Every business is susceptible to cybercrime in 2025, but it is small businesses that are most vulnerable. Cyber threats are evolving and becoming increasingly prevalent, and small businesses often do not have the same level of protection as larger companies. In addition to this, smaller companies may also find it much harder to recover from a cyber attack, particularly when you consider the potential financial losses associated with cyber attacks. This post will explore a few of the main reasons why small businesses are particularly susceptible to cyber threats and offer advice on how smaller businesses can develop robust protection against the latest threats. Read on to find out everything you need to know.
Limited Cybersecurity Budgets
One of the main reasons why smaller businesses are susceptible is the fact that they tend to have much smaller budgets when it comes to cybersecurity. Larger companies are able to spend big on the latest security tools and their own internal IT security team, but this is not the case for smaller businesses. With smaller investments in cybersecurity, smaller businesses are inevitably at a greater risk.
Low Hanging Fruit
Following on from this, cybercriminals are highly aware that smaller businesses do not have the same level of protection in place. This means that small businesses are seen as “low-hanging fruit” due to the fact that they have defenses that are easier to bypass and still have valuable data. You often hear stories of larger companies being targeted, but it is often smaller companies that are heavily targeted - you just do not hear about them because they are smaller.
Lack Of Employee Training
Large organizations tend to invest heavily in cybersecurity awareness training for employees. This training helps employees learn how to work safely, protect data, and identify common scams like phishing and deepfakes. Small businesses invest less in cybersecurity awareness training, which can create vulnerabilities. Human error is the reason most cyber attacks succeed, so if you are not providing ongoing training for your employees, you are putting your business data at risk.
Remote Work Reliance
Remote work has surged in popularity in recent years. Many small companies embrace remote work as a way to keep costs down, cast a wider net when it comes to recruitment, and attract and retain staff. While there are clear benefits to remote work, it can also create vulnerabilities and risks, particularly when staff are using multiple endpoints. In this situation, it is smart to use managed detection and response services. This involves hiring an agency to provide 24/7 monitoring to respond to threats in real time. With analytics, human expertise, and the latest technologies, managed detection and response services can provide protection across cloud environments, devices, and accounts.
Outdated Solutions
Larger businesses tend to update their security solutions regularly, which ensures protection against the latest threats. Smaller businesses often do not have the ability to do this, which means they are relying on outdated solutions. With the rise of AI-powered attacks, businesses of all sizes need to use the latest, AI-powered cybersecurity solutions that can provide robust protection against the latest and most sophisticated attacks.
Use Of Personal Devices for Work
Many smaller businesses operate a bring your own device (BYOD) policy, which can be smart because it reduces costs. While there are financial benefits to BYOD, it can create cyber vulnerabilities. This is because every computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, or any other endpoint that connects to the network creates new vulnerabilities, which creates a broad attack surface for cybercriminals to take advantage of. This is why it is important to use strong endpoint protection and response (EDR) solutions to protect each and every device.
While all businesses are vulnerable in 2025 with cybercrime constantly evolving, it is small businesses that are most susceptible. As you can see, there are a few reasons why small businesses are vulnerable, including smaller cybersecurity budgets, a lack of training, reliance on outdated solutions, and the use of personal devices for work. This information in this post should show the importance for small businesses to invest in cybersecurity solutions so that they can strengthen their security posture and stop cybercriminals from taking advantage.
