Safeguarding National And Public Infrastructure: AI-Driven Threat Detection, Zero Trust Security And Advanced Data Protection
IBM, Thursday, February 12th, 2026
Critical services from energy grids to healthcare systems are increasingly targeted by AI-driven threats and malicious actors who are outpacing traditional defenses. Worse, quantum threats are imminent, potentially rendering current encryption methods obsolete.
Internal research from the IBM Institute for Business Value suggests that as in 2024 there have been an estimated 60 cybersecurity incidents in the government industry. Meanwhile, a median of 49.5 was seen in the private sector.
The volume of cyberattacks is accelerating, and delays in response can lead to significant exposure. The research demonstrates that it took government responders 180 days to detect cybersecurity incidents as recently as 2024. Post-quantum security and AI-powered intelligence are not future needs-they are immediate requirements.