Q1 of 2026 is about operationalising resilience. CISOs should align spending to Business Continuity outcomes, embed containment into daily operations and be ready to clearly explain how these investments protect revenue, safety and trust in an AI driven threat landscape.
Patricia Egger, Head of Security at Proton:
As CISOs navigate Q1 of 2026, the playbook should prioritise discipline over novelty. While emerging risks such as AI-driven attacks, deepfake-enabled social engineering and longer-term quantum threats warrant attention, they should not distract from a more enduring reality: most breaches still result from long-standing, preventable weaknesses. Poor access controls and credential management, weak authentication, inconsistent patching, misconfigured systems and insufficient security awareness remain the primary drivers of incidents. Addressing these issues may be less eye-catching than preparing for future threats, but it is still a prerequisite and an effective way to reduce risk.
Q1 2026 should therefore focus on reinforcing the fundamentals. This includes tightening access controls, enforcing least-privilege and need-toknow principles, strengthening authentication and ensuring patching and configuration management are consistent and well governed. These technical measures must be matched by investment in people through refreshed security awareness training and – importantly – clear roles and accountability, so all employees understand their role in protecting organisational assets.
At a strategic level, CISOs should embed security into everyday decision-making rather than treating it as a reactive function, recognising that strong policies, clear controls and sound risk management are what deliver resilience over time. While the threat landscape will continue to evolve, the most effective defence remains vigilance, consistency and follow-through.
Rex Booth, CISO at SailPoint:
The speed of crime continually accelerates and Q1 will be no exception, driven by knowledge
Patricia Egger, Head of Security at Proton
Rex Booth, CISO at SailPoint
Automation has emerged as a central pillar for Q1’ s cybersecurity playbook.
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