Truth Check/7 October 2026

“Share of US adults reporting at least one cyber incident in the past 12 months: 46% (90% CI 44-49%) in June 2026 (n = 1,021) and 45% (42-47%) in September 2026 (n = 1,024); frequent AI users 53% to 51%; no incident type rose detectably”

The claim as it travelled: Epoch AI / Ipsos, 7 Oct 2026.

Epoch's data insight prints both waves' percentages with their confidence intervals and sample sizes, and says no incident type rose detectably.

Checked Against

epoch.ai ↗Primary

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Epoch's Ipsos polls find US adults no more likely to have been hacked since Claude Fable 5 launched: 46% reported a cyber incident in June, 45% in September

Two waves of 1,021 and 1,024 adults with overlapping confidence intervals, and no single incident type that rose detectably; among frequent AI users, 53% to 51%. Epoch sets its own earlier finding beside it - serious vulnerability disclosures jumped in June and again in July - and calls the two "a different outcome".

Every claim we have checked, in the Ledger.