{"id":232008,"date":"2026-06-15T09:41:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T13:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/ai-cybersecurity-tips-to-protect-your-small-business-co\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T14:05:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T18:05:27","slug":"ai-cybersecurity-tips-to-protect-your-small-business-co","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/ai-cybersecurity-tips-to-protect-your-small-business-co\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Cybersecurity Tips to Protect Your Small Business | CO"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI Cybersecurity Tips to Protect Your Small Business | CO<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.uschamber.com\/co\/run\/technology\/ai-cybersecurity-small-business<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-06-15 09:41:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.uschamber.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. <\/p>\n

Anthropic made headlines when it announced\u00a0Claude Mythos, an advanced artificial intelligence model capable of identifying software vulnerabilities at unprecedented speed. Early access was limited to a small group of major technology firms, but \u201cit will not be long before such capabilities proliferate, potentially beyond actors who are committed to deploying them safely,\u201d according to a statement from Anthropic.\u00a0These concerns about Mythos highlight a broader reality of the AI era: Artificial intelligence is helping cybercriminals discover and exploit software weaknesses faster than ever, leaving businesses with less time to respond. What once took hackers days or weeks can now be done almost instantaneously, which means AI-assisted attacks will soon become more common and frequent. Fortunately, the same AI capabilities that empower bad actors can also help business owners identify potential vulnerabilities in their operations and be better prepared to defend against cyberattacks.As U.S. Chamber of Commerce CTO\u00a0Bill Jewell recently\u00a0said in an interview with\u00a0The Call, this reality represents \u201ca structural change for security programs,\u201d and small businesses should be \u201cacting with urgency\u201d to address it. Here\u2019s what you need to know about the impact of AI on cybersecurity and how to protect your company in the short and long term.[Read more:\u00a0Ransomware Attacks: How to Protect Your Business]\u00a0Practical cyber protection tips for small businessesWhile the rise of AI-powered cyber threats may sound intimidating, many of the most effective defenses are still rooted in strong cybersecurity fundamentals, said Jewell.\u00a0\u201cYou want to implement security best practices,\u201d he told The Call.Basic security best practices matter now more than ever, Jewell advises. Small businesses should make sure they are managing who has access to what information and using modern authentication processes like passkeys. They should be training their employees to avoid phishing scams or more sophisticated social engineering attempts.\u00a0\u201cYou want to have great access management. You want to have great network segmentation. You want to be able to detect and respond to threats quickly,\u201d said Jewell. \u201cThat \u2026 has not changed. Maybe the speed of it has.\u201dThese practical strategies can help small businesses strengthen their defenses, even on a limited budget.Prioritize patch management and testingBecause AI makes it possible to identify and exploit vulnerabilities shortly after they\u2019re discovered, businesses can\u2019t afford to delay software updates. It\u2019s critical to have a regular AI-driven security testing schedule to identify gaps before a real-world crisis occurs.Turn on automatic updates for all software programs and devices where possible, and don\u2019t delay patching any issues found by security scans. Additionally, consider phasing out any unsupported or outdated systems that no longer receive security updates.It\u2019s also critical to have a regular security testing schedule that leverages some of these AI tools to help identify gaps before a real-world crisis occurs.\u201cIt is no longer OK to do a once-a-year or once-a-quarter security test,\u201d said Jewell. \u201cIt’s just got to be a continuous thing, and the more we can use AI tools to do that, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is no longer OK to do a once-a-year or once-a-quarter security test. It’s just got to be a continuous thing, and the more we can use AI tools to do that, the better.<\/p>\n

