The Simply Smarter Blog

If you’ve been thinking, “Cybersecurity? That’s for the big guys, not me,” it’s time for a reality check. In 2025, small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are discovering the hard way that cybercriminals don’t care about company size — especially when AI makes their jobs way easier. According to the latest whitepaper by Vanson Bourne Research and Connectwise, The State of SMB Cybersecurity: Racing Against AI-Driven Cyberthreats, AI is supercharging cyberattacks, and many SMBs are dangerously underprepared.

Cybercrime in 2024 is off to a historic start, as we just saw one of the largest data breaches ever, compromising billions of records and exposing confidential data. This most recent attack shows that bad actors are targeting not only large enterprises or government organizations but also smaller businesses and individuals. It’s a sobering reminder to be conscious about what security measures you currently have in place for your organization, where you can improve, and what to do if your data is leaked in a future “Mother of All Breaches” type of attack.

Cybersecurity remains top of mind for businesses as our world becomes more digitized. A recent report from IBM discovered that on average globally, the cost of a data breach was $4.4 million. Cyber-attacks continue to rise, so we sat down with Tony Roessler, Managed Network Services National Manager at Sharp, to share insights on common attacks and best practices that you can take to best protect yourself and your business from a potential breach.

Phishing remains one of the most common types of cybercrime according to the FBI's Internet Crime Report.  According to a major academic study commissioned by Bromium, cybercriminals generate at least $1-1.5 trillion per year in illicit revenue globally. As cyber criminals get more savvy in the art of deception, these emails are getting harder to recognize. They are no longer desperate requests for money or a plea from an offshore prince. They are simple messages with a simple objective – to get you to click or respond.

Email is a key that cyber criminals can use to comprise you or your employer’s sensitive data - and bank account. It’s time to for us to treat it as such by analyzing every email received to catch phishing attempts. After practice, it will become second nature. Here are a few tips to follow in order to take back our inboxes.