South Africa is operating in one of the most complex cyber threat environments globally. Hybrid work is now entrenched, digital infrastructure is expanding rapidly, and organisations are more distributed than ever. At the same time, cybercriminal syndicates are becoming more coordinated, more automated and increasingly driven by artificial intelligence.
The impact is already significant. SABRIC estimates cybercrime costs South Africa around R2.2 billion annually, with phishing responsible for 78% of all digital banking fraud in 2025. Accenture reports that 54% of local breaches involved compromised user identities. These figures underscore a hard truth: traditional, perimeter-based security models are no longer sufficient.
Looking ahead to 2026, South African organizations must rethink cyber resilience across people, devices, identities and data. Based on HP’s global security research, six trends will shape the next phase of cybersecurity locally.
- Cookie theft will overtake password theft
As multi-factor authentication becomes standard, attackers are shifting from stealing passwords to hijacking browser cookies and session tokens bypassing MFA entirely. This poses serious risk for high-value sectors such as financial services, telecoms, retail, healthcare and government. Protecting the browser through isolation, stronger application controls, regular token rotation and tighter privilege management is now critical. - AI will industrialize cyber reconnaissance
Cybercrime groups are rapidly adopting AI agents to automate reconnaissance, map environments and tailor attacks at scale. INTERPOL reported a 17% rise in AI-assisted cybercrime across Africa in 2025, with South Africa among the most affected. In this context, organizations must assume some attacks will evade detection. Resilience will depend on containment-first strategies, including device isolation, automated rollback and rapid fleet recovery. - Physical device attacks will increase
South African organizations are uniquely exposed to physical device risk. From mining operations and hospitals to retail branches and municipal offices, devices often operate in uncontrolled environments. As tampering tools become cheaper, attackers can extract firmware, compromise BIOS integrity or physically exfiltrate data. Hardware-level protections including tamper resistance and self-healing firmware are becoming essential, particularly for distributed sectors. - Print, IoT and edge devices will be prime targets
South Africa’s reliance on distributed devices ATMs, POS systems, branch printers, routers and IoT sensors has expanded the attack surface. SABRIC reports that 38% of breaches in 2025 involved compromised peripheral devices. Outdated firmware and limited visibility create entry points for attackers. Future-ready security requires full device lifecycle visibility, automated patching and identity-anchored controls. - Quantum resilience will shape procurement
With quantum-safe cryptography standards now formalized, South African organizations especially in the public sector and critical infrastructure; must plan for long-term cryptographic risk. While quantum attacks are not yet mainstream, “harvest-now, decrypt-later” strategies already exist. Hardware purchased today will still be in use when these threats emerge, making quantum-resilient architecture a procurement priority. - Identity and data governance will dominate boardrooms
As POPIA enforcement matures and the Cybercrimes Act expands obligations, regulators are scrutinizing how data is accessed and protected. Security strategies are shifting toward centralized identity orchestration, provenance verification and continuous data lifecycle oversight. With more than half of local breaches tied to identity compromise, trust must be engineered through unified, simplified access frameworks.
SECURING SOUTH AFRICA’S DIGITAL FUTURE
Cybersecurity in South Africa is no longer just an IT concern it is a business continuity imperative. Attacks are more automated, threats span devices and identities, and the margin for error is shrinking. Organizations that succeed will be those that embed security into hardware, automate recovery and build resilience for the long term. The question is no longer whether attacks will occur, but whether environments are designed to withstand them.