Bill Jewell, CTO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce<\/p>\n

[Read more:\u00a0Cybersecurity Simplified: Practical Protection For Small Business]\u00a0Evaluate your vendors and third-party software carefullySmall businesses increasingly rely on cloud providers,\u00a0payroll platforms,\u00a0POS systems, and managed IT services \u2014 all of which can introduce their own cybersecurity risks. Always ask providers about their patching practices, incident response procedures, and support for tools like\u00a0multi-factor authentication or passkeys before signing a contract with them.\u201cIt’s not good enough for [you] to be strong,\u201d Jewell noted. \u201c[Your vendors] have to be strong, too, and so [you] need to make smart decisions about who [you] work with.\u201dReduce your attack surfaceIn cybersecurity, your \u201cattack surface\u201d is all the possible entry points attackers can target: systems, devices, accounts, and applications. To reduce this surface, regularly review and remove unused software and accounts from your tech stack and limit administrator privileges.Jewell also advised small businesses to avoid hanging onto any sensitive data they no longer need.\u201cIf you can’t afford to protect all the data you have, you probably want to have \u2026 conversations about how much data you even need to be holding,\u201d Jewell said.Use AI-powered security tools to scan your own codeAs cybercriminals adopt AI tools, small businesses should start using them defensively, too. Companies that develop software or maintain custom applications can use AI-powered scanning tools to identify vulnerabilities during the development process, ideally before code is ever deployed.\u00a0\u201cWe need to be \u2026 using AI-based or LLM-based scans to make sure that we’re deploying the same technologies on our own code [and] finding the vulnerabilities \u2026 as we’re writing it,\u201d advised Jewell.AI-driven cybersecurity platforms can also help monitor networks, detect suspicious activity, and respond to threats faster. This gives small businesses more visibility into potential attacks without hiring a massive security team.\u201cA lot of vendors that do this have really good capabilities today, and they’re just going to get better at using AI to detect and respond to threats in near-real time,\u201d Jewell added.[Read more:\u00a0How AI Monitoring Tools Can Benefit SMBs]\u00a0Have an incident response plan before you need oneAccording to a\u00a0December 2025 report by Guardz, only 34% of SMBs have a formal incident response plan, meaning most small businesses aren\u2019t prepared to act quickly and minimize damage when \u2014 not if \u2014 a cyberattack occurs. Your plan should identify who to contact during an incident, how to isolate affected systems, how to\u00a0restore backups, and how to communicate with employees, clients\/customers, and other stakeholders.\u201cPeople in security and technology roles need to be having honest conversations with their leadership teams \u2026 about what [they] need now,\u201d Jewell advised. \u201cUnderstand what your own risk tolerances and threat model look like.\u201d\u00a0Jewell noted that every plan will be different based on the specific needs of a business, whether it is securing sensitive data or keeping critical operational systems online 24\/7.\u00a0\u201cKnow what matters most and make sure your plans reflect that,\u201d he added.Keep calm and prioritize protecting your most valuable business assetsAI-powered cyberattacks are quickly becoming a ubiquitous business risk, and small companies can no longer assume they are too small to be targeted. But you don\u2019t need a huge cybersecurity budget to defend yourself. Instead, focus your resources on the systems and data that matter most, such as customer information, financial systems, and operational technology, so that you\u2019re better positioned to manage risk and recover quickly when an incident occurs.Ultimately, said Jewell, there\u2019s no need for panic, but small businesses shouldn\u2019t ignore the looming threat of AI-driven cyberattacks.\u201cWe all need to be level-headed about this, but we need to be acting with a lot of urgency and seriousness,\u201d said Jewell. \u201cWe’ll see more and more about these types of [threats], and there’s no getting away from it. If you’re not asking these questions today, you’re likely to find yourself a little behind.\u201dCO\u2014 aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.<\/p>\n

CO\u2014is committed to helping you start, run and grow your small business. Learn more about the benefits of small business membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, here.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our newsletter, Midnight Oil<\/p>\n

Expert business advice, news, and trends, delivered weekly<\/p>\n

By signing up you agree to the CO\u2014
\n Privacy Policy. You can opt out anytime. <\/p>\n

Published June 15, 2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AI Cybersecurity Tips to Protect Your Small Business | CO https:\/\/www.uschamber.com\/co\/run\/technology\/ai-cybersecurity-small-business Publish Date: 2026-06-15 09:41:00…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":232009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/uschamber-co.imgix.net\/https%3A%2F%2Fs3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fco-assets%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fsmb-ai-cybersecurity.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=jpg&fp-x=0.4558&fp-y=0.3887&h=630&q=80&w=1200&s=a83c9cc05dcc2beb271ede52d2f19b0b","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[26,20,24,31,17,25],"class_list":["post-232008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cybersecurity","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-cybersecurity","tag-exploit","tag-llm","tag-phishing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232008"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232008"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232011,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232008\/revisions\/232011"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}