Nowhere, Man: The 2026 Active Adversary Report
Sophos, Tuesday, February 24th, 2026
AI headline hype didn't deliver a sea change for practical defense - but one below-the-radar development should
In a world where so much changes rapidly, it can be interesting and informative to identify when things stay the same. Throughout 2025 many people claimed - as they have for a couple of years now - that this was going to be the year in which AI was going to make a meaningful difference in the threat landscape.
Aside from some provable uses of AI to supercharge phishing and other social scams, and a fair number of overdramatic headlines, it just didn't happen. This year's Active Adversary Report details what happened instead - including a change that does demand your attention.