60 Small Business Cybersecurity Statistics to Know in 2026

In 2026, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are increasingly targeted by cybercriminals, with data showing that they experience significantly more breaches than larger organizations. Despite holding valuable data and processing real money, SMBs often operate with less robust security infrastructure, making them attractive targets. Ransomware is a dominant threat, involved in a large percentage of SMB breaches, with many businesses paying ransoms but often not recovering their data. The financial implications are severe, with breach costs averaging $3.31 million for companies with fewer than 500 employees. Alarmingly, many SMBs lack basic cybersecurity measures such as multifactor authentication (MFA), which could block most automated attacks. The rise of AI-driven attacks poses new challenges, as these are cheaper, faster, and more effective, yet few SMBs have implemented defenses against them. Despite awareness of cybersecurity risks, SMBs often fail to translate this into effective preparedness, leaving them vulnerable to attacks that can result in significant financial and operational impacts.