Singapore, October 19, 2026: A new survey by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has found that 87% of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region experienced at least one cyber incident over the past 12 months, with many suffering data theft, service disruptions, and financial losses.
The study, which polled IT and IT security professionals from APAC SMBs, highlighted that the most damaging consequences included theft of clients’ personal data (25%), temporary disruption of client-facing services such as websites and online stores (23%), and theft of employees’ personal data (23%). Financial losses and irrecoverable data loss were each reported by 21% of affected companies, while 13% suffered irreversible damage to corporate assets.
Top threats and attack methods
Among the most harmful attack types cited were software vulnerability exploits (10%), mass malware attacks (7%), and external remote access breaches (7%). The primary objectives of attackers were identified as stealing clients’ personal data (34%), sensitive internal information like financial credentials and legal documents (31%), employees’ personal data (27%), and preventing access to online resources for employees and clients (23%).
Departments most targeted
Kaspersky’s data showed that IT and IT-security departments bore the brunt of attacks, with 51% and 52% of the most harmful incidents directed at these teams, respectively. Customer service (22%) and accounting and finance (20%) departments were also frequently targeted.
Response and mitigation measures
In response to recent breaches, APAC SMBs have prioritised deploying IT security monitoring solutions (24%), strengthening cloud security controls (24%), and hardening third-party compliance requirements (24%). Other measures included investing in specialised IT staff training (22%), deploying security solutions on all employees’ devices (22%), revising password policies (22%), and implementing multi-factor authentication (22%).
Ilya Markelov, Head of Unified Platform Product Line at Kaspersky, said that cyber incidents can threaten the survival of resource-constrained SMBs, who require scalable and purpose-built protection. Adrian Hia, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Kaspersky, added, “A single incident can compromise sensitive information, interrupt day-to-day operations and weaken customer trust. Cybersecurity is therefore not confined to IT, and addressing these risks requires a combination of the right technology, strong security awareness, and consistent cyber hygiene being embedded into every business practice.”
Recommendations for SMBs
Kaspersky recommended that SMBs adopt specialised security solutions tailored to their budget, size, and industry. The company highlighted its Kaspersky Next Optimum offering, which provides core protection and modular add-ons for email, workload, and cloud security, as well as vulnerability management. For micro-businesses, Kaspersky Small Office Security Premium was suggested for endpoint protection and employee security awareness training.
The survey was conducted by Kaspersky’s internal research centre and included 1,800 interviews across 18 countries, with 616 respondents representing the SMB sector.
Disclaimer: This article is based on a press release provided by the concerned organisation and has been edited for style and clarity with the assistance of AI tools. BusinessFortnight does not verify, endorse, or take responsibility for the claims, figures, or statements made in the original release.
