Executive Summary
A CrowdStrike study finds only 11% of SMBs use AI-powered defences and over half spend under 1% of budget on security as AI-enabled attacks rise.
What Happened
CrowdStrike research cited by SC World shows that only 11% of SMBs have adopted AI‑powered security defenses, and among businesses with fewer than 50 employees, just 47% have a formal security plan.[18] More than half of respondents allocate less than 1% of their annual budget to cybersecurity, even as AI‑enabled phishing, data theft, and vulnerability exploitation rise.[18]
Vulnerability / Attack Technique
AI-enabled attacks (survey)
Technical Mechanism
Survey findings.
AI Security Category
AI-assisted attack
Part of the AI-Assisted Attacks topic.
RealGround Analysis
SMB defences lag AI-enabled threats.
Recommended Controls
- Write a formal security plan
Related RealGround Service
AI CISO Advisory · or start with the free AI Agent Security Scanner.
Sources
SC World (reporting CrowdStrike study): https://www.scworld.com/news/small-businesses-falling-behind-in-ai-powered-cyber-defenses
Summary and analysis written by RealGround from the source above; last updated 2026-10-18.