Emad Haffar, Head of Cybersecurity Consultant team for the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa at Kaspersky warns SMBs face nearly as many cyberattacks as enterprises, urging adoption of XDR for resilience amid resource gaps, evolving threats, and AI‑driven cybercrime.
The notion that large enterprises are only targets for cyberattacks is a dangerous assumption. Today, SMBs find themselves squarely in the crosshairs of sophisticated cybercriminals. According to Kaspersky, ITSR Report 2024 data, SMBs experience an average of 16 cyberattacks per year, a figure alarmingly close to the 18 attacks targeting larger enterprises. These high levels of attack demand a deep evaluation of cybersecurity strategies for businesses with smaller teams and more constrained budgets.
What underpins this intensified focus on SMBs? The reasons are fundamentally strategic. Smaller entities often serve as critical nodes within broader supply chains, acting as vulnerable links that cybercriminals exploit to launch cascading attacks with extensive consequences.
Adding to this vulnerability is a pervasive shortage of qualified cybersecurity personnel. Kaspersky data indicates that approximately 41% of information security professionals report their teams are understaffed, compelling general IT staff to assume cybersecurity responsibilities for which they may lack adequate training. Cybercriminals are acutely aware of this resource gap and are more than willing to exploit it.
Moreover, the arsenal of cyber threats has evolved dramatically. Ransomware-as-a-service and AI-driven social engineering tools have become commoditized, lowering the barrier to entry for even less skilled attackers. These advancements enable malicious actors to bypass traditional security measures — such as network security, endpoint protection platforms (EPP), and cloud workload protection platforms (CWPP) — with relative ease. For SMBs, the critical question is no longer whether they will be targeted, but how effectively they are prepared to respond.
Recognizing the signs that your business needs to upgrade
Waiting for a breach to occur before deciding to advance your security posture is not a strategy. Leaders must recognize the key indicators that their current defenses are no longer sufficient. One of the most telling signs is alert fatigue. If your IT team is inundated with alerts from various point solutions, struggling to prioritize and investigate them due to a lack of context, your detection capabilities are overwhelmed. This tedious manual process not only increases the likelihood of missing a real threat but also contributes to team burnout. This is a clear signal that your team needs a more integrated and intelligent system.
Another red flag is an expanding attack surface with static resources. As a business grows, so do its digital touchpoints. However, if its cybersecurity resources have not scaled accordingly, maintaining system hardening, patching vulnerabilities and ensuring compliance becomes an insurmountable task. This creates security gaps that attackers are eager to exploit.
Perhaps one of the most frustrating scenarios is when employees continue to fall for phishing and social engineering attacks despite having endpoint protection. This is not a failure of a security solution but an indication that the threat landscape has evolved to target human behavior. If an organization’s defenses are not designed to mitigate human error, that organization is vulnerable.
What is XDR, why it matters, and how to transition
Extended Detection and Response, or XDR, represents the next evolutionary step in cybersecurity. It integrates data from multiple sources, endpoints, networks, cloud workloads and email into a unified platform. This provides a holistic view of the IT environment, enabling correlation of seemingly unrelated events to uncover sophisticated attacks that would slip past isolated security tools.
The common barriers for SMBs considering an upgrade like XDR are well-known: budget constraints, a lack of in-house expertise and the perceived complexity of implementation. These challenges are real, but the cost of inaction is far greater. The key is to find a solution designed to address these very hurdles, offering enterprise-grade capabilities without enterprise-level complexity.
Perhaps the biggest misconception is that XDR is exclusively for large enterprises. In reality, the core benefits of faster threat detection, comprehensive visibility and automated response are arguably more critical for resource-constrained SMBs. Transitioning to XDR does not need to be an overwhelming, all-or-nothing endeavor. A phased and strategic approach ensures a smooth integration that aligns with your business’s capacity.
Begin by assessing your current security posture. Conduct a thorough review of existing tools and processes to identify gaps where threats could go unnoticed. Next, define your security goals. A company’s objectives can vary, ranging from maintaining full control by developing internal expertise to leveraging external support through managed cybersecurity services.
If a company prefers to keep things in their own hands—viewing security as part of their long-term strategy—their goal is to develop internal knowledge, customize detection rules, and grow capabilities within the team. This approach allows them to implement comprehensive, advanced cybersecurity solutions independently.
Conversely, building security in-house often requires significant time, expertise, and continuous effort to keep up with evolving threats. Many organizations, therefore, choose to complement their internal efforts with managed cybersecurity services to achieve robust protection more efficiently.
Then, it is crucial to choose the right XDR solution. Look for a platform that fits your budget, size, and industry requirements, with an emphasis on scalability and ease of integration. For instance, Kaspersky Next XDR Optimum is engineered specifically for smaller teams, offering essential XDR features like alert aggregation to reduce fatigue, integration with Active Directory to allow greater response variability, access to Cloud Sandbox to check suspicious files in a secure environment.
Implement the solution incrementally. Start by expanding the surface and depth of understanding—gaining visibility into what is happening at each endpoint—to enable more comprehensive and scalable actions. Roll out the platform gradually, ensuring stability at each phase, while simultaneously training your staff on new processes. This phased approach allows for a smoother transition, reduces risks, and ensures your team is prepared to effectively utilize the advanced capabilities of the solution. For teams that lack the bandwidth for 24/7 monitoring, a managed approach can be invaluable. Kaspersky Next MXDR Optimum, the managed security solution, provides external expertise where your team performs initial analysis and Kaspersky’s experts deliver advanced threat detection and response guidance. This solution doesn’t restrict company’s ability to try XDR in-house house and perform IoC scanning, conduct investigations and respond immediately by internal team. Businesses can retain full control over what tasks to delegate and when—whether it’s handling everything internally or outsourcing specific functions—providing organizations with greater flexibility and adaptability in managing its security.
Finally, continuously monitor and adjust your new security measures based on operational feedback and emerging threats. Foster a security culture by introducing cybersecurity basics to employees and giving them all necessary information for secure work, making cybersecurity a shared responsibility across the organization.
Conclusion
The decision to upgrade your security is a proactive step toward resilience. For SMBs, viewing XDR not as an expense but as a strategic investment is paramount. The modern threat landscape does not distinguish by company size and the consequences of being unprepared are severe. By recognizing the signs that your current solutions are faltering and adopting a tailored, phased approach to XDR—whether you choose to implement it yourself or with the support of external experienced cybersecurity teams—you can transform your security posture from reactive to resilient. The right moment to upgrade is now, before a minor incident escalates into a catastrophic breach.