Global IT has released “2026 Cyber Risk Reality Check: Fraud vs. Ransomware—How to Align CEO + CISO Priorities”, an executive-focused resource and workshop framework for CEOs, CISOs, CIOs, and CFOs in U.S. enterprises and mid‑market organizations, with particular relevance for Los Angeles.
Recent global analysis indicates that cyber‑enabled fraud has moved ahead of ransomware on many CEO cyber risk agendas for 2026, prompting renewed attention to how leadership teams set priorities, approve budgets, and report to boards. While ransomware still dominates many technical discussions, Los Angeles business leaders now report more direct exposure to fraudulent transfers, vendor impersonation, and AI‑assisted scams than to large‑scale encryption incidents.
In the World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026, CEOs cite cyber‑enabled fraud and phishing among their top cyber concerns, while security leaders continue to highlight ransomware as a primary technical threat. This creates a gap in emphasis between business and security perspectives.
The 2026 Cyber Risk Reality Check examines this divergence and encourages leadership teams to view fraud and ransomware as related outcomes of weaknesses in:
Identity and access management
Vendor and third‑party governance
Human behavior and verification discipline
For Los Angeles organizations operating across cloud platforms and distributed teams, this alignment becomes a practical requirement, not just a governance ideal.
Global cyber risk studies note that a large share of executives say cyber‑enabled fraud has affected their organizations or close peers in recent years. These incidents are especially visible at the board level because they are often first recorded as financial losses rather than as security events.
At the same time, business email compromise data shows:
Significant average losses per incident
Growing use of vendor email compromise, where attackers leverage trusted third parties to redirect funds or alter payment details
“Fraud incidents are often recorded as financial losses long before they are described as security events,” said a Global IT Virtual CISO who advises several mid‑market organizations in Southern California. “By the time a fraudulent payment is discovered, boards are already discussing financial impact, yet many of the early warning signs lived in identity access logs, email patterns, or vendor governance processes.”
For Los Angeles leadership teams, this reinforces the need to connect finance workflows, identity controls, and cloud security monitoring within a single risk view.
Industry threat reports continue to document highly active ransomware groups, evolving extortion techniques, and combined data theft and pressure campaigns used alongside—or instead of—encryption. Analysts tracking AI‑related threats have also described sharp increases in AI‑assisted scams and impersonation techniques.
Industry threat reports continue to document highly active ransomware groups, evolving extortion techniques, and combined data theft and pressure campaigns used alongside—or instead of—encryption. Analysts tracking AI‑related threats have also described sharp increases in AI‑assisted scams and impersonation techniques.
These techniques can:
Facilitate fraudulent payments
Enable initial access for ransomware operations
Support blended extortion scenarios
“Many organizations still treat ransomware and fraud as separate categories when they often share entry points and enabling conditions,” said the Director of Cyber Risk & Compliance at Global IT. “The same weaknesses in identity management, email controls, and vendor processes that enable fraudulent payments may also enable lateral movement and data exfiltration.”
The paradox for Los Angeles organizations: ransomware remains a key technical risk, but fraud is what boards often see first in financial statements.
A secure system goes beyond compliance. These steps protect client trust and prevent breaches.
The 2026 Cyber Risk Reality Check discusses how organizations can revisit cyber‑related budgets without reducing focus on ransomware resilience. The material emphasizes controls that reduce both fraud and ransomware exposure, including:
“Organizations that align security, finance, and IT around shared control objectives often find they can address multiple risk scenarios with the same investments,” said the CFO of a Los Angeles–based healthcare organization that collaborates with Global IT on cyber risk initiatives. “Financial workflows, identity systems, and recovery capabilities all influence how fraud and ransomware incidents unfold.”
For Los Angeles cloud environments, these shared controls create a common foundation for both fraud prevention and ransomware recovery.
The Global IT guidance highlights three practical areas that Los Angeles leadership teams can prioritize immediately:
Elevate identity and access management (IAM) as a board‑visible control area.
Apply strong MFA and least‑privilege access for finance, vendor management, and cloud administration roles.
Monitor and investigate anomalous access activity tied to payments, contracts, and sensitive data.
Embed verification steps and dual approval for changes to vendor payment details and high‑value transfers.
Implement out‑of‑band verification (phone or validated portal) for critical vendor or banking changes.
Align finance processes with email and identity controls to mitigate business and vendor email compromise.
Incorporate combined fraud and ransomware scenarios into incident response exercises.
Test how financial controls, identity logging, and cloud recovery operate under pressure.
Use tabletop exercises to clarify decision rights between CEOs, CISOs, CIOs, CFOs, and line‑of‑business leaders.
Several recent reports show that boards are seeking clearer, business‑aligned views of cyber risk. Instead of long technical dashboards, leadership teams are asking for concise metrics that connect cyber activity to financial and operational outcomes.
The Global IT framework suggests building a recurring set of measures, such as:
Documented fraud losses and near‑miss incidents by category over time
Ransomware readiness indicators, including tested recovery times and backup verification results for critical systems
Identity and access measures, such as MFA adoption rates and the number of investigated anomalous access events
Training and simulation outcomes for executives, finance, and operations related to fraud and phishing exercises
“Board-level reporting tends to be most effective when it focuses on trends and outcomes rather than on individual tools or alerts,” said an independent board director and former CIO who advises multiple California organizations. “Metrics that link identity, fraud attempts, and recovery capabilities provide a more integrated picture of risk than isolated technical indicators.”
For Los Angeles boards, these metrics support informed oversight of cloud security, fraud exposure, and business continuity.
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