The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) released its Threat Landscape 2026 report, analyzing cybersecurity incidents from 2025. While distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks accounted for the highest volume of recorded incidents—making up over half of the 8,257 analyzed cases—the agency noted that ransomware and other financially motivated attacks remained the most impactful short-term threat to organizations. ENISA warned that expanding cyber dependencies, particularly those related to supply chains, third-party providers, and cloud environments, significantly increase the overall attack surface, necessitating heightened vigilance.
The report distinguishes between high-volume, low-impact activity and incidents that result in measurable data loss or require legal holds, which are primarily linked to financial motives. The analysis indicates a strategic shift in threat methodology. In examining publicly reported techniques, ENISA observed that data exfiltration over command-and-control channels was significantly more common than direct data encryption.
This suggests a trend toward data theft and extortion rather than solely system locking. While the report highlights that ideology-driven activity was the most numerous, the agency cautions that the most disruptive threats are those financially motivated. Furthermore, ENISA advises caution when interpreting the total incident counts, as the scope and collection methods changed from previous editions, meaning the raw numbers are not directly comparable year-over-year.
Overall, the ENISA report stresses that while incident volume is high, organizations must prioritize resilience against data theft facilitated through complex digital dependencies.
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