An August 2026 report, the Top Threats to Cloud Computing Survey Report 2026 by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), highlights how complexity is outpacing governance. The rapid growth of non-human identities, machine-to-machine interactions, and autonomous decision-making has now surpassed what traditional management and oversight processes were designed to handle.
CSA found that as organizations speed their adoption of AI, cloud services, and increasingly interconnected technologies, many of the risks outlined in its 2026 assessment stem from the fact that organizations aren’t able to govern these new capabilities at the same pace.
CSA’s 2026 Top Threats ranked the following concerns in order of significance (with applicable previous rankings from 2024). Of note, concerns related to the underlying cloud infrastructure and cloud service providers, which were featured in CSA’s 2024 assessment, rated low enough to be dropped from the current Cloud Security Alliance list.
- Inadequate Identity and Access Management (Identity & Access Management in 2024 survey) (up from #2)
- AI (Artificial Intelligence)-Enhanced Attacks (new)
- Insecure Third-Party Resources (up from #5)
- Insecure Interfaces and APIs (down from #3)
- Misconfiguration & Inadequate Change Control (down from #1)
- AI System Compromise (new)
- Advanced Persistent Threats (up from #11)
- Lacking Cloud Security Strategy & Governance (Inadequate Selection/Implementation of Cloud Security Strategy in 2024 survey/down from #4)
- Insecure Software Development (down from #6)
- Accidental Cloud Data Disclosure (down from #7)
- System Vulnerabilities (down from #8)
Methodology
In creating the Top Threats to Cloud Computing 2026 report, the CSA’s Working Group conducted research in two stages, both of which used surveys to gather the thoughts and opinions of cybersecurity professionals concerning the most relevant threats, vulnerabilities, and risks of security issues to cloud computing. During the first stage the group created a short list of cloud security issues through in-person surveys of group members; the second stage polled more than 500 industry experts on a short-list of 23 security issues to compile the final report.
Why it matters
The report highlights how complexity is outpacing governance. The rapid growth of non-human identities, machine-to-machine interactions, and autonomous decision-making has now surpassed what traditional management and oversight processes were designed to handle. Unsurprisingly, as organizations speed their adoption of AI, cloud services, and increasingly interconnected technologies, many of the risks outlined this year stem from the fact that organizations aren’t able to govern these new capabilities at the same pace.
Further reading
Artificial Intelligence (AI) emerges as an attack enabler and target in Cloud Security Alliance’s 2026 Top Threats Report. Press release & link to report. August 13, 2026. Cloud Security Alliance (CSA)
