12 cyber industry trends revealed at RSAC 2026

At the 2026 RSA cybersecurity conference, industry leaders identified a clear divide among CISOs (chief information security officers, top security leaders at companies) in their approach to AI: about 20% are proactive and strategic, 40% are confused about AI risks in their organizations, and 40% are unaware of AI projects happening around them. The article predicts that confused CISOs will face a difficult transition to becoming proactive, requiring them to assess business goals, create governance frameworks (policies and rules for managing AI), and implement guardrails (safety controls) while their organizations continue developing AI. Legacy security vendors currently have an advantage in selling AI tools, but simply adding AI to existing security tools will not work long-term, and companies instead need to build strong AI foundations (data systems, control systems, and safety measures) before adding AI agents on top.