Cyber Insights 2026: Regulations And The Tangled Mess Of Compliance Requirements
Security Week, Friday, January 23rd, 2026
SecurityWeek's Cyber Insights 2026 examines expert opinions on the expected evolution of more than a dozen areas of cybersecurity interest over the next 12 months. We spoke to hundreds of individual experts to gain their expert opinions. Here we explore the cyber regulations and compliance outlook for 2026, with the purpose of preparing cybersecurity teams for what lies ahead this year and beyond.
A Gordian Knot is a puzzle that cannot be unraveled, only destroyed. Our own Gordian Mess is an ever growing tangle of regulations that can be neither unraveled nor destroyed.
Cyber regulations are where politics meets business - where business becomes subject to political realities.
For the last few years, politics has been shaped by geopolitical tension. Different regions and countries have become more nationalist in both politics and attitudes. Even the EU, which has traditionally been 'liberal' is now better described as center-right. The overall effect of this global growth in nationalism is that different regions, countries and states are increasingly assertive about their own digital sovereignty.