This comes from Check Point Software Technologies’ Cyber Security Report 2026, released on January 28, and points to a threat environment moving faster than many defences were built to handle.

Attacks now arrive as blended campaigns, mixing automation with human deception across email, browsers, collaboration tools and voice channels. 

In simple terms, criminals are working at machine speed while organisations are still relying on innovations built for slower, manual threats.

The report shows that 89% of organisations encountered risky AI prompts within three months, with one in every 41 prompts rated high risk. 

With AI tools becoming routine in daily work, they are opening new opportunities for data exposure and misuse, usually without employees realising it.

Ransomware has also changed shape. Instead of a few dominant groups, the ecosystem has splintered into smaller, specialised operators. 

This helped drive a 53% year-on-year increase in extorted victims and a 50% rise in new ransomware-as-a-service groups. AI is now being used to speed up target selection, fine-tune negotiations and run operations more efficiently.

Social engineering is spreading well beyond email. The report records a 500% surge in “ClickFix” attacks, where fake technical prompts are used to trick users into taking harmful actions. 

Phone-based impersonation has also evolved, moving from basic scams to structured attempts aimed at breaching corporate systems. As work happens inside browsers and collaboration platforms, the digital workspace itself is becoming a prime target.

Infrastructure weaknesses also increase the risk, with poorly monitored edge devices, VPN appliances and IoT systems being abused as quiet entry points, allowing attackers to blend into normal network traffic. 

On the AI side, an analysis by Lakera, a Check Point company, found security weaknesses in 40% of 10,000 Model Context Protocol servers reviewed, underlining how exposed AI back-end systems can be.

Lotem Finkelstein, vice president of Research at Check Point Software, said: “AI is changing the mechanics of cyber attacks, not just their volume. We are seeing attackers move from purely manual operations to increasingly higher levels of automation, with early signs of autonomous techniques emerging. 

“Defending against this shift requires revalidating security foundations for the AI era and stopping threats before they can propagate.”

Reacting faster is no longer enough. The report argues for a prevention-first approach, better control of AI use inside organisations, stronger protection of the digital workspace and better visibility across on-premises, cloud and edge environments.

Cyber threats are arriving at scale, by design, and at a pace that demands a fundamental rethink of how security is built and enforced.

This strategic partnership, announced at a partner roundtable event in Lagos and attended by industry executives, stakeholders, and IT professionals, facilitated discussions on emerging cybersecurity trends and fostered strategic partnerships.

Participants explored innovative approaches to digital security, concluding with a networking session designed to spark future collaborations and strengthen Nigeria’s digital ecosystem.

Abiodun Idowu, assistant general manager for TD Africa, highlighted the company’s dedication to delivering cutting-edge technology solutions, saying:

“This partnership with Check Point reflects our commitment to providing advanced tools that safeguard businesses against today’s complex cyber threats.”

Victor Ugwu, Check Point’s Security manager, who underscored the partnership’s significance in strengthening cybersecurity frameworks in Nigeria, said,

“With this collaboration with TD Africa, we aim to deploy innovative solutions like Harmony and CloudGuard to protect organizations across the country.”

TD Africa now offers Check Point’s Harmony and Email Collaboration solutions, incorporating Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) technology to enable secure connectivity for remote and hybrid work environments.

Additionally, the partnership provides CloudGuard, an end-to-end cloud security solution, and Quantum Firewall appliances, which scale to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes.

This partnership reinforces TD Africa’s position as a driving force in Nigeria’s technological advancement.

By delivering robust cybersecurity solutions, TD Africa empowers businesses to navigate the digital age with confidence and resilience.

The reported $200 million deal will significantly enhance Check Point’s Security Operations Center (SOC) capabilities and expand its managed threat intelligence offerings.

Cyberint’s advanced capabilities will be integrated into the Check Point Infinity Platform for collaborative threat prevention and will also be available as a managed service through Check Point Infinity Platform Services.

Founded in 2010, with over 170 employees worldwide, Cyberint is one of the fastest growing External Risk Management companies in the market.

Recognised as ‘Company of the Year’ in 2023 by Frost & Sullivan in the External Risk Mitigation & Management category.

Organisations face critical security challenges every day, including stolen employee credentials, fake websites, and social media impersonation.

To prevent these and other challenges from negatively impacting companies, Cyberint specialises in threat intelligence, digital risk protection, and attack surface management, serving a diverse global clientele, including Fortune 500 companies.

“Leaked credentials and fake websites designed for malicious purposes are staggeringly prevalent today, with over 90% of organisations facing these threats. This highlights the urgent need for real-time intelligence and proactive defense strategies, which our technology is able to mitigate in an effective way,” said Yochai Corem, CEO at Cyberint. “We are thrilled to join the Check Point team. Integrating our solutions into the Infinity Platform will enhance our ability to protect organisations. Together, we will offer a more comprehensive security SOC offering that covers both internal and external threats.”

“We are excited to welcome Cyberint to the Check Point organisation. Their solution aligns perfectly with our vision of collaborative threat prevention and enhances our SOC capabilities,” stated Sharon Schusheim, chief services officer at Check Point Software Technologies. “We will be able to turn identified risks into autonomous preventative actions and work collaboratively across Check Point and third-party security products to contain compromised assets and mitigate external exposures.”

Closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to occur by the end of 2024.

The rapid growth of hybrid and multi-cloud environments in the enterprise world has not only saved organizations money, but has allowed them to have an elastic, agile infrastructure–especially during times of highly dynamic growth.

