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Has There Been an Increase in Website Hacks & Phishing in 2026?

One of the dark sides of running a website development business is you get to see relentless daily attacks upon your websites and servers. Some people have made it their life goal to steal and otherwise make everyone else’s lives a little harder. Hackers usually have one goal: to steal your information in an effort to steal your money.

By gaining access to the backend of a website hackers can install scripts which redirect visitors to scam pages designed to trick them into downloading a virus, worm or malware. Most hacks are done using automated robots that crawl the internet looking for vulnerabilities. Once a hack occurs, the humans operating behind the scam are alerted to the hack and take over from there.

2026 has seen an uptick in hacking like no other year. The main engine behind this is the employment of AI to help facilitate these hacks. Here are some interesting facts:

Key Statistics & Trends (Q1 2026)

• Phishing Surge: AI-driven phishing attacks have reportedly surged by 204% in early 2026, with some reports noting a staggering 1,265% increase in AI-based attempts compared to previous years.
• Attack Volume: Organizations are now averaging 1,968 to 2,086 weekly cyberattacks, representing an 18% year-over-year increase from 2025.
• Vulnerability Exploitation: The timeline for “weaponizing” new software flaws has collapsed; exploited high-severity vulnerabilities increased 105% as attackers now operationalize them within days of disclosure.
• Website Takeovers: Automation allows bots to launch thousands of login attempts and exploit small, under-protected websites to host scam pages or mine cryptocurrency.

There are helpful tools to prevent hacks. Namey, plug-ins like Wordfence help prevent unauthorized log-ins and detect threats and notify the website manager. Unfortunately, they always don’t catch everything, and the vast majority of people use the free version which purposely delays its virus definitions by 30 days. In some cases, these tools are only useful in notifying you after a hack has been performed.

New & Evolving Tactics

Agentic Phishing: Advanced AI “agents” now simulate full multi-stage conversations and are projected to be involved in over 42% of all global breaches this year.

Quishing (QR Phishing): These incidents have increased by 87% year-over-year, with attackers using physical and digital QR codes to bypass traditional desktop security filters.

Deepfake Vishing: AI-driven voice cloning (vishing) is now a primary entry point, allowing attackers to convincingly impersonate CEOs or IT administrators to authorize wire transfers or credential resets.

Smishing Growth: SMS-based phishing has increased by more than 120% between 2024 and 2026, with mobile users being three times more likely to click malicious links than desktop users.

It is estimated that hacking and phishing result in losses of over $16B per year worldwide. 2026 is expected to shatter that number. with some estimates reaching as high as $25B.

No One is Immune

Hackers have negatively affected just about every industry and government on the planet. Even governments have been hacked. No one is truly safe from these threats. It’s a constant seesaw battle between the good guys and nefarious actors.

What You Can Do

• Stay vigilant.
• Change your passwords monthly.
• Install security plug-ins and pay the extra money.
• Enable 2-factor authentication on every single log-in you have.
• Backup your websites often.
• Don’t continue to a website which sets off your virus detectors.

A Particularly Effective Hacking Trick

One of the more insidious hacks is a phishing virus called “ClickFix“. Emerging in late 2025, this virus gets into websites and tricks visitors into filling out a Cloudflare security test which looks quite legitimate. What it actually does it trick the user into downloading a virus that is designed to scrape their computer for log-in details. This is where having 2FA on all of your log-ins comes in helpful.

Removing ClickFix

Unfortunately, ClickFix is missed by a great deal of the virus programs including McAfee & Microsoft defender. We have found Avast to work quite well in detecting this virus and quarantining it. You have to run the deep scan however, because the quick scan almost always misses it.

If you run all of commercially available virus detectors and still cannot remove the infection, you may have to wipe your machine and do a clean install of the operating system. It’s a true pain in the rear but is effective at “nuking” the virus. Just make sure not to reintroduce infected files if you are carrying them over from the previous install.