About the CyberProof 2026 Cybersecurity Predictions Series:
As we look toward the 2026 threat landscape, the data from the past year has made one thing clear: the strategies that protected us yesterday are no longer enough for tomorrow. This article is part of a dedicated 2026 Cybersecurity Predictions series featuring exclusive insights from CyberProof Threat Researchers and leading voices across the security industry. Throughout this series, we explore the critical shifts in the digital battlefield, providing expert analysis on the top threats to prepare for in 2026 and the proactive defenses necessary to stay ahead of an increasingly agile adversary.
Introduction
As we look toward 2026, the cybersecurity threat landscape is poised to intensify, characterized by attackers increasingly weaponizing legitimate tools, leveraging advanced social engineering tactics, and maximizing efficiency through code reuse. Organizations must prepare for sophisticated attacks that exploit inherent trust and blur the lines between legitimate and malicious activity.
Abuse of Legitimate Software
The year 2026 is projected to see a continued surge in the abuse of legitimate software, particularly Remote Management and Monitoring (RMM) tools. Attackers are successfully turning these necessary administrative utilities into powerful conduits for their campaigns, allowing them to gain “hands-on-keyboard” access to target environments.
This technique is highly effective because RMM tools are often trusted, whitelisted, and essential for business operations. Once control is established, attackers perform reconnaissance and collect critical user and machine information, setting the stage for devastating, later-stage attacks, most notably extortion (ransomware) campaigns.
Some illustrative case studies we’ve seen this year includes:
- RMM Vulnerability Exploitation: In February 2025, a vulnerability in SimpleHelp RMM was reported. While the initial discovery protected some clients, a subsequent campaign around May 2025 saw the DragonForce ransom cartel successfully abuse this very vulnerability to attack a Managed Service Provider (MSP) in the UK, highlighting the speed at which exploits move from discovery to weaponization.
- Supply Chain Subversion: Further demonstrating the challenge of software trust, CyberProof researchers identified ConnectWise ScreenConnect binaries with valid digital signatures making outbound connections to suspicious command-and-control (C2) servers. This attack involved Authenticode Stuffing—injecting malicious code while preserving the integrity of the original signature. Although the certificate was later revoked, these backdoored droppers were subsequently used by other threat actors to distribute infostealers, underscoring the risk of compromised software integrity.
The Rise of Vishing, Deepfakes, and Identity Deception
The convergence of voice-based social engineering and artificial intelligence is set to define a new era of attacks in 2026, with a significant rise predicted in Vishing (Voice Phishing) attacks embedding DeepFake technology.
The second half of 2025 saw a noticeable increase in Vishing attacks leveraging platforms like Microsoft Teams as reproted he. The introduction of features like “Chat with anyone” on Teams, which allows contact between individuals across different tenants, creates a critical new attack vector. An attacker can easily impersonate a trusted entity, such as an IT staff member, to initiate a social engineering attack.
The attack sequence, which is becoming dangerously efficient with DeepFake components and the condensed time to execute, usually looks similar to this:
- Initial Contact: The attacker contacts an employee via the collaboration platform and sends a malicious URL.
- Credential Theft: The link prompts for credentials and subsequently attempts to install an RMM tool—again, weaponizing legitimate software.
- Lateral Movement and Deception: If successful, the attacker gains remote access. To further manipulate the victim and their colleagues, the attacker introduces DeepFake technology. This highly convincing impersonation can be used to authorize fraudulent transactions, gain further access, or instill a false sense of security.
This combination of Vishing and DeepFake is predicted to dramatically reduce the overall attack time and accelerate data exfiltration and financial theft by rapidly enabling lateral movement and overcoming human verification safeguards.
SAAS Targeting
SaaS targeted by active non organized criminal groups (like Scattered Spider) will continue in 2026, starting with social engineering attacks and targeting client SaaS applications protected by single sign-on applications.
APTs
APTs or nation state groups targeting will continue to be of high concern in 2026 for various reasons like targeting intellectual property from specific industry sectors like Semiconductor, or during geopolitical tension situation. We predict threat groups originating from middle east, south east Asia, and Russian based would continue to target regions of their interest.
Efficiency in Malice: Increased Code Reuse and Rebranding
In 2026, malware developers will prioritize efficiency, leading to a marked increase in code reuse for developing and rebranding new malicious tools. This strategy allows attackers to rapidly iterate, launch new campaigns with minimal development time, and evade static detection signatures.
A clear example of this is seen in the evolution of Brazilian banking malware:
- Coyote’s Evolution: In 2024, the Coyote malware was reported to target approximately 60 Brazilian websites. By early 2025, CyberProof researchers observed an update that expanded its targeting to over 1,000 websites.
- The Maverick Connection: Later in 2025, the emergence of the Maverick banking malware demonstrated significant similarities with Coyote. These shared characteristics ranged from the initial infection style (often leveraging WhatsApp) to identical encryption mechanisms.
This pattern suggests that mature, established codebases are being systematically reused, often with minor modifications, to create “new” threats. This rapid rebranding challenges security teams to keep pace, as they must continuously adapt to functionally similar but superficially distinct malware families.
Conclusion
The predictions for 2026 indicate a critical need for organizations to prioritize proactive defense strategies that move beyond traditional signature-based detection. Focus must shift to behavioral analytics to spot the abuse of legitimate tools, robust identity verification protocols to counter advanced social engineering, and a comprehensive understanding of threat actor code evolution to anticipate emerging malware variants. The future of security will depend on a sophisticated defense that can discern malicious intent from legitimate digital activity.
