TheCorporateCounsel.net

If you found yourself in a pumpkin patch during this past weekend, I hope that you spent a few minutes reflecting on the fact that Cybersecurity Awareness Month is quickly slipping away. For all who celebrate, Cybersecurity Awareness Month is “a global initiative every October that raises awareness about online safety and empowers individuals and businesses to protect themselves from cybercrime.” According to the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), this year’s theme for Cybersecurity Awareness Month is “Don’t Make it Easy for Them.” The NCA notes:

Staying safe online isn’t about making one perfect decision. It’s about building habits and repeating them consistently in the small moments that happen every day. In doing this, we can all make life difficult for cybercriminals.

Small actions make a big difference. We recommend starting with four easy steps anyone can take to boost their online safety:

• Use strong passwords and a password manager
• Turn on multifactor authentication
• Recognize and report scams
• Update your software

According CrowdStrike’s 2026 Global Threat Report, cybersecurity awareness is more important than ever as we enter the “the age of the AI adversary.” CrowdStrike notes:

The world is operating in the agentic era. Artificial intelligence is embedded across the modern enterprise. Agents write code, analyze data, orchestrate workflows, and make decisions at machine speed. Every layer of the enterprise is becoming faster and more automated. The adversary is operating in the agentic era as well.

In 2025, AI-enabled adversaries increased attacks by 89% year-over-year. AI accelerated phishing and automated reconnaissance, shortening the time from initial access to impact. It elevated less sophisticated threat actors and amplified the most advanced ones. It compressed the time between intent and execution.

AI has also introduced a new dimension of risk: adversaries targeting the very AI systems underpinning the modern enterprise. As AI is embedded into development pipelines, SaaS platforms, and operational workflows, AI systems themselves become part of the attack surface. Adversaries exploited legitimate AI tools by injecting malicious prompts that generated unauthorized commands. As innovation accelerates, exploitation follows. Security must parallel the slope of innovation. In the agentic era, cybersecurity is the foundational infrastructure required to protect AI itself.

Come to think of it, after reading CrowdStrike’s 2026 Global Threat Report, I might just head back to the pumpkin patch and hide out there for a while!

– Dave Lynn