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Link11 has shared new insights into developments and trends in five areas that will affect how companies manage their cyber security operations in 2026. Link11 based its analysis on the data collected over many years and the results of the Link11 European Cyber Report, as well as large external indicators such as the Global Digital Trust Insights 2026 by PwC. Link11 believes that Cybersecurity is experiencing explosive growth due to a rapidly evolving threat landscape, driven by geopolitical uncertainty and instability, broken supply chains, and advances in Artificial Intelligence technologies.
PwC reported in its Global Digital Trust Insights 2026 that geopolitical uncertainty has been the single most significant driving force for increased investment into Cybersecurity investments. The Global Digital Trust Insights states that a large portion of all companies do not invest sufficient resources into preventative measures, including cyber monitoring, cyber testing, and cyber hardening.
These conditions leave critical gaps that increasingly sophisticated attackers are able to exploit.
Against this backdrop, Link11 has identified five developments expected to define the cybersecurity environment for European organizations in the year ahead.
Link11 anticipates a significant increase in DDoS attacks in 2026. The main reason for conducting these attacks would not be service interruption, but rather, the simultaneous occurrence of more damaging activities would have the effect of lessening the damage done by the attackers. Attackers may use the distraction to break into networks, acquire sensitive information, or plant hidden malware while IT teams are busy taking care of the online systems.
These hybrid operations usually stay unnoticed for a very long time after the first DDoS wave has been mitigated. Thus, for European organizations, this means that incident response frameworks need to be in place which consider every DDoS alert as a possible indicator of a larger, multi-vector intrusion.
APIs will continue to be the backbone of Europe’s digital services, including financial platforms, e-commerce, and public-sector portals. As they grow in number and complexity, improperly secured or undocumented APIs are becoming one of the most attractive entry points for threat actors. These attackers exploit weaknesses through automated scraping, credential-stuffing campaigns, or by targeting high-value endpoints designed for critical business operations. In 2026, organizations that rely on large ecosystems of internal and external APIs will face rising risks of data leakage, process manipulation, and unauthorized access.
Traditional, siloed web security tools – such as separate web application firewalls (WAFs), standalone distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) filters, and isolated bot management systems – are no longer adequate against multi-layer attacks. The shift toward consolidated web application and API protection (WAAP) platforms will accelerate across Europe in 2026. By correlating signals across protection layers, integrated WAAP systems can detect subtle anomalies and block sophisticated attacks that single-layer solutions would miss. This architectural convergence is essential for organizations operating in hybrid cloud environments or managing large-scale digital platforms.
DDoS attacks have evolved dramatically in terms of both scale and complexity. Massive IoT botnets and automated infrastructures can generate near-instantaneous traffic spikes, so rule-based mitigation is insufficient. By 2026, effective protection will depend on AI and behavioral analysis to distinguish legitimate traffic from dynamic attack patterns, enabling autonomous mitigation in milliseconds. To maintain service availability and reduce operational disruptions, European organizations will increasingly adopt AI-first DDoS defenses.
Regulatory frameworks such as NIS2 and DORA, as well as emerging national requirements, will impose strict expectations on businesses operating in the European market. Organizations must prepare for rapid breach reporting obligations, often within 24 to 72 hours, and significantly heightened scrutiny of supply chain security. Additionally, governments are moving toward stronger accountability for software vendors through Secure-by-Design mandates and mandatory Software Bills of Materials (SBOMs). For many organizations, compliance will evolve from an annual task to an integral operational practice.
Jens-Philipp Jung, the CEO of Link11, emphasizes the broader implications:
“In 2026, we expect DDoS attacks to be used far more often as smokescreens for deeper, more damaging intrusions.” This is not just an organizational risk; it is a systemic challenge affecting the availability and integrity of digital services across Europe. Strengthening resilience will require a coordinated approach involving awareness, knowledge sharing, and adoption of integrated, AI-driven security platforms.”
Link11 is a specialized European IT security provider that protects global infrastructures and web applications from cyberattacks. Its cloud-based IT security solutions help companies worldwide strengthen the cyber resilience of their networks and critical applications to avoid business interruptions. Link11 is a BSI-qualified provider of DDoS protection for critical infrastructure. With PCI DSS, SOC 2 Type II, and ISO 27001 certifications, the company meets the highest standards in data security.
Contact
Lisa Froehlich
Link11 GmbH
l.froehlich@link11.com
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