Cyber threats are not slowing down. They are getting faster, smarter, and harder to spot. The businesses we work with across the US are dealing with a threat landscape that looks very different than it did even two years ago. Here are the threats you need to know about right now.
AI-Powered Phishing
Phishing has always been the number one entry point for attackers. In 2026 it is significantly more dangerous because AI has made it much harder to detect.
Old phishing emails had typos and awkward phrasing. AI-generated phishing emails are clean, convincing, and personalized. Attackers can pull information from LinkedIn, your website, and social media to craft a message that looks like it came from someone you actually know. We are also seeing voice cloning used in phone-based attacks where the caller sounds exactly like a coworker or vendor.
The fix is training your team to verify anything involving money, credentials, or sensitive data through a second channel before acting on it.
Ransomware
Ransomware is still the most damaging threat most small and mid-size businesses will ever face. Attackers encrypt your files and demand payment to get them back. The average ransom payment has climbed significantly and paying does not guarantee you get your data back.
What has changed is the targeting. Ransomware groups now do research before they attack. They look for businesses with cyber insurance, outdated backups, or weak security. Healthcare and dental practices are frequent targets because they cannot afford downtime and often have gaps in their security.
Good backups that are tested regularly and kept separate from your main network are your best defense. If your backups are connected to the same systems that get encrypted, they get encrypted too.
Business Email Compromise
Business Email Compromise (BEC) is when an attacker gets into or impersonates a legitimate email account and uses it to redirect payments or steal information. There is no malware involved so standard antivirus does not catch it.
A typical attack looks like this: your bookkeeper gets an email that looks like it is from you asking them to wire money to a new vendor account. The email address looks right. The tone sounds right. The money is gone before anyone realizes what happened.
BEC losses run into the billions every year. Multi-factor authentication on all email accounts and a strict verbal confirmation policy for any payment changes are the two most effective controls.
MFA Bypass Attacks
Speaking of MFA, attackers have figured out how to get around it. The two most common methods are MFA fatigue and adversary-in-the-middle attacks.
MFA fatigue is when an attacker gets your password and then sends you dozens of MFA push notifications until you approve one just to make it stop. It works more often than you would think.
Adversary-in-the-middle attacks use a fake login page to capture both your password and your MFA code in real time before passing you through to the real site. You see a normal login experience and have no idea anything happened.
The solution is moving away from push-based MFA toward phishing-resistant options like hardware keys or passkeys. If you are still using basic authenticator apps with no additional controls, your MFA is weaker than you think.
Supply Chain Attacks
You might run a tight ship internally but what about the software and vendors you rely on? Supply chain attacks target the tools and services businesses use every day. The attacker compromises a vendor and then uses that access to reach everyone downstream.
Attacks on Healthcare and Professional Services
If your business handles patient records, legal files, or financial data you are a higher value target than a generic small business. Healthcare and dental practices in particular face a combination of strict compliance requirements and frequent attacks. Patient data sells for significantly more than credit card data on the dark web.
HIPAA requires specific security controls and the penalties for a breach are serious. If you are in healthcare or any field that handles sensitive client data, your cybersecurity needs to match the risk level of the data you are holding.
What You Should Do Right Now
You do not need to solve everything at once. Start here:
- Make sure every employee account uses MFA
- Test your backups. Not just that they run but that you can actually restore from them
- Train your team on phishing at least once a year
- Make sure you have active endpoint monitoring, not just antivirus
If you are not sure where your gaps are, we do security assessments for businesses across the Seattle and Tacoma area. Reach out at logixconsulting.com or call 206-962-4380.