Small Businesses Are Reaching a Cybersecurity Breaking Point, but At CSG Technologies We bring a Way Forward

Source: https://www.csoonline.com/article/4003892/smaller-organizations-nearing-cybersecurity-breaking-point.html

n today’s digital-first economy, cybersecurity is no longer just a concern for large enterprises. Small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) are facing mounting cyber risks and many are nearing a breaking point.

As cyber threats become more sophisticated and widespread, small businesses are struggling with limited resources, a growing skills gap, and increasing compliance pressures. At the same time, attackers have shifted their focus: SMBs are now prime targets, often used as weak links in supply chain attacks.

A recent report from the World Economic Forum warns that 71% of cybersecurity leaders believe small organizations have already reached a tipping point, where they can no longer adequately protect themselves.

It’s time to take a serious look at what’s driving this crisis, and more importantly, how CSG Technologies is helping small businesses fight back.

Why Are SMBs So Vulnerable Today?

1. Tight Budgets and Limited Staff

Most small businesses don’t have the luxury of dedicated cybersecurity teams. Instead, IT professionals are often wearing multiple hats, managing infrastructure, endpoints, compliance, and security all at once.

This “do it all” reality leads to:

• Fatigue and burnout

• Missed security alerts

• Basic cyber hygiene tasks (like patching and backups) falling through the cracks

Hiring skilled security staff is also difficult. With cybersecurity talent in high demand, SMBs often can’t compete with larger firms offering more attractive career growth opportunities.

2. A Widening Cybersecurity Skills Gap

According to the WEF report, two out of three organizations now report a moderate-to-critical cybersecurity skills gap, and this has grown 8% in just one year.

Many small teams lack:

• Training in emerging threats and security tools

• Confidence in basic cyber tasks

• The ability to monitor and respond to security incidents in real-time

This gap is only widening as the threat landscape becomes more complex.

3. Security Is Getting Harder and More Expensive

Maintaining even a baseline level of security now requires:

• Email and endpoint threat detection

• Multi-factor authentication

• DNS layer protection

• Regular backups and disaster recovery drills

• Real-time monitoring and alerting

• User awareness training

• Compliance reporting (GDPR, NIS2, DORA, etc.)

And let’s be honest, most small businesses simply don’t have the tools, people, or time to manage all of this effectively.

The Threats Keep Getting Smarter

Attackers Are Targeting SMBs on Purpose

There’s a misconception that hackers only go after the big players. In reality, many cybercriminals target small businesses because they know defenses are weaker.

And it’s not just about stealing data SMBs are being exploited to infiltrate larger enterprises as part of coordinated supply chain attacks.

“SMEs have traditionally been low-hanging fruit,” says Adam Casey, CISO at Qodea. “Cybersecurity is often left to overstretched IT departments already juggling multiple responsibilities.”

Emerging Threats Are Hard to Keep Up With

Here’s just a glimpse of what today’s SMBs are up against:

• Generative AI-enhanced phishing and deepfakes: Attackers use AI to craft highly convincing, personalized emails that bypass spam filters and fool users.

• Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS): Organized crime groups now offer ransomware kits to affiliates, complete with dashboards, playbooks, and customer support.

• Cloud and identity-based attacks: With hybrid work and cloud adoption surging, poor identity management is exposing SMBs to account takeovers, data leaks, and ransomware infections.

• Automated vulnerability exploitation: Default configurations and shared tech stacks allow attackers to mass-target SMBs with automated tools.

Compliance and Training Are Also Falling Behind

Regulatory pressure is increasing around the world. Laws like GDPR, DORA, and NIS2 require clear security policies, breach reporting, and data protection and the penalties for noncompliance are steep.

But small companies often lack:

• A dedicated data protection officer

• Real-time monitoring for compliance risks

• The knowledge to implement required controls

Meanwhile, outdated annual training modules fail to prepare staff for modern attacks. Experts now recommend dynamic, context-aware cybersecurity education that happens when and where mistakes are likely to occur, not once a year on a 30-minute slide deck.

The Numbers Say It All

• 35% of SMBs now say their cyber resilience is inadequate, up 7x since 2022.

• Vulnerability-based attacks have surged by 180%, according to Verizon’s DBIR 2025.

• Software vulnerabilities are skyrocketing, with 40,077 reported in 2024 (up from 28,961 in 2023).

• Cloud ransomware attacks are increasing, with hackers moving beyond endpoints to exploit APIs, identity services, and misconfigured SaaS apps.

The Solution? Managed Security + Automation

Industry experts agree that Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are the most viable path forward for SMBs.

“Partnering with an MSP not only improves security posture but helps businesses avoid unnecessary spending on tools they don’t need,” says Tom Exelby of Red Helix.

Automation also plays a huge role. With limited staff, small teams simply can’t keep up with constant alerts, patches, and threat monitoring. Automating tasks like network segmentation and access control helps reduce exposure and improves incident response without adding headcount.

Affordable Managed SIEM and XDR for SMBs

At CSG Technologies, we’ve seen these challenges firsthand. That’s why we’ve partnered with Blumira, a trusted security platform built specifically for SMBs, to offer affordable, easy to deploy Managed SIEM and XDR solutions.

With our Managed SIEM and XDR, you get:

• 24/7 monitoring and real-time threat detection

• Automated alerting and prioritized responses

• Guided remediation from our security experts

• Cloud-ready protection

• Audit-ready compliance reports

• Support from real humans not just dashboards

And our goal is to give you enterprise-grade protection without the enterprise-grade price tag or complexity.

You don’t need to hire a large security team or build a complex security system from scratch. With CSG Technologies, you can:

• Close your cybersecurity skills gap

• Strengthen your security posture

• Reduce tool spread and save money

• Focus on your core business and not daily alerts

Let’s get started today! Let us help you stay ahead of evolving cyber threats without overwhelming your team or budget.

Contact CSG Technologies to learn more about our Managed SIEM and XDR services. 
We’ll show you how simple, affordable, and effective cybersecurity can be.