As businesses look ahead to 2026, the landscape is marked by both complexity and opportunity. According to PNC Bank’s latest Inside the Minds of CFOs survey, nearly 70% of U.S. CFOs say that economic uncertainty—particularly around tariffs—has actually benefited their companies. Many organizations are learning to thrive in ambiguity, using it as a catalyst for innovation and acceleration.
Yet, not all challenges are economic driven. The survey revealed that 53% of CFOs rank cybersecurity threats as their top concern heading into 2026—surpassing worries about increasing regulation (50%) and monetary policy (47%). Unlike economic shifts or legislative changes, cybersecurity is a domain where companies can demonstrate initiative and drive accountability.
To meet this challenge, forward-thinking organizations are building robust roadmaps that emphasize resilience and proactive defense, especially in an environment where AI can amplify the threat landscape.
Increased Payment Security
Strategic data protection planning is essential for building lasting resilience against cybersecurity threats. This is especially true in the high-stakes payments space, where trust agility, and accuracy are vital. As digital transactions continue to grow in modality, volume, and complexity, businesses can deploy solutions that not only safeguard sensitive information but also streamline payment verification processes.
“As digital transactions continue to accelerate, identity and account verification services have become a critical layer of defense against fraud,” said Chris Byers, senior product manager of PNC’s Verification Services solution. “At PNC, we’re investing in tools that not only protect our clients but also streamline their operations—by helping them ensure their counterparties, including their customers and vendors are validated during the onboarding process and when transactions occur, which is key toward enabling secure payments. It’s about building confidence in every transaction and helping businesses stay resilient in an increasingly complex threat landscape.”
Upward Trend in Technology Spending
As cyber threats grow in both frequency and sophistication, businesses are prioritizing tech investments to safeguard their operations, data and customer trust. Survey findings revealed 73% of CFOs plan to maintain or increase their technology investments through the end of 2025—indicating that digital defense is emerging as a top strategic priority. Looking ahead, many organizations are likely to explore ways to leverage AI as part of their fraud prevention strategies, helping counter the rising risk posed by fraudsters who use AI tools to drive increasingly complex scams.
Looking ahead to 2026, companies can benefit by adopting a proactive, layered cybersecurity strategy that includes implementing continuous network monitoring and AI-driven threat detection, and a comprehensive approach to payment integrity and fraud prevention—leveraging a mix of policies, processes, and advanced services . These are all tools that not only identify vulnerabilities but also adapt in real time to emerging risks. These investments go beyond compliance; they’re about building a resilient foundation that protects data, preserves customer trust, and enables secure growth in an increasingly digital economy.
Empowering Employees
Training employees to stay vigilant against cybersecurity attacks is essential for building a resilient organization. Weak passwords, phishing attacks, misconfigured security settings and accidental transferring of sensitive information can be reduced by properly training employees to combat human error, which remains a leading cause of cybersecurity breaches[1].
Companies can educate their employees through frequent training, consistent communications and executing a clear action plan when issues are identified. Emphasizing cybersecurity as part of the culture and promoting a “security-first” mindset helps employees understand that cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility.
Brilliant begins here
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