Executive Summary
Guardz reports nine in ten SMBs have a compromised user account, with AI-driven phishing, account takeover and BEC rising.
What Happened
Guardz reports that nine out of ten SMBs in its dataset have at least one compromised user account, attributing a growing share of incidents to AI‑driven phishing, account takeover, and business email compromise campaigns.[2] The release emphasizes how affordable generative AI tooling is being used to automate and personalize attacks at scale, increasing identity, SaaS, and data leakage risks for small businesses and the MSPs that manage them.[2]
Vulnerability / Attack Technique
AI-driven phishing and BEC
Technical Mechanism
Generative AI personalizes attacks at scale.
AI Security Category
AI-assisted attack
Part of the AI-Assisted Attacks topic.
RealGround Analysis
Identity is the main SMB attack surface.
Recommended Controls
- Use phishing-resistant MFA
Related RealGround Service
AI Red Teaming · or start with the free AI Agent Security Scanner.
Sources
PR Newswire (Guardz): https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/guardz-report-9-out-of-10-smbs-have-compromised-users-as-ai-driven-attacks-reshape-the-msp-threat-landscape-302755600.html
Summary and analysis written by RealGround from the source above; last updated 2026-10-18.