Six Tips to Help Prevent AI Cyberattacks
Hacking has been a risk for small businesses for decades, but the threat has grown over time. The rise of artificial intelligence has made cyberattacks easier and more frequent, lowered the technical knowledge required, and increased risk for founders and firms in the past couple of years.
Amid the global cybersecurity breakdown, with the PHP vulnerability emerging, SME owners must ensure their company and their clients’ details remain safe.
Hacking can damage a business in many ways, from stealing customer data to outright theft from company bank accounts.
High-profile examples of recent hacks include the Jaguar Land Rover attack in August 2025, a hack of Marks & Spencer’s systems in April that same year and a customer data breach of Manchester Airports Group earlier in 2026.
To combat these risks, cybersecurity expert Conor O’Neill, co-founder and CEO of OnSecurity, has shared his top tips for small business owners.
Encrypting customer and payment data
Making sure your data is encrypted is a crucial first step.
“If encrypted data is stolen in a cyberattack, it will be unreadable without the decryption key, preventing attackers from accessing or exploiting the information,” O’Neill said.
Staying up to date with software updates is also important.
Using multi-factor authentication
You should not be relying on just a password to keep accounts safe.
Multi-factor authentication can take the form of an extra login step through a phone app, a text, or a confirmation button in an email.
“This adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to provide more than one form of verification when logging in, leaving stolen passwords useless,” said O’Neill.
Running regular security audits
Security tests and audits may require specialist help, but they are well worth it.
O’Neill said: “Organisations need to ensure their most critical assets are secure through regular penetration testing, to assess for vulnerabilities before they are exploited.”
Training staff to spot threats
As with many aspects of running a business, well-trained staff is key.
“Staff must be properly trained to recognise the signs of cyberattacks, identify attempts, and report them immediately,” O’Neill said.
“When employees consistently recognise suspicious behaviour and report it quickly, organisations gain early warning of attacks, reducing the number of successful breaches and creating a culture where security is everyone’s responsibility.”
Keeping systems and software up to date
Updating to the latest software is always a good idea, whether you run your own business or not.
“Outdated software can contain weaknesses that attackers may exploit to gain access to systems,” O” Neill said.
If you’re not confident about how to regularly check the software you use, most let it auto-update whenever providers push a new release.
Creating an incident response plan
“Having a response plan in place means businesses can act quickly if a cyberattack occurs, and should include how to identify, contain and respond to an incident, alongside who is responsible for each stage,” said O’Neill.
“This helps to limit the disruption caused and protect systems.”
It’s impossible to know when or how an attack on your firm might occur,s o, like staff training, everyone must know how to respond if and when it happens.
“As AI makes cyberattacks faster and increasingly more difficult to detect, businesses need to prevent and prepare for potential hacks proactively”, he added. “A combination of technology, processes and training can help companies to mitigate the risk of attacks and enhance their resilience.”
