January 26, 2026
Right now, cybercriminals are crafting their own New Year's resolutions—but theirs are all about taking advantage of businesses like yours.
Unlike your plans focused on wellness or work-life harmony,
their focus is on refining tactics that worked in 2025 to steal more effectively in 2026.
Small businesses aren't targeted because they're careless—
it's because busy entrepreneurs make prime targets.
Here's a sneak peek at their 2026 strategies—and how you can thwart them.
Resolution #1: "Craft Phishing Emails That Are Nearly Impossible to Detect"
The days of obvious scam emails filled with errors are behind us.
Advanced AI now generates emails that:
- Sound completely natural and authentic
- Incorporate your company's unique voice and terminology
- Reference actual vendors you collaborate with
- Avoid glaring warning signs
What they rely on is timing, not typos.
January is ideal—everyone's busy, catching up post-holidays, and more prone to mistakes.
Imagine receiving:
"Hi [your real name], I tried sending the updated invoice but it bounced back. Could you confirm if this is still the right email for accounting? Here's the revised copy—let me know if you have questions. Thanks, [actual vendor name]"
No outrageous tales or urgent wire requests—just a believable message from someone familiar.
Your defense strategy:
- Educate your team to verify every request involving money or credentials through a separate trusted channel.
- Employ advanced email filters that detect impersonation attempts, such as suspicious email origins.
- Foster a company culture where double-checking suspicious communications is encouraged and celebrated.
Resolution #2: "Impersonate Your Vendors and Executives Seamlessly"
These attacks feel shockingly real.
An email from a vendor might say:
"We've updated our banking info. Please send future payments to this new account."
Or a text from "the CEO" instructs your bookkeeper:
"Urgent: wire funds now. I'm in a meeting and can't talk."
Voice deepfakes add another layer, mimicking executives through cloned voices from online sources. Suddenly, a supposed CEO calls finance for a "quick favor" and sounds exactly like them.
This isn't sci-fi—it's happening today.
Your defense strategy:
- Implement a strict callback policy for banking changes, always verifying through known, existing phone numbers.
- Require verbal confirmation via established channels before processing payments.
- Enable multi-factor authentication on all finance and administrative accounts to prevent unauthorized access.
Resolution #3: "Target Small Businesses More Aggressively Than Ever"
Cybercriminals once favored large companies, but as enterprise defenses improved, they shifted.
Instead of a complex $5 million heist, they launch numerous $50,000 attacks against small businesses, which face less resistance.
Small businesses possess valuable information and assets, yet often lack dedicated cybersecurity resources.
Attackers exploit assumptions that small size means low risk and overwhelmed staffing.
Your defense strategy:
- Implement fundamental protections—MFA, timely updates, and regular backups—to become a tougher target than others.
- Reject the myth of "too small to be targeted." Your size might keep you out of the headlines, but not out of hackers' sights.
- Partner with cybersecurity experts who monitor your defenses continuously.
Resolution #4: "Exploit New Hire Season and Tax Time Confusion"
January brings fresh employees eager to help but unfamiliar with company protocols.
Attackers count on their eagerness to comply with fraudulent requests like:
"I'm the CEO. Can you urgently handle this? I'm traveling and unavailable."
Tax season scams also spike with fake W-2 requests and spoofed IRS notices.
Once in possession of W-2s, criminals can commit identity theft before your employees even file.
Your defense strategy:
- Integrate scam awareness training into onboarding before new hires access email.
- Establish clear policies such as "We never email W-2s" and require phone verification for payment requests.
- Create a culture that rewards employees for verifying suspicious requests calmly.
Preventing Attacks Is Far More Cost-Effective Than Recovering From Them.
You can either:
Option A: React post-breach—pay ransoms, overhaul your systems, notify clients, and face a lengthy, costly recovery that may leave lasting damage.
Option B: Implement proactive cybersecurity measures, educate employees, monitor threats, and patch vulnerabilities—minimizing risks and keeping your business secure.
Just like you wouldn't buy a fire extinguisher after a blaze, invest in security before disaster strikes.
How to Beat the Hackers at Their Own Game
A trusted IT partner will:
- Monitor your systems around the clock to intercept threats early
- Enforce strict access controls so stolen passwords don't compromise everything
- Educate your team on sophisticated scam tactics, beyond the obvious
- Establish verification steps that prevent wire fraud
- Maintain and test robust backups to neutralize ransomware threats
- Apply timely patches to fix vulnerabilities before criminals exploit them
Focus on fire prevention, not firefighting.
While criminals plot their 2026 attacks expecting you to be unprepared and overwhelmed, let's make sure they're wrong.
Remove Your Business From Their Radar Today
Schedule your New Year Security Reality Check.
Discover where you are vulnerable, prioritize essential actions, and learn how to stop being the easiest target in 2026.
No hype. No tech jargon. Just a straightforward evaluation and clear next steps.
Click here or give us a call at 678-940-8992 to book your 15-Minute Discovery Call.
Start the New Year with a resolution that protects your business from becoming a cybercriminal's goal.
