Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2026. Read them in this 18th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
By Stephen Morrow, Chief Solution Officer, AirMDR
As organizations accelerate their adoption of AI across every aspect of operations, the cybersecurity and managed detection and response (MDR) ecosystem is undergoing a significant transformation. What was once considered a specialized function is becoming inseparable from enterprise-wide AI strategy, budget planning, and business growth initiatives.
In 2026, the lines between AI operations, risk management, and security will continue to blur, pushing CIO/CISOs, MDR providers, and SOC teams into new territory defined by automation, human-AI collaboration, regulatory pressure, and escalating threats fueled by generative AI.
CISOs Become Core AI Decision-Makers
One of the most notable shifts is the CISO’s evolving role in enterprise AI governance. In 2026, CISOs will increasingly gain a formal seat at the table when companies establish AI budgets and allocate strategic investments. Security spend will no longer sit exclusively inside a CISO cost center; instead, it will be embedded into company-wide AI initiatives as leaders recognize that cyber readiness is a prerequisite for safe AI deployment, customer trust, and operational efficiency. This also comes with a new demand: CISOs must become significantly more sophisticated in how they communicate risk to the board.
Board Communication Becomes a Required Skill Set
Boards will expect CISOs not only to protect AI initiatives but also to defend them. As a result, more security leaders will invest in executive-level communications training, developing the ability to articulate cyber and AI risk in business terms, justify multi-year funding, and advocate for integrated AI-security strategies. This communication evolution will become a budget item of its own as boards demand clarity, confidence, and defensible logic around AI-driven investments.
AI Turns “Platform Consolidation” Into an Overlay, Not a Monolith
Conventional wisdom says tool sprawl must collapse into a handful of mega-platforms. In 2026, AI will challenge that assumption. Instead of ripping and replacing best-of-breed tools, leading security teams will use AI as an integration fabric that normalizes data and signals, orchestrates actions, and presents a unified view across heterogeneous products. Platform consolidation pressure doesn’t go away – CFOs still want fewer contracts – but savvy teams will treat consolidation as a financial choice, not a technical requirement, because an AI layer will make a diverse stack operate as if it were one product – which ultimately drives down operational costs.
Hybrid Human + AI SOC Becomes the Default
As AI accelerates triage, enrichment, and initial case drafting, human analysts will not fade into the background; instead, their importance will increase. According to data from AirMDR, 85% of security leaders prefer hybrid AI + human models that use AI for routine work, humans for governance and edge cases. In the next year, SOCs will adopt a “human-guided autonomy” model where AI acts as the junior analyst, handling high-volume rudimentary tasks, and humans apply critical thinking, policy decisions, and final judgment.
Because threat actors are also leveraging AI, SOC roles will shift toward higher-order reasoning, investigation, threat hunting, and adversary understanding. The talent gap remains, but AI will dramatically reduce the tedious work that often drives analysts out of the field, increasing job satisfaction and long-term retention.
MDR Providers Must Adapt to the Deepfake Era of Social Engineering
As generative AI makes it trivial to create convincing deepfake audio, video, and hyper-personalized phishing, social engineering will become an important innovation frontier for MDR in 2026. MDR services will need to integrate signals from email, collaboration, and communications tools, and redesign playbooks around high-risk requests delivered by voice and video. MDRs will need to quickly adjudicate “is this real?” and give customers clear, evidence-backed decisions in cases where the human and the deepfake are almost indistinguishable.
SMBs Move to the Center of the Threat Landscape
A fundamental shift is underway: cyber extortion is no longer primarily focused on large enterprises with deep pockets. As AI automates exploitation workflows, small and mid-sized businesses will continue to face dramatically increased targeting. The flip side is that AI-powered MDR will give SMBs access to enterprise-grade outcomes without an enterprise-level budget. As AI agents anticipate actions, propose remediations, and handle low-level analysis, SMBs will be able to maintain security posture that rivals far larger organizations.
Together, these shifts signal a 2026 where cybersecurity and MDR don’t just keep pace with AI-driven change, but they become the strategic engines that enable organizations of all sizes to grow, innovate, and operate securely in an increasingly automated world. Over the next year as a result of this changing landscape, AirMDR will continue to focus on keeping humans in the middle while deeply integrating AI into the fabric of incident triage to accelerate SOC operations to match the impending threats from AI use by threat actors.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stephen Morrow is Chief Solution Officer at AirMDR. Stephen holds 30+ years of technology experience. Prior roles include VP of Solution Engineering at Voltron Data, and Global Vice President of Solution Engineering and Professional Services at Devo.
