Small businesses are encountering a rapidly intensifying cyber threat landscape in 2025, with attacks that are more sophisticated, frequent, and damaging than ever. Below are the most prominent and emerging threats facing small businesses as of the second quarter of 2025, based on data and expert insight from recent sources. 1. AI-Driven Phishing and Social Engineering AI-powered phishing scams use generative AI to personalize emails, messages, voice calls, and even video deepfakes that convincingly mimic trusted contacts, greatly increasing the risk of credential theft or financial fraud. These attacks often target employees with convincing requests, sometimes using deepfake audio/video to impersonate executives, escalating the threat of Business Email Compromise (BEC) and financial scams. 2025 has seen a surge in multi-channel phishing, with attacks coming via email, SMS, and voice ("vishing"), bypassing traditional filtering tools and awareness defenses. 2. Ransomware-as-...