Cyberattacks top risk rankings across G7 countries

Cyberattacks are the main concern for G7 countries for the second year in a row, followed by economic or financial crises and disinformation campaigns from enemies.

Ahead of the Munich Security Conference, organizers released the 2026 Munich Security Report titled "Under Destruction," alongside the Munich Security Index (MSI) 2026, developed with Kekst CNC.

This MSI edition is based on representative samples of around 1,000 people from each G7 and BICS nation, with a total sample of 11,099 people.

The index shows that G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) considered cyberattacks as the main security risk of 2025. In 2021, cyberattacks were ranked in 4th place, in 2022 – in 7th, and for the last two years, they dominated the risk chart.

Respondents from Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan ranked cyberattacks as their top concern, at 75%, 74%, and 70%, respectively.

The top five risks also include “economic or financial crisis in your country” and “disinformation campaigns from enemies,” followed by “extreme weather and forest fires” and “rising inequality”.

The “autonomous robots and artificial intelligence” concern has climbed 12 places since 2021 and now ranks 17th in the overall risk chart.

“Among G7 countries, environmental risks have gradually diminished in their ranking in recent years. Instead, cyberattacks, an economic or financial crisis, and disinformation campaigns from enemies have come to be ranked as the most serious risks in the G7 countries,” the report says.

In turn, countries belonging to the BICS group (Brazil, India, China, and South Africa) now see climate change as the top risk, with cyberattacks falling into 8th place. In comparison, for this group, cyberattacks occupied 4th place in 2024, 7th in 2022, and 8th in 2021.

For BICS countries, concern about autonomous robots and artificial intelligence rose to 18th place overall, up from 23rd in 2021.

Although the majority of countries now see most risks as less serious than the year before, the United Kingdom, the United States, and India are the only nations where more risks are considered more serious. In the US, this is tied to the perceived seriousness of risks related to the country’s economic and political situation, including food shortages, the breakdown of democracy, and rising inequality.

In addition, more countries’ respondents now view other nations as a threat, with concern about the US rising across all surveyed countries. However, Russia is still seen as a threat considerably more than the US.