Cybercriminals don’t stumble into attacks.
They plan.
They review what worked last year, adjust their approach, and look for organizations that make exploitation efficient—not dramatic.
And increasingly, those organizations are not large enterprises.
They’re businesses that are busy, growing, and assuming “good enough” is good enough.
Not because leadership is careless, but because cyber risk hasn’t been treated as a governance issue.
Why Small and Mid-Sized Organizations Are Targeted
Cybercriminals have shifted their economics.
Large enterprises are expensive to attack:
- Strong controls
- Dedicated teams
- Mandatory reporting
- High scrutiny
Smaller organizations offer something better: scale.
A hundred smaller incidents with limited resistance, limited detection, and inconsistent response produce more reliable outcomes—with less risk to the attacker.
This isn’t about size.
It’s about predictability.
Their 2026 Strategy, In Plain Terms
Exploit Normal Business Behavior
Modern phishing doesn’t look suspicious. It looks routine.
Invoices.
Vendor questions.
Internal requests.
The attack succeeds not because someone is careless, but because systems rely on trust instead of verification.
Impersonate Authority and Vendors
Payment redirection and credential theft work because:
- Authority isn’t verified consistently
- Requests aren’t documented
- Controls depend on people remembering rules under pressure
From a liability standpoint, these incidents are especially damaging because they’re preventable.
Target Organizations Without Clear Ownership of Risk
When responsibility for cyber risk is diffused, attackers gain time.
Time to move laterally.
Time to escalate access.
Time to create maximum disruption before detection.
The Common Thread: Governance Gaps
Most successful attacks don’t bypass sophisticated defenses.
They exploit:
- Unvalidated assumptions
- Excess access
- Undocumented processes
- Decisions no one remembers making
This is why cybersecurity framed as an IT issue consistently fails.
The real issue is governance.
How Organizations “Ruin” an Attacker’s Year
Organizations that manage cyber risk well don’t try to be invincible.
They aim to be defensible.
They:
- Establish executive ownership of cyber risk
- Define acceptable risk levels
- Validate controls instead of assuming they work
- Document decisions so they can be defended later
- Reduce blast radius when something does go wrong
From an attacker’s perspective, these organizations aren’t worth the effort.
They move on.
Prevention Is Quiet. Failure Is Public.
After an incident, leadership is asked:
- What controls were in place?
- Were risks known and accepted?
- Can you demonstrate reasonable care?
Organizations that can answer those questions recover faster—legally, financially, and operationally.
Those that can’t face secondary damage long after systems are restored.
Take Your Organization Off the Easy-Target List
Cybercriminals are planning their year.
The most effective response isn’t panic—it’s preparation.
A Cyber Risk Reality Check provides leadership with:
- Visibility into real exposure
- Clarity around liability
- Evidence of reasonable security care
- Prioritized actions aligned to business risk
No hype.
No scare tactics.
Just clarity.
Because the best New Year’s resolution
is making sure your organization isn’t helping someone else meet theirs.
