Cybersecurity threats rise for SMEs and AI systems

Global cybersecurity trends indicate a rising threat to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A Kaspersky study reveals that 86% of SMEs faced at least one cybersecurity incident in the past year, with only 14% of companies with fewer than 500 employees avoiding such attacks. Common threats include phishing, software vulnerability exploitation, and unauthorized remote access.

In Colombia, ColCERT reported that 27 organizations were compromised in a global credential theft campaign. This incident exploited configuration vulnerabilities related to legacy key storage rather than software flaws, allowing attackers to bypass traditional alarms by using legitimate administrative permissions. Colombia was identified as having one of the highest numbers of exposed administrative interfaces globally.

Technological advancements are also introducing new attack vectors. Research from Cloudflare’s Cloudforce One highlights the emergence of indirect prompt injection (IDPI), where attackers use hidden instructions to deceive AI models into perceiving malicious code as legitimate. This shifts the target from human deception to the manipulation of AI decision-making processes. Experts emphasize that organizations must move from mere cybersecurity to cyber resilience, focusing on the ability to recover quickly from inevitable attacks through investments in both technology and human training.