January 26, 2026
Right now, a cybercriminal is setting their New Year's resolutions — but not about health or balance.
Instead of self-improvement, they are analyzing their 2025 scams and plotting how to steal even more in 2026.
Small businesses top their hit list.
Not due to your negligence.
But because your focus is elsewhere.
And cybercriminals know busy equals vulnerable.
Here's their 2026 attack roadmap — and crucial strategies to disrupt their plans.
Resolution #1: "Phishing Emails That Are Impossible to Detect"
The days of obvious scam emails are behind us.
Today's AI-crafted messages are:
- Natural-sounding and convincing
- Written in your company's tone
- Referencing actual vendors you know
- Free from traditional red flags
The key isn't errors, but precise timing.
January is prime time—everyone's busy catching up after the holidays.
A typical phishing email now looks like this:
"Hi [your actual name], I've been trying to send the updated invoice but it bounced back. Could you confirm this is still the right accounting email? Here's the new version — let me know if you have any questions. Thanks, [your real vendor's name]"
No exaggerated tales, no urgent wire transfer requests. Just a believable message from someone familiar.
How to fight back:
- Educate your team to verify requests involving money or credentials via a separate communication channel.
- Deploy advanced email filters that detect impersonation attempts, such as unusual sender locations.
- Create a culture that encourages verification without fear — "I double-checked before acting" should be applauded.
Resolution #2: "I Will Pretend To Be Your Vendors or Boss"
This scam feels incredibly real.
Imagine receiving:
"We've updated our bank account details. Please use the new info for payments going forward."
Or a text from "the CEO":
"Urgent. Wire funds now. I'm in meetings and can't talk."
Voice deepfakes are increasing, too, mimicking your CEO's voice from public videos or voicemails to convince your finance team to act.
This is today's reality.
Your defense plan:
- Require callbacks on bank detail changes using known, trusted phone numbers.
- No payment should proceed without voice confirmation through established channels.
- Enforce multi-factor authentication on all finance and administrative accounts to block unauthorized access.
Resolution #3: "Small Businesses Are My Main Focus"
Once, cybercriminals chased large corporations: banks, hospitals, Fortune 500 companies.
But as these enterprises bolstered their defenses and insurance tightened, attackers found a smarter approach.
Instead of risking a massive $5 million hit, they prefer multiple $50,000 strikes on smaller targets.
Small businesses hold valuable data and funds and often lack dedicated security teams.
Hackers exploit your vulnerabilities:
- Limited staffing
- No specialized security personnel
- The challenge of juggling multiple priorities
- The dangerous misconception that "we're too small to be targeted"
Your belief is their ultimate weakness.
You can change the game by:
- Implementing essential protections like MFA, regular software updates, and regular backups to become a tough target.
- Abandoning the myth that small size equals safety. You may not make headlines as a victim, but hackers are watching.
- Partnering with cybersecurity experts who safeguard your business without needing an in-house team.
Resolution #4: "I Exploit New Employees and Tax Season Confusion"
January brings fresh team members unfamiliar with your policies.
They want to help and avoid questioning senior staff.
This eagerness makes them perfect targets.
Phishing examples include fake urgent requests from the CEO or HR, like:
"Send all employee W-2s immediately for an accounting meeting."
Once criminals acquire W-2s, they file fake tax returns under your employees' names, causing legitimate returns to be rejected.
Protect your team by:
- Conducting security training during onboarding, before granting email access, so new hires know what scams look like.
- Establishing clear policies such as "W-2s are never emailed" and "payment requests must be phone-verified." Document and test awareness regularly.
- Celebrating employees who verify suspicious requests instead of labeling them paranoid.
Prevention Always Triumphs Over Recovery
You face two paths in cybersecurity:
React: Pay ransoms, scramble emergency responses, notify clients, and rebuild—incurring huge costs, lengthy downtime, and lasting scars.
Prevent: Proactively secure your business with continuous training, monitoring, and vulnerability management—at a fraction of the reactive cost and hassle.
Think of cybersecurity like a fire extinguisher—you hope never to use it, but you own it to stay protected.
How to Keep Cybercriminals at Bay in 2026
The right IT partner will help by:
- Monitoring systems around the clock to catch threats before breaches occur
- Securing access controls so one stolen password can't compromise your entire network
- Educating your team on sophisticated scams, beyond the obvious ones
- Implementing strict verification protocols for wire transfers
- Ensuring backups are maintained and tested, turning ransomware into a minor setback
- Regularly applying patches to close security gaps before attackers exploit them
Focus on fire prevention, not firefighting.
As criminals plan their 2026 schemes counting on businesses like yours to be unprepared, under-resourced, and undefended — let's prove them wrong.
Make Your Business Off-Limits to Hackers
Schedule a New Year Security Reality Check.
We will identify your vulnerabilities, prioritize what matters most, and help you become a tough target in 2026.
No gimmicks. No confusing tech jargon. Just straightforward guidance on your security status and next steps.
Remember, the smartest resolution is ensuring your business is never on a hacker's to-do list.
