The 2026 SMB Threat Landscape Report: The Year Cybersecurity Risks Surpass Economic Concerns

27% of SMBs experienced customer data breaches in the past 12 months.

SMBs plan to use AI in 2026 for threat detection (39%), incident response (34%), fraud detection (34%), and automated phishing detection (31%).

84% of business owners still self-manage their cybersecurity programs.

56% of cyber leaders at SMBs report increased anxiety due to cybersecurity responsibilities.

50% of SMBs say they would lose customers after a successful breach.

58% of SMBs experienced website downtime in the past 12 months.

55% of SMBs experienced third-party or vendor outages in the past 12 months.

54% of cyber leaders at SMBs still self-manage their cybersecurity programs.

Cyberattacks rank as the number one business concern for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

32% of SMBs perform penetration testing.

28% of SMB respondents say AI is creating hyper-personalized social engineering attacks.

35% of SMB respondents say AI is creating adaptive and evasive malware.

63% of SMBs have antivirus or antimalware tools.

46% of SMBs saw AI-generated phishing in the past 12 months.

58% of SMBs have firewalls.

41% of SMB owners and cyber leaders prioritized employee training on non-security topics like customer service or sales over new cybersecurity investments in the past year.

42% of SMB owners and cyber leaders prioritized subscriptions to non-essential software over new cybersecurity investments in the past year.

51% of SMBs experienced point-of-sale software downtime in the past 12 months.

40% of SMBs say an attack costing $100,000 or less could put them out of business.

34% of SMBs admit their cybersecurity technology is outdated.

34% of SMBs have vulnerability scanning.

42% of SMB owners and cyber leaders prioritized employee hiring, raises, and bonuses over new cybersecurity investments in the past year.

24% of SMB respondents say AI is lowering the barrier to entry for novice criminals.

73% of SMBs experienced Wi‑Fi or network disruptions in the past 12 months.

67% of SMBs have real-time threat monitoring or intrusion detection/prevention systems.

32% of SMBs have security awareness training.

40% of SMBs say the removal of the 16-digit primary account number (PAN) from credit and debit cards will significantly or extremely impact the security of business transactions.

42% of SMB respondents say AI cyberattack speed makes traditional human-driven patching and response times effectively obsolete.

29% of SMBs encountered deepfake schemes in the past 12 months.

26% of SMBs experienced ransomware attacks in the past 12 months.

57% of business owners say security demands cause them to delay or miss growth opportunities.

53% of cyber leaders report burnout related to cybersecurity responsibilities.

Three in four small- and medium-sized businesses say cyber incidents, including data breaches and ransomware attacks, are most likely to negatively impact their business this year.