As organizations in India accelerate their growth, the rise of targeted cyberattacks becomes inevitable. Threat tactics are evolving in sophistication and operating at scale, and it’s no longer enough to repeat previous techniques to safeguard the nation. Increasingly, Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) in India must shift their priorities to ensure their organization is strategically positioned to proactively stay ahead of advancing security challenges.

According to Verified Market Research, the Indian cybersecurity market is expected to reach $16.94 Bn by 2032. At a higher value than most countries globally, organizations in India need to be aware of the opportunities that come from this, but also of how failure to act could leave them vulnerable to the growing threat landscape and put them at a competitive disadvantage.

As India accelerates towards its next phase of digital advancement, the region is simultaneously becoming a prime target for increasingly complex cyberthreats and a hub for technological innovation.

Here are my predictions for the cybersecurity trends organizations should be paying attention to in 2026:

Prediction 1: Tightening Data Protection Laws Will Drive Compliance in India

2026 will see local regulatory environments strengthen significantly. In India, the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, backed by the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, will trigger organizations in different industries to tighten their data protection measures to remain compliant with comprehensive reporting and requirements.

With these enforcements set to hold senior leadership directly accountable for personal data handling, compliance will evolve from ticking boxes into a strategic security enabler. Organizations in India that deploy automated compliance monitoring and adaptive data governance will succeed in assessing third-party risk, strengthening breach readiness, and avoiding regulatory penalties.

Prediction 2: AI Security Will Shift from Hype to Strategic Advantage

Enterprises in India will look beyond hype-driven AI adoption that lacks structured objectives and prioritize deploying it where it delivers the most strategic value. Developing AI frameworks, such as the ‘IndiaAI Governance Guidelines’ linked to the India AI Mission, are placing greater importance on the use of AI from an operational and ethical standpoint.

As India matures its AI landscape, the emphasis across the region will move away from acquiring AI technology for the sake of it and focus on purposefully improving detection, minimizing alert fatigue, and speeding up response. Increasingly, CISOs in India will explore more strategic uses of AI, supporting proactive security decision-making and mitigating risk. This comes as the Exabeam report, ‘From Hype to Help,’ found that India, the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (IMETA) saw an 81% AI productivity gain in 2025 – higher than any other region. What’s clear is that India is emerging as a leader in the AI landscape, and this will help shape future AI governance and tool development.

Prediction 3: Rising Vulnerabilities in India’s OT and Supply Chain Will Introduce New Risk

With India serving as one of the largest economies in the world, rapid industrial modernization will spike regional digital attack surfaces. India is currently investing sizably in industrial projects, for example its industrial corridors aimed at strengthening the region’s infrastructure. This will demand security tools to adapt at a faster rate as thousands of new Internet of Things (IoT) and operational technology (OT) tools are rolled out at scale.

As India maintains a vast and diverse industrial base and relies heavily on OT devices, cyberthreats will become more complex. The more that this regional economy intertwines with physical and digital supply chains, a single compromised vendor has the potential to cause entire critical industries to grind to a halt.

Improving IT and OT security is crucial to the nation’s resilience. CISOs must maintain end-to-end visibility across OT and neighboring ecosystems fueled by behavioral analytics and AI-powered detection to defend critical industries.

Prediction 4: CISOs in India Adapt from Reactive to Proactive Risk Management

In 2026, CISOs will place greater importance on proactive cyber resilience measures as the rate of national digital transformation increases. The CISO role was formerly based around preventative measures and involved traditional defences. For future success, it is imperative that security leaders take on a resilience-first mindset as AI tactics and state-sponsored campaigns become harder to detect.

This approach will rapidly grow in importance as regulatory bodies, such as the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC), focus on stable, proactive risk management and business continuity measures.

CISOs will need to double down on autonomous AI-driven tools that can make security-based decisions independently. A multi-faceted approach to risk management will need to be implemented, starting with behavior-based detection investment and encompassing aspects such as advanced phishing simulations and employee training. Success metrics will move away from breaches prevented and towards assessing how confidently organizations can expand whilst minimizing possible cyber risk.

Prediction 5: Rising Insider Threats will Push Identity to the Forefront

India’s threat landscape is ever evolving. With this, insider threats will start to overtake the risk posed by external threats. According to the Exabeam ‘From Human to Hybrid’ report, 64% of global respondents identify insiders, whether malicious or compromised, as a more serious risk than external actors.

With the rate of insider and identity-driven threats accelerating, even surpassing external attacks, security teams in India will need to strengthen their resilience in areas such as access, privilege, and the use of valid credentials.

As credential compromise snowballs, investments into identity visibility and behavior-driven analytics to pick up on anomalies will be key. Identity assurance that was once an IT control will develop into the basis of organizations’ security postures.

Prioritizing Proactive Cybersecurity in 2026

Throughout 2026, strategic planning into how to overcome emerging cybersecurity challenges will be non-negotiable. As we look ahead, India will experience bolder and more damaging threat tactics as technologies advance with the adoption of tools like AI.

To prepare for the year ahead, organizations in India need to proactively anticipate risk and align their strategies and processes to build resilience. CISOs who invest in AI-driven security, workforce readiness, and proactive risk management now will emerge with greater trust, agility, and a competitive advantage in an increasingly complex digital landscape.

Also Read: Technology trends redefining how enterprises will operate in 2026