AI is making it easier for small and mid-sized businesses to get more done. Unfortunately, it’s also turbocharging cyberattacks. Do you have a plan to strengthen your security plan to counter AI emerging AI cybersecurity threats?
A September 2026 Kaspersky study of SMB cybersecurity found that 86% of SMB IT and IT security professionals surveyed said their organizations had experienced at least one cyber incident during the previous 12 months. Financial loss was the most commonly reported consequence, and 16% reported irrecoverable data loss.
For businesses around Indianapolis, this isn’t some far-off technology trend. AI is already changing cyberattacks and the security controls businesses need to protect themselves.
Drew Callard, President of Toucan Technology Group, hears those concerns every day in conversations with local business leaders. “I talk with business owners in Indianapolis, Carmel, Plainfield, and throughout Central Indiana about AI all the time,” Drew shared. “Most are asking the same questions: What can we safely use? What information is safe to put into AI? What does AI mean for cybersecurity? My advice is to use AI where it helps the business, but only allow company-approved tools, and train your people to protect customer and company data.” Drew continued, “You also have to train your team to be extra careful with phishing and scams, because AI can create emails, texts, and deepfake videos that look and sound like the real thing.”
That’s really the issue.
AI doesn’t require most SMBs to throw out their cybersecurity strategy and start over. But it does change where some of the biggest risks come from and how businesses should defend against them.
Now, let’s dive into 5 ways Greater Indianapolis SMBs should change their cybersecurity to combat today’s AI-driven threats.
5 Ways Greater Indianapolis SMBs Should Adapt Their Plans for AI Cybersecurity Threats
1. Protect Identities, Not Just the Network
AI makes phishing faster, more personalized, and more convincing. That makes stolen employee credentials even more valuable to attackers.
At the same time, the old security perimeter has disappeared. Employees work from laptops and phones, access Microsoft 365 from different locations, and sign into cloud and SaaS applications throughout the day.
An attacker may not need to “break into” your network at all. A stolen identity can be enough.
That’s why businesses need to put more security around who is accessing their systems, not just what’s trying to get through the firewall.
Start with multifactor authentication, eliminate shared accounts, and give employees only the access they need to perform their job functions. Sensitive accounts, particularly administrators, executives, finance, and HR, should have even stronger protection.
Businesses can also use Conditional Access to consider factors such as the user’s device, location, and level of risk before allowing access.
As AI-assisted phishing gets better, phishing-resistant authentication becomes even more crucial.
The idea is simple: a correct password shouldn’t automatically equal trust.
2. Train Employees for AI-Generated Scams
Remember when one of the easiest ways to spot phishing was terrible grammar?
That advice hasn’t aged well.
Generative AI can create a polished email in seconds. It can also tailor that message around a real company, employee, executive, customer, or vendor.
AI-generated voice and video raise the stakes further. An employee may receive a message that looks legitimate, followed by a phone call that sounds just like the person supposedly sending it.
That means cybersecurity training needs to shift from “spot the typo” to “verify the request.”
If someone unexpectedly asks an employee to change banking information, reset credentials, share confidential information, or send money, the question shouldn’t be whether the email looks legitimate.
The question should be: Can I independently verify this request?
That might mean calling a vendor using a phone number already on file, confirming a financial request through a second channel, or requiring another employee to approve unusual transactions.
AI is making impersonation easier. Businesses need to make verification stronger.
And this isn’t only an IT issue. Accounting, HR, operations, and leadership all have a role. For more tips and information, you can watch Drew’s videos on how AI is changing cyberattacks, AI’s impact on phishing scams, and an example of a recent deepfake attack.
3. Treat AI Cybersecurity as Part of Managed IT
AI cybersecurity can sound like an entirely new technology problem.
For most SMBs, it isn’t.
AI touches systems your business already depends on every day: Microsoft 365, employee identities, laptops, email, cloud applications, SaaS permissions, company data, backups, and security monitoring.
If those systems aren’t managed well, an AI policy won’t fix the underlying problem.
That’s why cybersecurity and managed IT services for Indianapolis businesses increasingly need to work together.
A good MSP shouldn’t simply fix computers when employees have problems. It should understand the business well enough to manage access, secure endpoints, monitor threats, maintain backups, and help leadership evaluate new technology—including AI—before it creates another unmanaged risk. New tools are arriving faster, employees are adopting them faster, and security policies have to keep up.
“We don’t believe in sitting around waiting for things to break. We’d rather stay busy keeping your IT running,” Drew shared. “Proactive security protection is a key part of defending against today’s AI-powered threats, and using a managed IT services provider ensures an expert is designing and updating your security systems as AI continues to evolve.”
