As we hustle to tie up loose ends in 2025, let us preview some business threats you’ll face in the coming year.  It may sound like “message overload,” but cyber threats will increase both in quality and quantity.  

For years, cyber hygiene advice sounded pretty simple: Get some antivirus.  Don’t click bad links. Watch your email. Use strong passwords. 

That advice is simply no longer sufficient. 

Cyber threats in 2026 look very different than they did even a few years ago. The tactics have evolved, the tools have improved, and the attacks are no longer limited to obviously suspicious emails. If you’re a business owner, that matters.   Most of today’s breaches don’t start with “hacking.” Rather, they start with impersonation. 

Here’s what’s changing, and what small and mid-sized businesses should understand. 

Phishing is Multi-Channel 

What does that mean?  It used to be that phishing attempts came primarily through email – those emails asking you to share information or click on a button. 

But while email is still a major attack vector, attackers aren’t stopping there.  In 2025, we saw the rise of phishing via other channels like: 

  • LinkedIn direct messages 
  • Search engine results and ads 
  • Text messages 
  • Shared documents and collaboration tools 

The reason is simple: people tend to trust these channels more. A LinkedIn message feels more personal. A Google search result feels “safe.” A shared document looks routine. 

Attackers know this, and they’re taking advantage of it.  This will require a significant shift in mindset and training for employers.  While many employees have learned to be suspicious of email (not suspicious enough, but that’s another story…), they do not take this same suspicion into those other channels.  That’s not good news. 

Cyber Threats Have Been Productized 

One of the biggest shifts behind the scenes is the rise of Phishing-as-a-Service. 

Instead of attackers building everything from scratch, they can now buy or rent ready-made phishing kits that: 

  • Look extremely realistic 
  • Update constantly to evade detection 
  • Handle login pages, redirects, and data capture automatically 

This lowers the skill required to launch effective attacks and increases the volume and sophistication of phishing attempts. In plain terms: it’s easier than ever to run a convincing phishing campaign. 

We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again: hackers no longer need strong technical skills to successfully attack businesses.  The image of the “code-breaker” hacker is far out of date. Instead, you should think of a normal person with evil intent shopping on the dark web’s Amazon equivalent for effective, easy-to-implement cyber attacks. 

Why Traditional Defenses Are Being Worked Around 

Many businesses feel confident because they have: 

  • Email filtering 
  • URL blocking 
  • Multi-factor authentication (MFA) 

Those are all good things. But attackers are increasingly designing phishing attacks to sidestep them rather than smash through them. 

Modern phishing pages may: 

  • Appear harmless until the final step 
  • Change behavior based on who visits them 
  • Capture login sessions in real time 

This is why some businesses are surprised when an account is compromised even though “everything was turned on.” The tools didn’t fail.  The attack simply didn’t play by the old rules. 

What This Means for Your Security Strategy 

For small and mid-sized businesses, the takeaway is perspective. A few important principles matter more than chasing every new tool: 

Tools aren’t Foolproof

MFA is necessary, but not magical. It’s a critical layer, but in the digital chess match, hackers are now deploying tactics to get around MFA.  The same goes for other tools.  Your IT MSP should be continuously evaluating the tool stack to make sure your business bases are covered.

People still matter

Most successful phishing attacks rely on timing, pressure, and trust, not technical exploits.  People need training, and they need to be encouraged that cyber hygiene is not some insignificant part of their job. It affects a business’s bottom line.  At its core, good personal cyber hygiene is an employee’s protection of their own paycheck (and you should frame it that way so they can see its importance). 

Threat models need updating

Assume attackers will use multiple channels, realistic impersonation, and tools designed to blend in. If your training and protections only focus on one channel , you’re leaving other doors wide open. Cybersecurity truly is the new utility, and you need to address it as part of your overall risk management and business strategy. 

The Calm, Practical Bottom Line 

Cyber threats moving forward in 2026 will be more convincing and more distributed across various channels. Defending against it isn’t about fear or complexity. It’s about combining: 

  • Reasonable technical controls 
  • Clear user expectations and responsibilities 
  • Ongoing awareness that threats evolve 
  • Monitoring and backup procedures (by your IT MSP) 

Good security isn’t dramatic. It’s steady, boring, and intentional, just like any good utility.