As organisations prepare internal audit and IT risk strategies for 2026, a range of emerging technology and digital risk priorities are converging to reshape governance and control frameworks. According to a recent industry perspective on technology and digital risk themes, audit and risk leaders must broaden their focus beyond traditional controls and compliance checklists to address risks arising from rapid AI adoption, expanding cloud complexity, heightened cybersecurity threats, and increasingly disruptive third‑party ecosystems.
These trends are not isolated, they are interconnected forces that will influence internal audit planning, ITGC design, assurance coverage, and strategic risk governance in the year ahead.
AI: From Opportunity to Audit Imperative
Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues its rapid ascent as both a business enabler and a source of organisational risk. Generative AI and advanced analytics deliver productivity and insight, but they also introduce challenges around data security, model bias, explainability, governance ownership, and acceptable use policies.
For IT audit and risk functions, AI use cases must now be assessed not just for functional benefit but for governance maturity and control efficacy. This includes validating data quality, reviewing access and usage controls, and ensuring that AI systems align with enterprise risk tolerances and regulatory expectations. Audit plans that overlook AI governance risk are likely to miss some of the most consequential vulnerabilities facing organisations today.
Cloud Complexity and Fragmentation Risk
Organisations continue to accelerate cloud adoption, migrating workloads to multi cloud and hybrid environments to support scalability and digital transformation. However, this expansion brings data sovereignty concerns, service continuity risks, and governance challenges as data and workloads span jurisdictions and platforms.
From an IT risk perspective, internal audit teams must revisit foundational ITGCs, especially those related to configuration management, access provisioning, data protection, and third‑party oversight. Cloud fragmentation increases the potential for control gaps, and audit procedures need to evolve to validate that controls are effective across distributed, dynamic environments.
Cybersecurity and Resilience: Ongoing Strategic Priorities
Cybersecurity remains the top concern for IT audit and risk teams, driven by the persistence of sophisticated attacks and the rise of automated threats. Organisations are increasingly dependent on digital services, making resilience planning and cyber risk controls foundational elements of effective governance.
IT auditors need to expand their assurance work beyond technical controls to include governance structures, incident response readiness, and security awareness programmes. Given the speed at which threats evolve, traditional periodic testing may fail to detect emerging vulnerabilities, direct investment in continuous monitoring and adaptive assurance techniques will be critical.
Third‑Party Risk and Supply Chain Exposure
As digital ecosystems deepen, organisations rely more heavily on third‑party vendors for infrastructure, applications, and services. This creates supply chain exposure and expands the attack surface beyond direct organisational boundaries.
IT audit coverage must anticipate risks introduced by vendor dependencies and ensure that third‑party risk management (TPRM) programmes are robust, evidence‑driven, and auditable. Validating third‑party compliance with contract terms, data access policies, and service continuity commitments will be central to demonstrating control effectiveness.
Integrating Innovation with Established Risk Principles
Perhaps the most important evolution in 2026 will be the integration of emerging technology risks with core audit and risk frameworks. This means viewing digital risk not as a series of discrete technical issues but as cross cutting themes that influence governance, compliance, and assurance outcomes.
Audit leaders should ensure that their risk assessments and audit universes reflect these trends and that ITGCs, including change management, identity controls, data governance, and incident management, are tested rigorously across modern environments.
Call to Action
As digital risk landscapes shift, IT audit and risk leaders must elevate their strategic focus, balancing innovation with control maturity and oversight effectiveness. Begin your 2026 planning by embedding these emerging risk priorities into your audit universe, updating ITGC frameworks to reflect cloud and AI complexities, and strengthening assurance coverage around cybersecurity and third‑party exposure.
