Many small and midsize businesses feel good about where they stand on cybersecurity. On paper, that confidence makes sense. Companies are spending more, adopting new technologies faster and focusing more on security than ever before. But when you look at the actual incident data, a more complicated cybersecurity gap emerges.
According to ESET’s 2026 SMB Cyber Readiness Index, 75% of SMBs globally said they’re confident in their cyber resilience, including 26% who said they are “very confident.” In North America, that figure jumps to 41%. At the same time, nearly half of SMBs experienced a cybersecurity incident over the past year. North American businesses were especially likely to be hit repeatedly, with 19% reporting multiple attacks.
That gap matters. Many organizations equate investment with preparedness, but those are two very different things. For channel partners, that disconnect should be a warning sign as well as a business opportunity.
The real problem isn’t budget
For years the cybersecurity conversation around SMBs centered on limited resources. Today, it’s harder to make that argument.
Globally, 80% of SMBs said their cybersecurity budgets are adequate or better. In North America, that number climbs to 93%, and nearly half expect spending to increase again next year.
Businesses are also moving aggressively into AI. Nearly three-quarters of SMBs are already incorporating AI into their security strategies, even while acknowledging it introduces new risks and operational challenges. Yet despite those investments, fewer than half report using advanced protection measures, and only 29% say they’ve adopted truly proactive security measures.
The bigger issue is complexity.
North American SMBs identified integration and complexity challenges as their top cybersecurity obstacle, more than any other region surveyed. Over time, many organizations layered endpoint, cloud, identity, compliance and AI-driven tools onto existing infrastructure without a long-term operational strategy. The result is a fragmented security stack that becomes harder to manage with every new product and service added.
Why this moment matters for the channel
Roughly 20% of SMBs outsource cybersecurity operations, typically through MSPs, MSSPs or MDR providers.
However, the market is shifting. Cyber insurers in North America are stepping into the role of security providers themselves, with 32% of organizations turning to insurers for MDR services. That should be a top concern for every channel partner.
The data suggests that SMBs are placing greater value on bundled, outcome-focused security services. They are no longer looking for isolated products. They want guidance, operational support and measurable resilience.
The opportunity today is helping customers operationalize security in a way that improves overall business resilience, not just cyber resilience. Increasingly, SMBs value partners who can help them reduce operational disruption and financial risk during a cyber incident. That means simplifying environments, improving integration and building managed programs that combine prevention, detection, response and recovery into a cohesive strategy.
3 focus areas for MSPs and MSSPs
1. Help clients consolidate and simplify
Security sprawl is its own risk factor. Many SMBs are paying for duplicate capabilities across multiple vendors. Others have deployed tools that are barely configured or monitored. In some environments, alert fatigue can become so severe that important signals get missed entirely.
Partners should help their customers identify overlap, simplify workflows and improve visibility across their stack. Ask practical questions, such as:
- Are alerts centralized?
- Are endpoint, identity and cloud tools integrated?
- Can the customer realistically manage every platform they own?
- Are security controls creating operational friction for users and admins?
Tony Anscombe
2. Build services around operational gaps
The most common causes of successful attacks are consistently phishing, unpatched vulnerabilities and insufficient monitoring. For these operational failures, channel partners can create real value by focusing less on deployment and more on ongoing execution.
Areas where customers increasingly need help include:
- Continuous monitoring
- Vulnerability and patch management
- Threat hunting
- Incident response planning
- Security awareness training
- Recovery testing
- vCISO support
Many SMB IT teams are already juggling infrastructure, cloud operations, compliance and end-user support alongside security responsibilities. That creates an opening for partners that can reduce operational burden, simplify day-to-day security management and offer the option to outsource through MDR services.
3. Turn AI into an advisory conversation
Nearly three-quarters of SMBs have integrated AI into their security strategies, but governance is struggling to keep pace. While 70% acknowledged that AI introduces new risks, only 60% said they have a formal AI policy in place.
In many cases, SMBs layer AI onto already complex environments before they’ve fully operationalized their existing tools. That creates a major advisory opportunity for MSPs and MSSPs to help customers establish guardrails around data usage, vendor risk, employee policies and AI-driven security workflows before those risks become harder to contain.
Customers need practical guidance around questions like:
- What types of company and customer data should be prohibited from generative AI platforms?
- What security controls should surround AI deployments?
- How should organizations evaluate AI vendors?
- Where does AI improve efficiency without increasing complexity?
The opportunity ahead
SMBs are spending more resources on security than ever before, but many are still struggling to translate those investments into measurable resilience. Channel partners can stand out from their competition by helping customers reduce complexity, strengthen operations and understand the broader business implications of a cyber incident from operational disruption to financial risk and recovery.
Tony Anscombe is chief security evangelist at ESET.
Featured image: Haji Studio — stock.adobe.com
