Identity Is the New Perimeter: Seqrite Reveals Why Password-Based Systems Will Fail Indian Enterprises in 2026

February 6, 2026

Pune, 15th January 2026: As the new year rings in, a prominent shift is brewing in India’s cyber threat landscape. Seqrite, the enterprise security arm of Quick Heal Technologies Limited, a global provider of cybersecurity solutions, has identified several key trends that will shape the face of cybersecurity in 2026. The India Cyber Threat Report 2026, prepared by researchers at Seqrite Labs, India’s largest malware analysis facility, reveals that password-based systems will be rendered obsolete against sophisticated AI-assisted attacks as identity becomes the new perimeter.

Seqrite’s latest threat report also forecasts that 2026 will see adversaries increasingly weaponize OAuth tokens for cloud identity compromise. This will enable seamless lateral movement across hybrid environments, without triggering traditional malware alerts. Seqrite’s telemetry across 8 million endpoints documented OAuth abuse as a dominant vector in cloud intrusions, where attackers exploit misconfigured identity providers to impersonate legitimate users and access sensitive resources undetected. Behaviour-based detections blocked over 34 million anomalous activities, many tied to identity misuse rather than executable threats. These findings prove that perimeter defenses must evolve from network boundaries to continuous identity verification

The India Cyber Threat Report 2026 also exposes how 2025’s ransomware campaigns by groups like Qilin, Akira, and Cl0p shifted from mass encryption to identity-centric extortion, using stolen credentials and OAuth token manipulation to infiltrate cloud consoles and API endpoints. In India’s hybrid environments, on-premises systems accounted for 91% of detections due to legacy exposure, while cloud contributed 9% but faced targeted identity threats like configuration drift and unmanaged access. Seqrite Labs observed that cloud intrusions often bypassed endpoint visibility entirely, relying instead on OAuth abuse and API exploitation that traditional password policies failed to contain. This identity perimeter collapse enables attackers to maintain persistence for weeks, exfiltrating data through legitimate channels while legitimate users remain unaware of compromise.

As the year 2026 unfolds, cognitive threats are expected to accelerate identity attacks through AI-generated deepfake authentication bypasses and autonomous credential stuffing at enterprise scale. Researchers at Seqrite Labs predict that generative AI will create hyper-realistic impersonations capable of defeating multi-factor authentication (MFA) based on biometrics or behavioral patterns, while zero-trust gaps in OAuth flows become primary entry points for cognitive intrusions. Indian enterprises in education, healthcare, and manufacturing, which already account for 47% of 2025 detections, face existential risk as identity becomes the weakest link in expanding cloud-native surfaces.

Seqrite recommends zero-trust identity management as an imperative to robust cyberdefense. Researchers at Seqrite Labs also suggest adopting continuous authentication, behavioral biometrics, and AI-powered identity correlation to replace static password paradigms. Enterprises must implement just-in-time access, ephemeral credentials, and anomaly detection across identity fabrics to counter OAuth weaponization and token theft. The report’s analysis of 265.52 million detections confirms that signature-based defenses alone cannot address identity-driven threats, demanding integrated platforms combining predictive intelligence with autonomous response capabilities.

As India’s digital footprint expands, Seqrite calls for regulatory alignment on identity standards and cross-industry collaboration to establish national identity assurance frameworks. The cybersecurity firm has launched Seqrite Threat Intelligence and enhanced enterprise offerings with zero-trust identity modules powered by patented GoDeep.AI technology. Organizations ignoring the identity perimeter shift risk catastrophic breaches in 2026’s cognitive threat era, where human trust becomes the ultimate exploit vector and resilient identity architectures determine operational survival.

About Seqrite
Seqrite is a leading enterprise cybersecurity solutions provider. With a focus on simplifying cybersecurity, Seqrite delivers comprehensive solutions and services through our patented, AI/ML-powered tech stack to protect businesses against the latest threats by securing devices, applications, networks, cloud, data, and identity. Seqrite is the Enterprise arm of the global cybersecurity brand, Quick Heal Technologies Limited, the only listed cybersecurity products and solutions company in India.

We are the first and only Indian company to have solidified India’s position on the global map by collaborating with the Govt. of the USA on its NIST NCCoE’s Data Classification project. We are differentiated by our easy-to-deploy, seamless-to-integrate comprehensive solutions providing the highest level of protection against emerging and sophisticated threats powered by state-of-the-art threat intelligence and playbooks backed by world-class service provided by best-in-class security experts at India’s largest malware analysis lab – Seqrite Labs. We are the only Indian full-stack company aligned with CSMA architecture recommendations, offering award-winning Endpoint Protection, Enterprise Mobile Device Management, Data Privacy, Zero Trust Network Access, and many more. Seqrite Data Privacy Management solution enables organizations to stay fully compliant with the DPDP Act and global regulations. We have recently launched Digital Risk Protection Services for external threat monitoring and Ransomware Recovery as a Service for rapid, guided restoration after ransomware attacks. Seqrite has also unveiled SIA, an LLM-powered security co-pilot built on GoDeep.AI to help enterprises navigate growing cyber complexity with intelligent, conversational analysis.

Today, 30,000+ enterprises in more than 70 countries trust Seqrite with their cybersecurity needs. For more information, please visit: https://bit.ly/42E5BCJ

About Quick Heal Technologies Limited
Quick Heal Technologies Ltd. is a global cybersecurity solutions provider. Each Quick Heal product is designed to simplify IT security management across the length and depth of devices and on multiple platforms. They are customized to suit consumers, small businesses, government establishments, and corporate houses. Over a span of nearly 3 decades, the company’s R&D has focused on computer and network security solutions.

The current portfolio of cloud-based security and advanced machine learning-enabled solutions stops threats, attacks, and malicious traffic before it strikes. This considerably reduces the system resource usage. The security solutions are indigenously developed in India. Quick Heal Antivirus Solutions, Quick Heal Scan Engine, and the entire range of Quick Heal products are proprietary items of Quick Heal Technologies Ltd. Recently, unveiled Quick Heal pioneers India’s first fraud prevention solution, AntiFraud.AI, available for Android, iOS and Windows.

For more information, please visit: https://www.quickheal.co.in/
AntiFraud.AI – https://www.quickheal.co.in/quick-heal-antifraud/