based Attacks and Credential Compromise
What’s the exposure?
Attackers increasingly target user identities through phishing, credential theft, and session hijacking. Once authenticated, they can operate as legitimate users and bypass traditional security controls. In cloud environments, identity controls access, making compromised accounts high impact risks.
What action should you do to protect your company?
Adopt phishing-resistant authentication methods and enforce conditional access policies
Continuously monitor for suspicious login behavior
Conduct regular access reviews
How FRONTSTEPS mitigates this risk
FRONTSTEPS uses centralized identity management with single sign-on (SSO), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and role-based access control (RBAC). Access is evaluated based on user identity, device posture, and location. Continuous monitoring and logging detect anomalous behavior, and privileged access is tightly controlled and regularly reviewed.
Sources:
Microsoft Digital Defense Report (2024)
CrowdStrike Global Threat Report (2025)
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Zero Trust guidance
Third-Party and Supply Chain Risk
What’s the exposure?
Organizations rely heavily on vendors and service providers, each introducing potential risk. A compromise at a third party can expose sensitive data or provide a pathway into connected systems. These risks often exist outside direct organizational control.
What action should you do to protect your company?
Implement a formal vendor risk management program and require security assurances (e.g., SOC 2 reports)
Limit third-party access to only what is necessary
Continuously monitor vendor security posture and access activity
How FRONTSTEPS mitigates this risk
FRONTSTEPS maintains a formal vendor risk management program that includes security due diligence, contract requirements, and ongoing monitoring. Third-party access is restricted, authenticated, and logged. Vendors are required to meet defined security standards, and access can be revoked immediately if risk is identified.
Sources:
IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report (2024)
National Institute of Standards and Technology SP 800-161
SolarWinds and Okta incident case studies
