• AI is escalating the cybersecurity arms race, putting pressure on defenders and vendors alike.
• Leveraging the power of AI while focusing on people, partnerships, and threat intelligence remains our core advantage and focus as we step into 2026’s tumultuous cyber landscape.
• After delivering multiple innovations in 2025, we’re doing all we can to keep your teams prepared, confident, and resilient in the face of what’s coming. 

In artificial intelligence, threat actors have a new plaything, but believe me when I say they’re not playing. No longer just a far-off threat or a marketing tool used by vendors trying to foment worry or make it appear as if they’re further on the cutting edge than they actually are, AI is now inescapable. It is both a major driver of economic growth and a rapidly maturing force (for good and for ill) in cybersecurity. 

Studies show that AI doubles its capabilities roughly every seven months—a time cycle that is rapidly accelerating toward just four months, assuming we haven’t gotten there already. Meanwhile, the average organization is targeted with nearly 2,000 attacks every week. Defenders everywhere have no choice but to keep pace or fall behind.

Sometimes, AI-related threats are self-inflicted. When security teams fail to put strong data protections in place, even trusted AI platforms can inadvertently grant third-party tools access to internal networks or move restricted data to public locations. Meanwhile, agentic AI is offering new ways for malicious code to act autonomously within your environment, paving a way for living off the land (LOTL) and other high-damage attacks. And with major threats coming from inside the house, your weakest link—human beings—remains attackers’ favorite vector. Whether intentional or accidental, AI can create security gaps. 

For all of us on the front lines, this is one arms race we simply cannot afford to lose. That’s why we’re here to make sure you win it. 

Tipping the scales toward defenders

Attackers aren’t the only ones leveraging AI and machine learning (ML). Many cybersecurity vendors are meeting the onslaught of malicious AI in kind by marshaling these same next-generation technologies to serve the forces of good.  

At Symantec and Carbon Black, our approach has been to build solutions that can anticipate threats before they even strike. We spent 2025 delivering groundbreaking protections like Incident Prediction, the industry’s first AI-powered feature to predict an attacker's next four to five moves with up to 100% confidence. Incident Prediction is an exclusive feature of Adaptive Protection, which itself uses ML to automatically block anomalous use of legitimate software. Its superpower is detecting and stopping possible LOTL attacks before they even have the chance to start. 

Yet this barely scratches the long list of AI-driven capabilities, award-winning endpoint and EDR solutions, and industry-leading DLP protections we’ve engineered to shift the advantage back to defenders. To push even further, we’re also adding accurate predictions to over 80% of incidents in real-world deployments to show defenders exactly where the attacker will hit next and what’s the best action to break the attack chain.

You can read more about how Symantec and Carbon Black are using AI to tip the scales in our whitepaper, Arms Race: AI’s Impact on Cybersecurity.

Wherever you are, we’re there 

Not every organization enjoys the luxury of a large SOC or an extensive security budget, but they shouldn’t be left sacrificing security because they lack those resources. As a repeat Top Player in cybersecurity, we’re well aware how opportunistic and financially motivated bad actors have become over the last year. No business, no matter its size, is exempt from risk. That’s why our focus on enterprise-grade security for all has never wavered. 

Organizations of all sizes deserve tried, trusted, and true defenses capable of staying ahead of the next curve. Not just for today, but for whatever comes next. Unlike other vendors, we don’t ask you to defend against sophisticated threats with hard-to-use or mediocre offerings. From AI-driven visualization and threat mapping to advanced network security (SSE), our legendary solutions are carefully designed to empower security teams with tools that make their life easier.

When change accelerates, so does innovation

At the 2018 World Economic Forum, Justin Trudeau offered an observation that has proven to be prescient and persistently true: "The pace of change has never been this fast, and it will never again be this slow.” As change accelerates on both sides of the cybersecurity battlefield, we will make strategic use of every penny Broadcom invests in cybersecurity innovation. Broadcom at large spent a staggering $11,000 every minute on R&D in Fiscal 2024. In 2026, we fully intend to use that colossal R&D engine to your advantage.

But our vision for the 2026 cyber landscape isn’t just about technology. It’s about people, partnerships, and the processes that help you succeed. From the expert teams behind the magic at each of our monthly webinars, to formative assets like our upcoming eBook, 7 Ways AI is Easing Stress on the SOC, and our fresh SECURITY.COM Podcast with its lineup of security icons and hard-earned expertise, everything we do is intentional. We want you to stay resilient, informed, and empowered no matter what comes your way.

And that’s where our people make the difference. Our Symantec and Carbon Black Threat Hunters deliver the clarity and insight your defenders depend on. 

We’ll never tire of fighting for you

Cybersecurity isn’t an easy field to thrive in. The stakes are high, and the pressure is unrelenting. Security teams are overwhelmed by alerts each day as they fight to protect data, shield customers, and keep operations running, even in the face of complex, new threats. Together with you, we’ve faced tough, unpredictable challenges, and together we’ve met each moment head on.

Thank you for trusting Symantec and Carbon Black. We’ve never felt prouder to stand beside you on the front lines and support the defenders who keep our world running. 

Last year, we promised we’d never stop fighting for you. This year, we proved our oath with real-world, battle-tested results, groundbreaking AI-powered capabilities, and our relentless focus on what matters most: your security. Next year, we'll be tirelessly pushing what’s possible to make sure you have every advantage—every tool, every insight, every line of support. 

Because in this fight, you deserve nothing less. 

Stay one step ahead of what’s coming with a replay of 2026’s Biggest Cyber Threats, our global briefing on the trends and tactics shaping next year’s threat landscape.