Cyber fraud tops global business risks

Businesses around the world are bracing for intensified cyber-attacks, especially cyber fraud, which they now consider the biggest threat to global business, according to Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF).

- By RICARDO M. AUSTRIA

WEF's Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026, released Monday, Jan. 12, warned that the global cyber landscape is becoming more dangerous, more politicized, and more technologically sophisticated at an unprecedented speed.

"Cyber-enabled fraud has overtaken ransomware as CEOs' [chief executive officers] top concern," the report stressed, noting that 87 percent of respondents reported increased artificial intelligence (AI)-related vulnerabilities last year, while 94 percent of leaders expect Al to be the dominant force shaping cybersecurity in 2026.

The report, produced with Accenture, cautioned that cyber-enabled fraud is a growing global threat, drawing on a survey of 804 business leaders from 92 countries, including 105 CEOs, 316 chief information security officers (CISOs), and 123 other C-suite executives.