Cyber Forecast 2027: AI, Risk, and What County Leaders Need to Know

AI is here, and cybersecurity needs to be part of the plan. It's a budget, workforce, and public trust conversation, and 2027 is set to raise the stakes further.

Join CAI and other county leaders for a forward-looking briefing on the threats and technologies set to define the year ahead: AI-powered social engineering and deepfakes that are getting cheaper and more convincing, and the emergence of "agentic AI" as both a new attack surface and a defensive tool. The early warning signs of quantum-era encryption risk, and the ease of entry for threat actors due to AI is pushing more counties toward automation, cloud adoption, and managed services.

This session translates high-level industry forecasts into a plain-language outlook built specifically for county leaders, so your organization can budget, staff, and plan with confidence heading into 2027.

Key Takeaways

• Recognize the amplified and new threat surfaces. Understand how AI accelerates social engineering at scale with personalized phishing and impersonation, while creating new vulnerabilities through agentic AI itself—both in attackers’ hands and embedded in systems counties are adopting.
• Get ahead of quantum-era risk. Learn the early warning signs of quantum-related encryption vulnerabilities and why counties should start planning now, not after the threat matures.
• Understand why the barrier to attack is falling. See how AI is lowering the skill and cost required for threat actors to target counties, and what that means for your risk exposure.
• Prepare through practice, not just planning. Learn how to take a new approach to cyber defenses by running tabletop cyber simulations that test response to AI-driven attacks, and by piloting agentic AI tools in controlled settings before full deployment.

Speakers

• Rex Johnson, Vice President, Cybersecurity Services, CAI
• Rita Reynolds, Director of Public Sector, CAI