Dan McLean from Barracuda Networks shares four practical steps to strengthen your business’s cyber resilience in 2026.
Dan McLean from Barracuda Networks shares four practical steps to strengthen your business’s cyber resilience in 2026.
What’s happening: Despite holding the same sensitive customer data as larger enterprises, SMBs often operate with limited resources and smaller budgets, making them prime targets for cybercriminals.
Why this matters: As businesses draft their 2026 resolutions, cyber security experts say it’s time to rethink how protection is approached, moving beyond simply adding more tools to creating integrated, effective security systems.
Australian small businesses face a harsh reality as they head into 2026. Cybercriminals increasingly view them as soft targets, prime for ransomware attacks and data breaches that can cripple operations.
The statistics paint a troubling picture. Research from Barracuda Networks shows one in three Australian organisations affected by ransomware have been hit multiple times in the last year. When struck, 43% paid attackers to recover their data, a figure significantly higher than the global average of 32%.
“Small to medium businesses are the backbone of the Australian economy and play a key part in the rich supply chains that are essential across the nation,” says Dan McLean, Country Manager ANZ at Barracuda Networks. “They hold the same sensitive customer data as their enterprise counterparts and are increasingly subject to the same regulatory and privacy standards.”
Yet despite this critical role, many SMBs operate with limited resources, smaller budgets and lack dedicated IT teams. This makes them easier initial targets for cyberattack as they are less equipped to prevent attacks and unable to quickly detect when an attack is occurring.
Email continues to be the most common entry point for cyberattacks, and these threats have evolved dramatically. Gone are the days when staff could simply check the sender’s address and look for poor grammar. Hackers now leverage AI to craft sophisticated attacks that cleverly impersonate trusted colleagues, feature perfect spelling and grammar, include industry relevant phrases, and mask threats behind QR codes.
“If ‘Jo’, the account person at one of your suppliers sends you what appears to be an invoice statement, or payment notice you’re much more likely to open it or click on an embedded link to retrieve something,” McLean explains.
The problem isn’t just the sophistication of attacks. Many businesses are inadvertently making themselves more vulnerable through their own security approach. Barracuda’s research into Australian businesses shows 67% of IT and security professionals say they have too many security tools to manage and 62% admit these tools cannot be integrated with each other.
This fragmentation creates blind spots that attackers exploit. According to the research, 84% report that tool complexity increases management time and costs, 75% say it hinders threat detection and 77% believe it complicates mitigation.
Simplify your security stack
McLean is clear that boosting cyber security budgets and adding more tools is not a quick fix solution.
“In short, it’s probably not the tools themselves but rather most organisations have too many and aren’t equipped to use them effectively,” he says.
The lesson is to prioritise tools and platforms that are easier to use, leverage AI driven threat detection and incorporate intelligence gathered from hundreds of thousands of global customers. Integration and optimisation matter more than quantity.
Follow proven frameworks
Fortunately, Australian businesses can implement two frameworks designed specifically to strengthen their defences systematically.
SMB1001 is a tiered standard designed for smaller businesses, focusing on areas like access control, backups, policies and staff training. Meanwhile the Essential Eight, developed by the ACSC, provides eight baseline strategies including patching, multi-factor authentication, restricting admin privileges and regular backups.
“By following these frameworks, SMBs can systematically improve their resilience by starting small and scaling security maturity over time,” McLean says.
Strengthen identity controls
Identity features prominently in both frameworks. Centralising and securing identity, enabling multi factor authentication and setting up secure single sign on helps to secure access to critical systems and data. This means stronger protection against credential theft and unauthorised access without adding complexity to user workflows.
However, these identity solutions also need protection. McLean recommends backing up critical configurations like users, groups, roles and access policies to avoid disruptions if settings are lost or compromised.
Add 24/7 monitoring
Security Operations Centres and XDR (eXtended Detection and Response) are services that provide effective round the clock monitoring from cyber experts that can detect and respond to threats.
“XDR monitors activity from multiple systems and correlates these to expertly detect malicious behaviour that would otherwise go unchecked, enabling faster detection and automated response to threats,” McLean explains.
As businesses enter the new year, reviewing current security stacks and considering how to better protect operations becomes essential. For Australian SMBs facing resource constraints and increasingly sophisticated threats, taking action now sets the foundation for a safer year ahead.
“Many are already doing this,” McLean notes. “They understand that their business holds sensitive customer information, and that their reputation is built on being a trusted brand.”
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