Gartner identifies four critical cyber threats for businesses

Businesses must prepare for four critical cyber security threats where attackers currently hold a significant advantage, according to Gartner’s 2026-2027 Threatscape, presented at the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit in the US.

According to Gartner, the most pressing risks are AI application compromise, deepfake-enabled identity impersonation, software supply chain attacks, and prompt injection.

As organisations rapidly deploy AI-powered applications, attackers are increasingly targeting AI agents, third-party integrations and internal tools to gain access to sensitive data and credentials. Gartner recommends embedding AI-specific security controls throughout the software development lifecycle and strengthening data protection.

The report also highlights the growing misuse of deepfakes in phishing, fraud and identity impersonation attacks. Rather than relying solely on deepfake detection, organisations should combine stronger authentication, employee awareness and improved verification processes.

Software supply chain attacks continue to evolve as threat actors exploit open-source components and AI development pipelines, while prompt injection attacks against large language models (LLMs) are emerging as another major concern.

Gartner advises organisations to adopt layered security strategies, continuously monitor AI systems and integrate AI security testing into development to reduce exposure to these rapidly evolving threats.