New survey exposes the widening gap between attack sophistication and security readiness, with 84% of SMB owners still going at it alone against AI-driven threats
VikingCloud, a cybersecurity and compliance company trusted by 4 million businesses worldwide, today released its latest SMB threat research, the 2026 SMB Threat Landscape Report: The Year Cybersecurity Risks Surpass Economic Concerns, revealing that for the first time, cyberattacks now rank as the #1 business concern for SMBs. 3 in 4 small- and medium- sized businesses (SMBs) say cyber incidents, including data breaches and ransomware attacks, are most likely to negatively impact their business this year, ranking ahead of inflation and rising costs (54%), recession and reduced consumer spending (25%), and workforce retention issues or hiring shortages (25%).
The data, gathered from a quantitative survey of SMB owners and cyber leaders across North America, shows Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a key reason for supercharging attacks that could impact business operations. 42% of SMB respondents say AI cyberattack speed makes traditional human-driven patching and response times effectively obsolete. Respondents also report that AI is creating adaptive and evasive malware (35%), hyper-personalized social engineering attacks (28%), and lowering the barrier to entry for novice criminals (24%).
“Cybersecurity has crossed the line from an IT challenge to a business survival issue,” said Kevin Pierce, Chief Operating Officer at VikingCloud. “Today’s cybersecurity threats are too sophisticated for any one individual to handle. In fact, 50% of SMBs say they’d lose customers after a successful breach, and 40% admit that an attack of $100,000 or less could put them out of business. SMBs need to shift from reactive, checklist-driven security to a risk-directed approach that focuses resources where they matter most. Cyber risk is now a core financial threat, and managing it demands smarter prioritization, not just more tools.”
VikingCloud’s 2026 SMB Threat Landscape Report also uncovered 5 key exposure points that could lead to a damaging attack:
- Cybersecurity self-management: Most business owners (84%) and cyber leaders (54%) still self-manage their cybersecurity programs despite growing AI risks. The result: 56% of cyber leaders report increased anxiety and 53% report burnout, while 57% of owners say security demands cause them to delay or miss growth opportunities.
- Widespread cyber incidents and attack attempts – In the past 12 months, SMBs faced Wi-Fi or network disruptions (73%), website downtime (58%) third-party/vendor outages (55%), and point-of-sale software downtime (51%), impacting daily operations and revenue continuity. Many also saw AI-generated phishing (46%), deepfake schemes (29%), customer data breaches (27%), or ransomware attacks (26%).
- Baseline controls are common, but coverage gaps remain – 34% admit their cybersecurity technology is outdated. Many have basic protections like real-time threat monitoring or intrusion detection/prevention systems (67%), antivirus/antimalware tools (63%), and firewalls (58%), but fewer have vulnerability scanning (34%), penetration testing (32%), or security awareness training (32%).
- Competing budget priorities hinder defense – In the past year, SMB owners and cyber leaders prioritized employee hiring, raises, and bonuses (42%), subscription to non-essential software (42%), and employee training on non-security topics like customer service or sales (41%) over new cybersecurity investments.
- The attack surface is rapidly evolving for payment security –40% of respondents 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.
What Comes Next: Smarter Security for SMBs
SMB cybersecurity programs today rely on static tools that do not address the real-world risks they face or the limited resources they have to manage them. AI is a key tool to understanding and prioritizing SMBs’ most damaging cyber risks. SMBs plan to use AI in 2026 for threat detection (39%), incident response (34%), fraud detection (34%), and automated phishing detection (31%).
“No SMB owner started a business to become a cybersecurity expert. But you can’t separate cyber risk from business risk anymore. Going at it alone against AI-driven threats isn’t sustainable. The right combination of AI and expert partners lets SMBs prioritize the threats that matter most, act sooner, and get back to what they do best – grow, with more confidence and less stress,” Pierce added.