To prepare your small business for rising cybersecurity threats, you’ll want to train your team, protect every login, back up your data, and write an incident response plan before an attack hits. It might surprise you to learn that people remain the biggest weak spot in your business. This article shows you what to do first, step-by-step.
Key Takeaways
- Small businesses face the same attackers as large ones, often with far thinner defenses.
- The human element appeared in 62% of breaches, so staff training comes first.
- Ransomware now appears in 48% of breaches, and small organizations feel it hardest.
- A written incident response plan limits the damage when prevention fails.
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Teal is a Proud Cybersecurity Awareness Month Supporter
Since 2004, the President of the United States and Congress declared the month of October to be Cybersecurity Awareness Month – helping people stay safe and secure online. During this time, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Cybersecurity Alliance collaborate to raise digital security awareness – both nationally and internationally. Our experts at Teal are proud to take part in educating small and midmarket businesses every year on how to mitigate the cybersecurity threats they face.
What Are the Biggest Cybersecurity Threats Facing Small Businesses?
Ransomware and phishing are the biggest cybersecurity threats facing small businesses today, with malware and third-party breaches close behind.
Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report found ransomware in 48% of all breaches, with ransomware or extortion showing up in 88% of small and midsize business (SMB) breaches. Phishing was the way in for 16% of breaches.
- Ransomware: Criminals lock your files and demand payment to unlock them. Verizon says small organizations are “disproportionally impacted by Ransomware.”
- Phishing: Fake emails and texts trick staff into sharing passwords or clicking bad links.
- Malware: Harmful software steals data or spies on your systems. Phishing often delivers it.
- Third-party breaches: A vendor’s weak security becomes your problem. Third parties were involved in 55% of SMB breaches.
What Cybersecurity Covers
According to CISA, “Cybersecurity is the act of protecting networks, devices, and data from unauthorized access or criminal use and the practice of ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.”
In plain English it’s what keeps the wrong people out, and keeps your data accurate and available for the right people (staff, volunteers, contractors, etc.).
Why SMBs Are Such Easy Targets for Cyberattacks
Small businesses are easy targets because they hold money and customer data but rarely have a dedicated security team. Do you have someone watching your network around the clock? Most SMB’s don’t, unless they’re working with a managed IT service provider that includes it in their plan. The common saying is that attackers choose the easiest door, not necessarily the biggest house.
Smaller businesses are easy targets because they:
- Have thin defenses, use default settings, old software, and share passwords
- Don’t have dedicated security staff
- Might be the easiest step for an attacker to reach a larger client
- Might not invest in security awareness training, so one stolen email account can quickly lead to a fraudulent wire transfer
What Cyberattacks Cost a Small or Midmarket Business
A cyberattack costs a small business:
- Direct financial loss, such as stolen funds, ransom payments, and recovery fees
- Downtime, for example, dues to staff being unable to work while systems are locked down after ransomware
- Data loss (e.g., customer, employee, and financial records land in criminal hands)
- Regulatory penalties because mishandled sensitive data can trigger fines and reporting duties
- Reputation damage, for example, customers hesitating to share information or work with you after a breach
The three incidents below are older, but they demonstrate how one breached email or one infected computer can drain six or seven figures from a company with no security team.
Business | What happened | Reported loss |
|---|---|---|
Green Ford Sales, a Kansas car dealership (late 2011) | A data-stealing trojan let cybercriminals steal money from the company. | $63,000 was stolen. The bank recovered all but $23,000. |
Wright Hotels, a real estate investment and development firm | A common phishing attack gave criminals access to a company email account. | $1 million |
PATCO Construction, a Maine residential construction firm | A trojan attack hit the business. | About $588,000 |
Basic security controls make attacks like these much harder to pull off. They also cost far less than a six or seven-figure loss.
How to Protect Your Small Business from a Cyberattack
Protect your small business by training every employee, requiring multifactor authentication, patching software, backing up data, and rehearsing an incident response plan.
- Train every employee – Teach staff to spot phishing, and repeat it often.
- Require multifactor authentication – A stolen password alone should never open an account.
- Patch software quickly – Update operating systems, apps, and firewalls as soon as fixes arrive.
- Back up your data – Keep copies offline or in a separate cloud account, and test a restore.
- Write an incident response plan – Decide who does what after an attack before you need it.
Why does security awareness training come first?
Verizon’s 2026 report found the human element in 62% of breaches. That covers mistakes, misuse, and social attacks such as phishing. Attackers target your people because people are easier to fool than software. When you have a trained team, though, they will spot the odd invoice and the fake login page much better.
Pro tip: Short, regular sessions beat one long annual slideshow. Run a few simulated phishing emails each quarter, and praise the people who report them.
What should an incident response plan include?
A good incident response plan covers:
- Who leads the response, and who they call (e.g., IT provider, insurer, legal counsel).
- How to isolate infected devices fast.
- Where clean backups live and how to restore them.
- Who informs staff, customers, regulators, and other stakeholders. What they will say.
Should You Manage Cybersecurity In-house or Outsource It?
For most small and midsize organizations, a managed IT services provider delivers broader security coverage than one or two in-house hires can. When you outsource you enjoy:
- Constant monitoring and patching which lowers the odds of a breach, a ransom payment, or a compliance failure.
- One provider that brings several specialists, so you don’t have to recruit and invest in retaining each one.
- Executives that are invested in your growth strategy.
- Tested backups and a written plan shorten downtime.
Next Steps to Strengthen Cybersecurity for Your Small Business
Cybersecurity threats will keep rising for small businesses until leaders support comprehensive cybersecurity. If your team lacks the time or people to implement, Teal’s managed IT services can provide you with a defense-in-depth approach – including managed detection and response with a security operations center. Speak with a senior advisor to learn more.
