The Global Cybersecurity Outlook (GCO) 2026 survey was the primary dataset used as the foundational research for this report, with 19 questions for all respondents (plus two questions specifically for private-sector respondents) and an additional eight demographic questions. The survey was launched on 25 August 2025 and ran until 1 October 2025. Respondents to the survey include C-suite executives, academics, civil society and public-sector cybersecurity leaders. The World Economic Forum received responses from 873 survey participants from 99 countries. Once the dataset was normalized using the eight demographic questions to determine the qualifications of participants, the dataset was left with 804 qualified participants from 92 countries. Of the C-suite respondents, the survey was completed by 316 CISOs, 105 CEOs and 123 other C-suite executives – e.g. chief risk officers (CROs) or chief technology officers (CTOs).

Some graphs may depict percentages that add up to more than 100%, which is due to those questions being formulated as multiple-choice questions. To provide additional qualitative data, 52 participants, including C-suite executives, industry leaders and academics, took part in expert focus-group interviews. In these small focus-group discussions, adjacent or supplementary questions were asked, to probe further into the survey data collected.

In July 2025, a 90-minute workshop was held with members of the Global Future Council on Cybersecurity, where thought leaders from academia, government, international organizations, business and civil society focused on themes featured in the GCO survey. Additionally, in October 2025, a 60-minute workshop was held with 21 executives from the World Economic Forum’s Centre for Cybersecurity’s CISO Community, focused on themes identified within this report. Additional quantitative data was collected in the form of short polls posed to attendees of the Forum’s Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils and Cybersecurity, which took place on 14–16 October 2025. Several sessions were held, and qualitative data was gathered from the 130-plus cybersecurity executives and additional Global Future Council members who attended the event. During the event, a workshop session with 35 attendees from various Global Future Councils explored the cybersecurity landscape and its potential impacts on the 2030 horizon, looking through various lenses, such as next-generation computing, space technologies and data frontiers.

The World Economic Forum used genAI to support this research. Custom generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs) were used for blind-spot detection in the drafting stage and for extracting key themes across qualitative data collection methods. Additionally, the Forum used genAI to translate the GCO 2026 survey into five languages other than English, with human revision.