With this rapid growth, however, comes security concerns. Too often, organizations prioritize functionality and features over security, which they can view as a hindrance to potential growth.

But with the increase of attacks on applications, services, and data stored in the cloud, companies who don’t build security into their infrastructure from the beginning are exposing themselves to unnecessary risk.

Check Point works closely with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to address these security concerns. To achieve optimal protection, Check Point enhances AWS security with offerings such as posture management, advanced threat prevention, application security, and threat intelligence—all available on AWS Marketplace.

In Part I, we will discuss the security challenges that organizations often face when moving to the cloud. Part II will discuss how Check Point integrates with AWS services to remove security obstacles and create a safe and easy path for migration to AWS, making security an enabler of transformation, not an inhibitor.

Security Challenges of Cloud Migration

Organizations can face many security challenges when migrating to the cloud. Proper planning can help, but no single migration strategy can address every company’s requirements. The following five security issues are some of the biggest obstacles to secure migration.

1. The Dangers of Misconfigurations

In “The Biggest Cloud Security Challenges in 2021,” Check Point listed misconfigurations as a key concern for over two-thirds of companies.

Failure to secure interfaces and misalignment with the principle of least privilege can result in misconfigurations.

Without a clear migration strategy, enterprises often focus on minimizing services and effort, rather than focusing on configuring security policies consistently.

These misconfigurations are an open door to data breaches, which can result in non-compliance, large fines, and reputational damage.

2. Lack of Visibility

Gaining visibility into all environments means the ability to identify dark data, manage access control, and handle data privacy.

Cross-platform collaboration and technical complexities can make visibility difficult, so accessing risk before a migration can help avoid major impacts on availability, integrity, and confidentiality—all security-related issues.

3. Protecting Network Traffic and Preventing Advanced Network Threats

Businesses migrating to the cloud need the ability to control their own data and keep it private, protect themselves from cyber threats, and securely connect their cloud with their traditional ‘on-premises’ network, all while maintaining compliance with regulatory mandates.

Cloud-based environments, like traditional environments, are targets for malware and bots, and cloud-based content can be exploitable.

4. Growing Number of Web-based Applications

Cloud-based applications are multiplying as more customers transition to the cloud. However, these apps can potentially expose new attack vectors and security vulnerabilities.

More than half of the world’s websites were affected by the Log4j issue (also called Log4Shell) in early 2022, as a security gap in a ubiquitous open-source logging program served as a backdoor into millions of organizations—and their cloud-based environments.

5. Managing/Controlling/Enabling DevSecOps

When organizations move to the cloud, DevSecOps teams are often responsible for identifying and addressing security issues, corporate compliance, and best practices for each layer and component. When the workloads and applications go live, they must remain protected against threats.

In Part II, we’ll discuss the best practices to address these challenges to implement a successful migration, providing an overview of how Check Point enhances AWS security.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., a leading global cybersecurity provider, is raising awareness of the most common mistakes made by users when creating and managing passwords, offering practical advice on how to keep private data protected.

So, as we celebrate the World Password Day 2022, the importance of having a strong password cannot be overstated, with the number of apps and services an individual uses growing by the day.

Not to mention the fact that many businesses are now allowing their employees to connect to the corporate network on personal devices to offer higher flexibility.

As a result, these devices act as a gateway, meaning that opportunistic hackers can take advantage of a vulnerable endpoint to steal both personal and professional confidential data stored on the broader company infrastructure.

“Every day, cybercriminals attempt to steal the passwords of hundreds of users, utilising techniques such as phishing emails to enable them to breach thousands of services and to steal credentials. While the methods continue to change, and the threats continue to evolve, there are still ways we can keep our data protected. By using World Password Day as an opportunity to reevaluate the strength of our passwords and to bolster up our cybersecurity efforts, individuals can deter cybercriminals from getting access to their information and their devices,” says Pankaj Bhula, Regional Director for Africa at Check Point Software.

TO mark World Password Day 2022 – Check Point Software provides the top five practices that should be applied when creating secure and robust passwords:

1. Use a combination of characters: 

Having a password that is made up of simple phrases or of dates significant to the user’s personal life is very common practice. However, this habit seriously weakens a password as information such as birthdays can be easily found out by cybercriminals.

To avoid this, always use a random sequence made up of a combination of different numbers, letters, and symbols for each platform.

2. A different password for everything: 

With so many apps and services now requiring log-in details, it’s tempting to repeat the same single password for all of them, but this is a bad idea. Just as we do not have the same key to open our home, office or car, we shouldn’t use the same password as this only makes it easier for hackers to ‘open’ our entire digital life.

If you find that it is difficult to remember them all, you can always employ the help of a password manager to help manage and generate different robust access codes.

3. The longer, the stronger: 

It’s true that the longer a combination is, the harder it is to remember. But it is one of the best ways to keep information safe so make sure to use at least 8 digits to tighten up security levels.

4. Make regular changes: 

Changing your password regularly may seem like an almost impossible challenge. However, this can be made easier by using the same basic pattern and adding different combinations from there. This way, it will be easier to remember and easier to change regularly.

5. The two-factor authentication is your best friend: 

While taking all the above measures will certainly improve the effectiveness of a password, it is also essential to implement a two-factor authentication.

New threats are constantly surfacing so, to ensure you’re completely protected, being madE aware every time an attacker or unauthorised person wants to access your account will only improve your security.