The Protiviti 2026 Top Risks and Opportunities Surveywas conducted in the 3rd quarter of 2025 and provides critical insights into the challenges and opportunities shaping government strategies in the near term (two to three years) and long term (a decade ahead). It highlights strategic risks, operational concerns and transformative opportunities for governments worldwide.
Why These Priorities?
Technology-related risks occupy the top of the list in 2026, outpacing even economic concerns. Government agencies are feeling pressure to accelerate digital transformation, improve efficiency and protect sensitive information while responding to citizens’ rising expectations. Unaddressed technology risks can lead to service disruptions, loss of public trust, regulatory penalties, and even threats to national security. Addressing them is essential to delivering resilient and effective government in a changing world.
Top risk drivers:
- Cyber Threats: Cyber-attacks have surged to the top of the risk agenda for a reason. Public systems — hospitals, law enforcement databases, and municipal networks — have become prime targets for criminals and nation-state actors. A breach can paralyze critical services, expose sensitive data and even cause physical harm to citizens, making cybersecurity investments non-negotiable.
- Third-Party Risks: Governments increasingly rely on external vendors for technology and operations. While these partnerships offer efficiencies, they also expand the attack surface. Weaknesses or breaches among third parties can quickly ripple through public sector systems, amplifying risk.
- Legacy Infrastructure: Outdated IT systems are more than an efficiency bottleneck — they’re a security liability. Many agencies still operate on mainframe legacy platforms that struggle to support modern digital services, are difficult to secure and expose agencies to cyber threats and operational failures.
- AI-Related risks: AI has the potential for significant efficiencies in government services, but it brings regulatory uncertainty and workforce anxiety. Without clear governance or proper training, AI deployments can run afoul of privacy laws, erode employee morale, and undermine both public trust and productivity.
- Economic conditions: Inflation, tariffs, budget constraints and market volatility directly impact government funding and service delivery. Recent geopolitical shifts have made economic uncertainty a salient issue for governments globally, a concern that’s likely to persist for the foreseeable future.
These top short-term priorities demand proactive, strategic responses. Here’s how government leaders can turn these risks into opportunities:
- Build a public-private tech ecosystem: Collaborate with hyperscalers and specialized firms to accelerate cloud migration, enhance cybersecurity services, and digitize data. Focus on piloting AI initiatives and moving them into production. Structure outcome-based contracts to deliver citizen-facing services faster.
- Address legacy infrastructure issues: Prioritize re-platforming mainframes, adopting secure cloud solutions and implementing common service layers to achieve interoperability, efficiency and security at scale. Fund multi-year technical debt retirement plans tied to measurable service KPIs.
- Strengthen cyber defense and third-party risk management: Expand Security Operations Center (SOC) services, adopt zero-trust architectures and enforce vendor risk controls to mitigate ransomware, nation-state threats and supply chain vulnerabilities.
- Establish AI governance and data privacy-by-design: Create cross-agency policies for AI use, emphasizing transparency, auditability and high-quality interoperable datasets. Ensure guardrails for AI align with existing laws and regulations to build trust and accountability.
- Upskill the workforce for AI and digital operations: Launch targeted training and change management programs to reduce workforce resistance, build confidence in AI tools and close digital talent gaps.
- Align investments to near-term priorities:
Direct funding to critical areas such as data privacy, infrastructure modernization, cybersecurity and regulatory compliance. These investments ensure governments are equipped to meet current and future challenges.
By prioritizing these actions, government leaders can transform risks into opportunities—building resilient organizations ready to serve citizens effectively, even in uncertain times.
For a detailed review, refer to the Protiviti 2026 Top Risks Survey – Government Perspectives
