Global Cyber Attacks Surge 70 Percent Due to AI Automation

Check Point Software Technologies reported in its 14th annual Cyber Security Report 2026 that global cyber attacks reached record levels in 2025. Organizations worldwide faced an average of 1,968 attacks per week, marking a 70 percent increase since 2023. This surge is driven by the weaponization of artificial intelligence and automation, which allow attackers to scale personalized, multi-channel campaigns and deploy autonomous techniques.

The report highlights a 500 percent rise in 'ClickFix' social engineering and a 53 percent year-over-year increase in ransomware victims. Trends are more severe in Africa, where organizations face 3,153 attacks per week, 60 percent higher than the global average. In Kenya, the Communications Authority of Kenya detected 4.56 billion threat incidents in the three months ending December 2025, representing a 441.27 percent increase over the previous quarter.

While Check Point advocates for a prevention-first strategy to combat machine-speed threats, the Kenyan authority attributed its local surge to inadequate system patching and limited user awareness of phishing. Additionally, Lakera AI AG, a Check Point company, identified security weaknesses in 40 percent of 10,000 reviewed Model Context Protocol servers.