AI, hybrid cloud spur security shift to consolidation

AlgoSec has published its 2026 State of Network Security report, highlighting a shift in priorities as organisations move from early cloud adoption to consolidation and tighter policy control across hybrid environments.

The vendor-agnostic research is based on responses from more than 500 security, network and cloud professionals across 28 countries. Cloud expansion continues, but governance and operational management are becoming more urgent as workloads spread across multiple platforms and locations.

The report attributes the shift to the rise of hybrid architectures and distributed applications, along with new AI-driven traffic patterns. Together, these trends increase the volume of policy changes teams must make and heighten the need for end-to-end visibility into how controls work across on-premises infrastructure and public cloud services.

AI and security

A key finding is that AI is now part of mainstream security planning. It is viewed both as a source of new attacks and as a defensive tool. In the survey, 65% of respondents said they have already adapted their security strategies in response to AI-powered attacks.

Those adaptations range from incremental updates to major change. About 23.6% reported major structural changes, while 40.9% said they made moderate adjustments. This suggests AI-related risk is increasingly treated as an operational issue, not just a longer-term concern.

Cloud firewall plans

Cloud firewall adoption remains central to network security roadmaps. The focus is shifting from whether to adopt cloud-native controls to how to standardise and simplify deployment and management.

Nearly a quarter of respondents (24%) plan to move primarily to cloud firewalls over the next two years. This points to a continued move away from hardware-centric approaches towards cloud-based enforcement, and increases the need for consistent policy management across environments that may span multiple cloud providers.

Platform selection

Security also appears to be the leading factor in cloud platform selection. Some 54.7% of organisations said security carries the most weight when choosing a cloud platform.

The report links this to rising compliance demands and the need to coordinate controls across environments. It also highlights the growing importance of orchestration as strategies expand beyond a single platform.

The analysis covers major providers and security vendors, including AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform, and references established network security suppliers such as Cisco, Check Point, Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet.

Network edge

On the connectivity side, SD-WAN remains a priority, driven by distributed workforces and the need to connect branch sites and remote users across hybrid networks.

Fortinet was the most widely used SD-WAN solution, cited by 31% of respondents, with Cisco close behind at 30.7%. The narrow gap points to a competitive market in which platform ecosystems and integration with existing network stacks continue to shape vendor choice.

SASE adoption

Secure Access Service Edge adoption is also moving from evaluation to standardisation. For the third year running, the share of organisations without a SASE solution declined.

In the survey, 27.5% said they do not have a SASE solution, down from 40% in 2024. This suggests more organisations now treat SASE as a planned part of their security architecture rather than an emerging option.

As SASE becomes more common, consistent policy definition and visibility across enforcement points become bigger operational tasks. Many organisations now run a mix of legacy perimeter tools, cloud-native controls and user-centric access services.

Consolidation drive

Consolidation emerges as a defining theme for 2026, with organisations reassessing tool sprawl and seeking more unified management across controls operating in different environments.

Automation is part of that push. Frequent changes in applications and infrastructure drive constant policy updates, and organisations want better tracking of those changes and clearer insight into their risk impact.

AlgoSec Chief Product Officer Eran Shiff described the findings as a move from early deployment to more mature operational management.

"Compared to last year, we are now seeing a transition from experimentation to optimization," said Eran Shiff, Chief Product Officer, AlgoSec. "After several years of rapid expansion across multi-cloud environments, AI-powered operations and hybrid architectures, organizations are entering a new phase of consolidation and control. Our survey reveals a collective recalibration, with organizations moving away from tool proliferation toward unified management, shared visibility and measurable automation."

Overall, the results suggest security teams expect hybrid and multi-cloud complexity to persist, with procurement and architecture decisions increasingly shaped by how well organisations can standardise policies and maintain visibility across distributed environments.