CYBER Insights 2026 portrays threat hunting as a shifting practice, moving from reactive to proactive and increasingly automated through machine learning and AI, while emphasising that human oversight remains essential. The piece argues that threat hunting sits between EASM and the SOC, with automation accelerating but not replacing human analysts, who are needed for context, motivation, and complex decision‑making.
It highlights a future where anomaly detection and behavioural analysis drive hunting, with agentic AI likely to assist but not yet fully replace humans, and where threat hunters will focus on deviation rather than confirmation. Key timing notes include that behavioural baselines require 60–90 days of data before anomaly detection becomes reliable, with organisations starting in Q1 2026 expected to have mature proactive hunting by Q3 2026 and those beginning in Q3 likely not until late 2026 or Q1 2027.
The article also warns of visibility gaps from shadow IT and Shadow AI, remote work, and unapproved SaaS, which complicate threat hunting and require careful integration of automation with human expertise. Finally, it discusses a potential pivot to agentic AI‑assisted threat hunting, where automated remediation grows but remains under human control, and where the risk of false positives continues to shape deployed safeguards. according to SecurityWeek