Report by Netskope

Cloud and Threat Report: 2026

12 FINDINGSPublished Jan 9, 2026
View Original Report →

Key Findings

Clicks on phishing links decreased by 27%, from 119 per 10,000 users last year to 87 per 10,000 users this year.

NetskopeCloud and Threat Report: 2026·Jan 9, 2026
PhishingPhishing LinksUser Behavior

60% of insider threat incidents involved personal cloud application instances in 2025.

NetskopeCloud and Threat Report: 2026·Jan 9, 2026
Insider ThreatCloud ApplicationsPersonal Cloud Application Instances

The average organization saw a twofold increase in data policy violations related to generative AI applications over the past year.

NetskopeCloud and Threat Report: 2026·Jan 9, 2026
Data Policy ViolationsGenerative AIUser Behavior

The average organization experienced 223 incidents of data policy violations related to generative AI applications each month from October 2024 to October 2025.

NetskopeCloud and Threat Report: 2026·Jan 9, 2026
Data Policy ViolationsGenerative AIUser Behavior

The percentage of AI users utilizing personal AI applications decreased from 78% to 47% from 2024 to 2025.

NetskopeCloud and Threat Report: 2026·Jan 9, 2026
Personal AI AppsUser Behavior

87 out of every 10,000 users clicked on a phishing link each month in 2025.

NetskopeCloud and Threat Report: 2026·Jan 9, 2026
PhishingPhishing LinksUser Behavior

The percentage of users uploading data to personal cloud applications increased by 21% over the past year, with 31% of users in the average organization uploading data monthly.

NetskopeCloud and Threat Report: 2026·Jan 9, 2026
Data ExposurePersonal Cloud ApplicationsUser Behavior

12% of organizations detected employee exposure to malware via GitHub each month in 2025.

NetskopeCloud and Threat Report: 2026·Jan 9, 2026
MalwareGitHubUser Behavior

Regulated data accounted for 54% of data policy violations linked to personal cloud applications in 2025.

NetskopeCloud and Threat Report: 2026·Jan 9, 2026
Data Policy ViolationsPersonal Cloud ApplicationsUser Behavior

The top 25% of organizations experienced an average of 2,100 data policy violation incidents per month across 13% of their generative AI user base in 2025.

NetskopeCloud and Threat Report: 2026·Jan 9, 2026
Data Policy ViolationsGenerative AI

The number of organizations implementing real-time controls on data sent to personal applications increased from 70% to 77% from the previous year.

NetskopeCloud and Threat Report: 2026·Jan 9, 2026
Data ProtectionPersonal Applications

The number of users utilizing SaaS generative AI applications tripled in the average organization from October 2024 to October 2025.

NetskopeCloud and Threat Report: 2026·Jan 9, 2026
SaaS Generative AI Apps