Top Five Proactive Security Defense Systems to Invest in 2026
Cybersecurity is ever-evolving, powered by the biggest brands in tech and followed by everyone else. While enterprise businesses are by far the most at risk, it’s actually the small and mid-sized businesses that are taking the brunt of the attacks. With Agentic cybercrime on the rise, the sheer number of 24/7 attacks is only set to increase.
That’s why you need to do more than beef up your defense. You need to be proactive and invest in these top solutions for 2026:
Reduce False Positives From the Get-Go
If your security team is dealing with dozens, never mind hundreds or even thousands of alerts every day, you are just asking for a real threat to slip past. Non-actionable alerts, and worse, false positives, waste time and can actually lead to alert fatigue, which, in turn, puts your business at risk and contributes to burnout.
The solution, however, is simple. All you need is a managed detection and response service from experts like Red Canary. Their advanced detection system can mean the average 55 alerts a security team deals with can be whittled down to just 1 per week. This means your teams will stay fresh for the real threats and, in the meantime, can work on staying up to date with the latest threats and improving your systems’ defenses.
Establish New Approval Protocols
You’ve likely heard about deepfake scams at this point, and if you haven’t, it’s simple. The advanced generative AI models mean that it’s very possible to instantly deepfake CEOs, COOs, and other managers via video, in real time, with instant adjustments. What this means is that an employee in finance could be ordered by their “manager” or even the CEO themselves to transfer a large sum into a new account. That employee does so because it is their superior, whom they know. The video looks identical, their voice is perfectly cloned, and people who aren’t ready will fall for it hook, line, and sinker.
To avoid this, you need internal approval protocols for serious or anomalous requests. For example, a multi-factor approach that requires signed approval, verbal approval, and perhaps a secret code. There’s never a “too far” when it comes to building policies designed to protect against deepfake scams.
Use AI to Improve Proactive Protection
AI is being used to attack you. It’s only natural to use it as part of your defense. While it may be nice if AI could handle all the security threats, the fact that they are increasing in number and sophistication essentially means they’re going to be busy handling an increasing volume of data.
New AI defense systems work by understanding approved user workflows better than ever, meaning that they can detect and even automatically lock down anomalous behavior before it causes damage. This, along with a predictive SOC model, is going to be essential with the rising tide of alerts and breaches.
Stay Informed on the Latest Security Trends and Threats
If you thought that staying up to date on security trends was important before, it will need to be a weekly occurrence now. Rely on AI to beef up your first line of defense, and have your staff regularly update and stay on the pulse of security trends, threats, and tools to ensure your business is constantly at the forefront of protection.
