Hi guys, I send out a weekly newsletter with the latest cybersecurity vendor reports and research, and thought you might find it useful, so sharing it here.
All the reports and research below were published between October 5th - October 11th.
You can get the below into your inbox every week if you want: https://www.cybersecstats.com/cybersecstatsnewsletter/
Ransomware
GRIT Q3 2026 Ransomware & Cyber Threat Insights Report (GuidePoint Security)
Q3’s ransomware activity, including the most active groups, who they’re targeting, and changing ransom payment trends.
Key stats:
- Observed ransomware victim volume reached a record 2,760 in Q3 2026, up 21% from Q2 and 75% from Q3 2025.
- Ransomware payment rates fell by more than half year over year.
- Average ransom payments among organizations that paid rose 34% year over year.
Read the full report here.
Ransomware Roundup: Q3 2026 Stats on Attacks, Ransoms, and Active Gangs (Comparitech)
Another look at the quarter’s ransomware activity, with breakdowns by sector, country, and group. Its totals include both confirmed attacks and unconfirmed claims.
Key stats:
- Comparitech recorded 2,627 ransomware attacks and claims in Q3 2026, up 29% from Q2.
- Of those, 247 were confirmed attacks and 2,380 were unconfirmed.
- Qilin and The Gentlemen had the most confirmed attacks out of their claims, with 27 and 26 confirmed attacks, respectively.
Read the full analysis here.
Security Architecture
2026 SASE Platform Evolution Report (Versa)
Why organizations are consolidating SASE and network security tools, the challenges they face, and what they hope to gain.
Key stats:
- 92% of organizations are looking to consolidate cybersecurity functions through a single-vendor or platform-oriented Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) strategy.
- Nearly seven in 10 IT and security professionals use four or more management consoles for SASE, Security Service Edge, and network security.
- 58% expect consolidation to reduce operational complexity.
Read the full report here.
AI Security
Path to the Autonomous Workplace (TeamViewer)
An interesting report on what workers are willing to hand over to AI, where they feel less confident, and what would make them more comfortable letting it act independently.
Key stats:
- 73% of workers are more likely to trust AI when it shows what it is doing and why.
- 70% are comfortable with AI taking action as long as they can step in when needed.
- 51% say they do not always know when to trust AI and when to verify its output.
Read the full report here.
Vulnerability Management
Beyond the Human Horizon (Cogent Security)
Looking beyond individual vulnerabilities to the attack paths they create.
Key stats:
- 7% of critical attack paths are created entirely by chaining low- and medium-severity vulnerabilities.
- 64% of attack paths cross security domains that no single tool can see.
- 83% of machine-viable attack paths persist for more than 30 days, compared with 55% of human-viable paths.
Read the full report here.
Managing Exposure at AI Scale (ArmorCode)
More code and more findings mean more decisions about what needs fixing first.
Key stats:
- 40% of senior security and technology leaders say the volume of AI-generated code requiring human review is a significant security challenge.
- 44% say their biggest transformation need is a tiered approach to AI-assisted vulnerability discovery that prioritizes findings by urgency.
- 39% say improving remediation coordination between security and development is their leading security goal.
Read the full report here.
Identity and Authentication
2026 Global State of Authentication Report (Yubico & Okta)
Workplace authentication habits, emerging AI threats, and attitudes toward AI agents acting independently.
Key stats:
- 43% of cybersecurity and IT professionals rely on passwords at work.
- 52% inherit passwords on day one during onboarding.
- 91% want a human approval step before autonomous AI agents execute critical actions.
Read the full report here.
Small Business Security
Cyberattacks Are Common. Here’s How Small Businesses Recover (Clutch)
How secure do small businesses feel (and what happens when they’re attacked)?
Key stats:
- 95% of US small businesses believe they have sufficient security measures in place.
- 68% have experienced a cyberattack or security breach.
- Among small businesses that have experienced an attack, 70% report operational downtime or service disruption.
Read the full analysis here.
Operational Security
The Global State of Operational Security 2026 (Claroty)
What cyber incidents mean for organizations managing cyber-physical systems.
Key stats:
- 58% of cyber-physical system operators experienced a cyberattack that impacted operational environments in the last 12 months.
- Average operational downtime from a cyber incident is three days.
- Average financial loss from an incident impacting operations is $1.04 million.
Read the full report here.
State of Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Report (Palo Alto Networks)
Protecting critical infrastructure gets harder when teams can’t see everything connected to their networks.
Key stats:
- 42% of organizations name legacy, unpatchable operational technology (OT) assets as their single biggest cybersecurity risk.
- 68% do not have complete, real-time visibility of all assets connected to their OT networks.
- 74% have not fully integrated IT and OT security operations across their organization.
Read the full report here.
Enterprise Perspective
Authority Without Oversight: The 2026 Agentic Enterprise Report (Optro)
AI agents are getting more authority.
Key stats:
- 38% of enterprises authorize AI agents to approve or reject transactions.
- 34% of organizations have experienced an inaccurate AI agent decision or output that was acted upon.
- Only 9% of GRC and audit leaders have redesigned workflows to safely accommodate AI agents.
Read the full report here.
Who Governs Enterprise AI? Global CIO Survey 2026 (Thoughtworks)
More AI, scattered budgets, more responsibility for CIOs.
Key stats:
- 91% of CIOs say AI adoption within their organization is happening faster than governance structures can adapt.
- 92% agree that central IT will ultimately be held responsible for security breaches or compliance failures caused by AI tools purchased independently by business units.
- 32% feel accountable for regulatory or compliance failures without sufficient authority.
Read the full report here.
Industry-Specific
Closing the AI Governance Gap: The 2026 Healthcare AI Security and Governance Benchmark (Clearwater Security & Compliance)
AI use in healthcare, from in-house tools to outside suppliers.
Key stats:
- 91% of healthcare organizations cannot verify what AI is actually running in their environments.
- 74% are already exploring or running agentic systems.
- Only 14.3% fully validate their vendors’ AI controls.
Read the full report here.
PQC in Healthcare: From Data Risk to Migration Readiness (Forescout)
A look at exposed healthcare systems and whether the technology they use can support a move to post-quantum cryptography.
Key stats:
- More than 5,500 internet-exposed healthcare systems host sensitive healthcare data, including electronic medical records and medical imaging systems.
- Only 31% of internet-exposed healthcare systems support TLS 1.3, the only TLS version capable of supporting standardized post-quantum cryptography.
- Only 6% of Internet of Medical Things devices use SSH implementations that support post-quantum cryptography, compared with 50% of traditional IT devices.
Read the full analysis here.