The missing cybersecurity leader in small business
The missing cybersecurity leader in small business
https://cyberscoop.com/the-missing-cyber-leader-virtual-fractional-ciso-smb-op-ed/
Publish Date: 2026-05-11 06:01:00
Source Domain: cyberscoop.com
The average cyberattack costs for a small- or medium-size business is more than $250,000. The salary for a chief information security officer (CISO) is about the same, pulling in between $250,000 and $400,000, according to the annual 2026 CISO Report from Sophos and Cybersecurity Ventures. Small- and medium-size businesses (SMBs) know they cannot afford the salary, so they roll the dice, hoping they will not be attacked. This is a dangerous gamble that these businesses, which make up the backbone of the American economy, should not have to take. A virtual (vCISO) or fractional CISO (fCISO) can provide a practical solution.
As the American economy goes digital, SMBs now rely on the same building blocks as big enterprises — cloud services, payment systems, remote access, customer data, and other third-party vendors. But without senior cyber leadership, cybersecurity often becomes a patchwork of tools, checklists, insurance paperwork, and whatever guidance a vendor offers. That may get these companies through a questionnaire; it will not build real resilience. Nearly half, all reported cyber incidents, which is projected to cost the global economy $12.2 trillion annually by 2031, involve smaller firms.
The threat is growing in both size and sophistication. Adversaries are deploying AI to automate reconnaissance, develop malware, and run phishing campaigns at scale. This reduces the cost and skill needed to target smaller firms at volume. Adversaries are also collecting encrypted data with the intent to decrypt it later when they have access to large enough quantum computers. SMBs in defense, healthcare, and financial supply chains often hold sensitive credentials that provide access into larger enterprise environments, but most are not prepared to adopt quantum-resistant encryption.
SMBs generally understand they face cyber risk. The real gap is leadership: someone who can turn technical vulnerabilities into business decisions, set…
