The Real Cost of Cybersecurity for Small Businesses in 2026

Cyber threats are on the rise. You risk losing customers, money and trust from a single attack. We’re going to explore the true cost of cybersecurity for small business owners, including:

• Financial and operational damage from an attack
• Long-term impacts for your company
• Cost of tools
• Hiring someone

We’ll cover these topics and more below.

Why Cybersecurity Costs Are Rising for Small Businesses

Digital landscapes are changing. Attacks are increasing in complexity. AI is fueling a new generation of attackers. All of this is causing the cost of cybersecurity for small business owners to rise.

But there are other factors that contribute to this increase:

• Threat landscapes are more severe
• Sophistication and automation cause faster, scalable attacks
• Compliance and regulatory compliance requirements continue to increase

Add in remote work, and it’s easy to see why prices are increasing.

But the costs of focusing on security outweigh the risk of a successful attack.

What Is the Average Cost of a Cybersecurity Breach at a Small Business?

They vary. Most outlets report the cost of cybersecurity for small business owners to be between $120,000 and $1.24 million. But this figure is just part of the true value:

Direct Financial Damage

Even low-cost cybersecurity for small businesses is better than spending on damages that include:

• Incident response
• Legal and regulatory costs
• Customer notification
• Potential ransom
• Cyber insurance

If your systems are down and offline, then this has a negative impact on your finances.

Hidden Operational Losses

Cybersecurity costs must include the negative impact on your operations. For example, a single attack will result in:

• Downtime: Customers may be unable to place orders or leave your business due to a loss of trust.
• Churn: A percentage of customers will leave your business once they learn of the attack.
• Productivity: Employees cannot work when systems are down. Loss in productivity must be added to the cost.
• Recovery: Breaches don’t end when you discover them. Recovery is necessary, which comes with its own investments to prevent future incidents.

Long-Term Reputation Costs

You’ve built a business on trust. A single attack leads to long-term cybersecurity costs, such as:

• Damage to your reputation
• Customer churn

Hiding the breach is an even higher risk that you cannot ignore.

Core Factors That Influence the Cost of Cybersecurity

Working with an expert or having an in-house team is an investment. Even cost-effective cybersecurity for small companies will fluctuate based on:

Size of the Organization

Your organization’s size will dictate costs. For example, do you have 10 to 499 employees? How many devices do you have? Networks? Complex systems?

Larger operations will spend more on cybersecurity costs because there are additional moving parts to consider.

Industry and Regulatory Requirements

Certain industries will require even more considerations, such as:

• Finance
• Healthcare
• Legal

If your provider needs to adhere to industry and regulatory requirements, it will increase your overall costs.

Complexity of IT Infrastructure

Small business cybersecurity spending trends increase based on complex systems:

• Multiple hardware types
• Software diversity
• Cloud and on-premise environments
• Multiple network segments
• Third-party integrations
• Number of offices

In-House vs Managed Services

The type of team you rely on will also impact the cost of cybersecurity for small business ventures. A managed provider (like us) offers lower operational costs versus an in-house team that requires:

• Benefits
• Salaries
• Long-term commitment
• Dedicated office space
• Multiple personnel

Managed services provide all of this for one price, which is often much cheaper than an in-house team.

Typical Cybersecurity Expenses for Small Businesses

Use these expense figures loosely, but they include:

Essential Tools and Services

• Antivirus – $30 to $100 per device annually
• Firewall and routers $500 to $2,500
• Email security is up to $10 per month per user
• Backups starting at $500 per year

Advanced Protections

• SIEM starting at $1,000/annually
• EDR starts at $50 per device
• Multi-factor identification can cost $3 to $10 monthly

And this doesn’t include compliance tools, penetration tests and more.

How Much Is Cyber Insurance for a Small Business?

A worthwhile cost of cybersecurity for small business owners is to remain protective. Insurance with limits up to $250k is often $500 to $1,500 annually.

Increase coverage to $5 million for $5,000 to $20,000 per year.

Comparing Cybersecurity Spend vs the Risk of Doing Nothing

Some business owners see cybersecurity as another costly expense. But it’s the most critical investment in your business’s survival.

Prevention is a fraction of the cost of a cleanup, which can reach $200,000+ per incident.

Here’s a breakdown of the costs of doing nothing versus investing in cybersecurity.

Category	Cost of Inaction	Cost of Prevention
Downtime	21 days on average. Massive revenue loss. Business interruption.	Little downtime (hours versus days).
Recovery	Unforeseen costs for forensic investigation, remediation and crisis management	Predictable monthly cost.
Reputation	65% of consumers lose trust in a business after a breach	Maintain customer trust.

How to Build a Cybersecurity Budget That Actually Works

An effective budget is all about spending your money smarter and more strategically based on risk.

Here’s how you can achieve this goal:

• Follow the 10-15% rule. Cybersecurity should account for 10-15% of your total IT budget. Highly regulated industries may need to spend up to 25%.
• Prioritize based on risk. A risk assessment helps you identify your biggest vulnerabilities and spend on areas that will have the biggest impact.

One last tip: seek strategic advice from experts. Have your IT support provider conduct the risk assessment and create a tailored security program that fits your budget.

How IT Support Providers Like Cyber Husky Reduce Total Cybersecurity Costs

Hiring a team has its advantages. But it also increases your cybersecurity cost significantly. Outsourcing to a managed IT provider like Cyber Husky transforms a prohibitive cost into a predictable one that’s easy to manage.

Our team helps you save money in other ways:

• 24/7 monitoring. We take a proactive approach. Our team identifies and fixes vulnerabilities before they spiral into a crisis. That prevents expensive downtime, emergency fees and system remediation.
• We use enterprise tools at scale that allow you to leverage their benefits at a lower price point.
• Get access to our expertise in the latest threats and compliance standards to reduce your risk of regulatory fines.

Plus, we bundle essential security features – like patch management and backup – into a single platform to save you the time and cost of managing multiple vendors and tools.

What Small Business Owners Should Prioritize

Cybersecurity is a continuous process. But some areas are top priorities for SMBs:

• Multi-factor authentication (MFA). Even the most cost-effective cybersecurity for small business owners requires MFA to prevent unauthorized access. Require this for cloud accounts, email, Microsoft 365 and financial systems.
• Security awareness training. Ensure your team receives regular training to reduce the risk of a breach.
• Patch management. Outdated systems have vulnerabilities. Update devices regularly.

Working with an MSSP is another top priority. They take care of the points above and provide continuous monitoring.