New data suggests that cybercriminals are targeting the SMB segment, which offers them faster and easier profits
PRAGUE, August 21, 2025 – ZEBRA SYSTEMS, distributor of N-able solutions on the Czech and Slovak markets, presented the N-able 2025 Annual Threat Report, which examines the rise in cyberattacks targeting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The report reveals a dramatic increase in detected threats in SMBs, with the number rising to more than 13.3 million in June 2025 alone. The success rate of attacks against SMB companies is several times higher than that of attacks against large enterprises.
While many SMBs have long reassured themselves that they are too uninteresting to become targets of cybercriminals, new data from N-able shows the opposite. Attackers are increasingly prioritizing faster, low-effort attacks on the SMB sector over complex attacks on large enterprises, exploiting limited defensive capabilities to achieve quicker gains.
Based on data from the N-able ecosystem, the company's team obtained the following findings:
- Cybercriminals are targeting easier targets, namely SMBs. The average breach success rate across all organizations was 44%, only 39% for large enterprises, but rose to 88% for SMBs.
- Artificial intelligence strengthens social engineering: Attackers use generative artificial intelligence to create convincing phishing messages that are indistinguishable from the style of real people. Social engineering-based incidents accounted for 22% of all confirmed incidents in SMBs.
- Ransomware is a significant threat: In the first half of 2025, the N-able team recorded nearly 1.9 million ransomware attack cases – out of a total of 3.3 million detected malware cases.
- Email remains the preferred tool for obtaining credentials: employees at companies with fewer than 250 workers receive one malicious email for every 323 messages.
- Once a mailbox is compromised, BEC emails quickly follow: The FBI recorded global losses from fraudulent emails (BEC) totaling USD 2.77 billion in 2024, with many cases originating from smaller companies that did not verify payments.
Success in combating cyber threats lies in protection consisting of multiple security layers, such as patch management, ensuring reliable backups, continuous monitoring, endpoint protection, and establishing clear rules – both reactively and proactively. The integrated platform of N-able tools is designed to help SMBs address existing threats through better visibility, protection, and enterprise-level response capabilities tailored to their unique needs.
“Outdated security measures are not enough to keep pace with the challenges small and medium-sized businesses face today,” said Kevin O’Connor, Director of Threat Research at N‑able. “Attackers are constantly developing and launching attacks that exploit security gaps. SMBs need solutions that cover the entire cybersecurity lifecycle while meeting the financial and staffing constraints of the SMB segment. And that is exactly what we provide.”
To view the full report, visit https://www.n-able.com/resources/threat-report-2025.
Article author: ZEBR.ai editorial team
