N‑able, a global software company delivering a unified cyber resiliency platform, today launched its first annual 2025 threat report, exploring the rise in cyber-attacks on small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) ranging from 100-2,500 employees.

The report uncovers a dramatic rise in detected threats across SMBs, from approximately 48,749 in June 2024 to over 13.3 million by June 2025, as they increasingly invest in the proper security tools to monitor their environments and mitigate risk.

While many SMBs have long assumed they’re too small to be targeted by cyber-criminals, new data from N-able shows that perception is rapidly changing.

Threat actors are increasingly favoring quicker, low-effort attacks on SMBs over complex enterprise breaches, exploiting limited defenses for faster payoffs.

“Legacy or minimal security controls are no longer sufficient for today’s SMBs,” said Kevin O’Connor, director of threat research at N-able.

“Adversaries are increasingly targeting SMBs with scalable, automated attacks that exploit common gaps in visibility and response. To defend effectively, SMBs need solutions that align with their operational constraints while delivering comprehensive coverage across the threat lifecycle. That’s exactly what N-able provides.”

Using data from the N-able ecosystem, the company’s threat research team revealed that cyber-criminals are increasingly focusing their efforts on small and midsized businesses, which are no longer being overlooked in favour of larger enterprises. In fact, attackers are targeting these organisations more than ever before.

The rise of generative AI is also transforming social engineering tactics. Attackers are using AI to craft highly convincing phishing messages that mimic real people and writing styles, with some messages sophisticated enough to deceive even the most tech-savvy employees.

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Meanwhile, ransomware continues to pose a major threat – the team observed nearly 1.9 million ransomware detections in the first half of 2025 alone.

“The findings align closely with what we’re seeing, the pace of change in cybersecurity is relentless. It’s easy to get caught up in the complexity of today’s landscape: AI-driven threats, ransomware attacks, evolving regulations, and a flood of new tools and technologies,” aid Vinod Paul, President at Align.

“But real success comes from going back to the basics. Things like maintaining patches, ensuring reliable backups, continuous monitoring, endpoint protection, and having clear processes in place – businesses can’t afford to operate in reactive mode.”