NEWS
AI now drives 83 % of breaches as attackers outpace defenders
Gigamon, a leader in deep observability, has released its 2026
Hybrid Cloud Security Survey, revealing a fundamental shift in the cyberthreat landscape. AI is now involved in 83 % of reported security breaches, enabling attackers to operate with greater speed and scale than many organisations can defend against.
Despite expanded investments in tools and governance policies, 65 % of organisations experienced a breach in the past year, reflecting an increase of 40 % over the past three years. The findings highlight a growing imbalance as adversaries leverage AI to accelerate cyberattacks, while defenders are constrained by fragmented visibility into what’ s happening across their networks.
“ AI is embedded in nearly every stage of the attack chain, enabling adversaries to outpace detection and response,” said Shane Buckley, President and CEO at Gigamon.“ While 93 % of organisations are investing in new security tools, many still lack visibility into how data moves across their environments, creating confidence without control. Closing this gap requires deep observability, giving security teams the clarity needed to detect threats earlier and respond with precision.”
The annual study, now in its fourth year, surveyed more than 1,000 global security and IT leaders across Australia, France, Germany, Singapore, the UK and the US. The survey report, Reality Check: Exposing the AI Security Illusion, explores the disconnect between confidence and reality, revealing a critical blind spot in how organisations assess AI-driven risk.
Two-thirds of employees say paid sick leave is a must-have
This is an almost identical result to a similar survey Ciphr ran four years ago, when 67 % of 1,000 employees said sick pay was the benefit they valued most.
After paid sick leave, the other most in-demand work incentives in 2026 include annual pay rises that match or exceed inflation – perhaps unsurprising after years of higher living costs – and flexible working hours( selected by 60 % and 58 % of surveyed employees respectively).
Pension contribution matching and having extra holiday allowance, on top of statutory minimum holiday entitlement and bank holidays, are also seen as valuable rewards by around half of employees( 54 % and 50 % respectively).
Paid sick leave continues to top the list of benefits and incentives that matter most to employees, according to new research by HR, payroll and benefits software provider, Ciphr.
The rest of the top 10 features an equally balanced mix of financial and non-financial incentives – highlighting that while being paid( as a salary or into a pension, for example) is a key motivator to why people work, it’ s not all-important.
A poll of 2,000 UK employees found that over two-thirds( 68 %) think company sick pay is the most important employee benefit to have – ranking it above all other benefits, incentives and rewards.
Many of the benefits and incentives that employees prize most highly are those that support their health, wellbeing and work / life balance and invest in their skills and future career development.
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