July 2026 Cyber Threats Surge: Ransomware Attacks Double Year over Year as GenAI Data Exposure Widens

Cyber attacks increased significantly in July 2026, with organizations experiencing an average of 2,336 weekly attacks, a 16% increase from the previous year, while the use of GenAI tools (artificial intelligence systems that generate text or code) created new security risks with 1 in 36 prompts (user inputs to AI systems) exposing sensitive data. Education was the most targeted industry, and email remained a major vulnerability, with phishing attacks (fraudulent emails designed to trick users into revealing information) occurring in 1 out of every 128 emails.