Increasingly capable AI systems are making it possible to discover and exploit software vulnerabilities at speeds and scales that were previously unimaginable. The world's enormous installed base of software, much of it old, poorly maintained, and deeply interconnected, is a soft target. We are entering what some call The Hackening, a period of radical technological instability where systemic frailties are everywhere.
You can see it everywhere. For example, the Port of Los Angeles recently reported more cyberattacks per month than it saw in entire years before 2020.
This might be less worrisome if the number of reported software vulnerabilities was not exploding. But it is. After years of steady increases, disclosures of common vulnerabilities (CVEs) accelerated sharply in 2026, with monthly reports now running at several times their 2025 levels.
This is not simply an explosion in AI helping detect minor software defects. High-severity and critical vulnerabilities are increasing rapidly as well, as publishing data shows.
The acceleration is extreme:
- 5.2% of all critical software vulnerabilities ever reported were disclosed just this month
- Roughly half the critical software vulnerabilities ever found have been found this year alone.