Cyber-risk has surged to the top of the business agenda, with 40% of business leaders saying cyber is the top risk they are unprepared for, which is up from 23% in 2025, says accounting and business advisory firm BDO.

Cyber-risk had jumped because organisations struggle to keep pace with the scale and speed of digital and AI-driven change, the BDO 'Global Risk Landscape 2026' report, which is based on a survey of 500 global C-suite executives in South Africa and globally, states.

South African organisations are dealing with a highly volatile and interconnected risk environment, which reinforces the findings of the report, says BDO South Africa risk advisory services national head Richard Walker.

The growing risk of cybersecurity threats in South Africa and globally calls for decisive action and taking calculated risks, even when the path ahead may be unclear.

The pace of change means businesses must be ready to act decisively and take calculated risks even when the path ahead may be unclear.

Given geopolitical pressures, cyber-risks and regulatory complexity, businesses need to move faster, break down risk silos and treat risk as a shared responsibility, if they want to stay resilient and competitive, he recommends.

“Many organisations function with a risk management approach that is too narrow and theoretical to effectively act,” he says.

The report shows that, while cybersecurity spending continues to increase, traditional approaches are failing to keep up with increasingly sophisticated threats, particularly as cyber teams are often brought into transformation programmes too late.

The report also found that crisis is the new normal, with 80% saying the global risk landscape is more defined by crisis than ever before, and 68% say the speed at which crises are impacting their organisations is increasing, which is up from 54% a year ago.

Additionally, it shows that risk management is becoming less proactive, with only 9% of respondents describing their risk management as very proactive, which is down from 19% in 2025.

Further, while AI optimism is increasing, governance gaps remain. About 66% of respondents view AI as an opportunity, which is up from 57% in 2025, while concerns persist around data privacy, compliance and integration.

The report also shows that geopolitics is acting as a risk multiplier, which increases exposure across supply chains, cyber and regulation. Business leaders rank geopolitical risk as a top-three risk that they feel unprepared for this year, up from 25% in the prior year's survey.

Meanwhile, fraud is falling down the agenda despite AI-enabled threats, with 93% of respondents not ranking fraud as a top risk.

However, 13% of respondents say they are actively monitoring and updating defences against AI-enabled fraud, which is down from 79% of business leaders who said they had a plan in place to defend against AI-driven fraud in the prior year.

The strategic cost of slow action, or inaction, could potentially place organisations’ survival on the line, if they are unable to make timely and proactive risk decisions, Walker says.

“Risk aversion can become a risk in itself. To navigate this unstable new world, businesses must move away from traditional risk management silos and instead embrace a future where risk ownership is shared via a holistic approach.

“This ensures organisations can get a more coherent view of what is happening in the risk landscape and how multiple threats interact with different parts of the business, enabling smarter, more coordinated decision-making.”