4. Get Control of Shadow AI and Third-Party Apps
Here’s a scenario that’s already happening in organizations in the Greater Indianapolis area.
An employee discovers an AI tool that can save two hours of work. They create an account and paste in a spreadsheet, customer information, a contract, or an internal document.
They’re not trying to create a security problem.
They’re trying to get their work done quickly.
But where did that information just go?
That’s shadow AI—employees using AI applications without the company’s knowledge, approval, or security oversight.
IBM’s 2025 Cost of a Data Breach research found that 63% of breached organizations studied either lacked an AI governance policy or were still developing one. Organizations with high levels of shadow AI experienced breach costs averaging $670,000 more than organizations with little or no shadow AI.
The answer isn’t to ban AI.
The best approach is to give employees tools and rules they can follow. “You need policies that define which AI tools are approved and spell out that employees can only use approved tools,” Drew shared. “You also need to have policies on what company or customer information can and CANNOT be entered, and how employees can ask for approval for new AI tools.”
And don’t stop with AI.
SMBs increasingly depend on outside platforms for payroll, accounting, CRM, HR, file sharing, and other critical functions. According to Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report, third-party involvement appeared in 30% of breaches analyzed—twice the share reported the previous year.
AI is accelerating the adoption of still more cloud applications, integrations, and data connections. That makes knowing which applications have your data and who can access them increasingly important.
For businesses in Microsoft’s ecosystem, AI governance also overlaps with Copilot and Microsoft 365, so there are serious implications for identity and data protection. If you need help defining these policies, Toucan’s Microsoft managed services include Microsoft 365, Azure, and Copilot support and policy recommendations.
The goal isn’t to keep employees away from AI. It’s to help them use AI without giving away your customers’ or organization’s sensitive data.
5. Use AI to Defend Faster—and Be Ready to Recover
AI isn’t only helping attackers.
Modern cybersecurity tools use automation and AI to identify unusual activity, analyze threats, and respond faster than a person could on their own.
That’s important because cyberattacks don’t politely wait until Monday morning.
A suspicious login, compromised endpoint, or ransomware attack that starts Saturday night can do a lot of damage before anyone gets back to the office.
That’s why 24/7 cybersecurity monitoring and automated detection are becoming more important for SMBs. The goal is to spot suspicious behavior quickly enough to investigate or contain it before a small problem becomes a major one.
But even better detection doesn’t make any business invincible.
The other half of AI cybersecurity is resilience.
Ask a simple question:
If something does get through, how quickly can we get back to work?
Having backups isn’t enough. You have to test them regularly.
Having an incident-response plan isn’t enough. Practice it.
What happens if Microsoft 365 is compromised? If ransomware encrypts your files? If your accounting system goes down before payroll? If an AI-generated impersonation convinces someone to send money?
Who gets called? What gets shut down? How do employees communicate? Which systems have to come back first?
You’d rather discover holes in that plan during a 45-minute exercise than during an actual attack. If this feels like a lot of work on top of running your business, managed IT services might be a great approach for you. If you’re wondering how much Managed IT services cost in the Greater Indianapolis area, read this SMB managed IT services pricing guide.
What Should an Indianapolis SMB Do Next?
Don’t turn AI cybersecurity into 40 new projects.
Start with the changes that address the biggest risks that we have outlined above.
Protect employee identities with strong MFA and sensible access controls. Train people to critically review all emails, texts, calls, and contacts, and to verify unusual requests. Make sure your IT and cybersecurity are managed together. Establish clear rules for AI and third-party applications. And make sure somebody is monitoring threats while also testing how you’ll recover if something gets through.
For businesses without a large internal IT department, that’s where the right managed IT partner can make a significant difference by completely outsourcing your IT management or co-managing your IT.
Toucan provides managed IT services throughout Greater Indianapolis, combining day-to-day IT support with cybersecurity, Microsoft services, monitoring, backups, technology planning, local on-site support, and even includes incident response services.
Toucan’s No Extra Fee Guarantee is built around predictable monthly IT costs rather than turning every change, improvement, or support need into another unexpected bill.
That’s especially relevant as AI changes technology so quickly. Businesses need to be able to ask their IT partner questions, improve security, and adapt without wondering what the next invoice will look like.
Keep your people productive. Protect your information. Reduce downtime. Know how you’ll recover. And have people you trust managing the technology behind it.
If you’re not sure where your biggest IT, cybersecurity, or AI-related gaps are, book a free on-site assessment with Toucan Technology Group.
Common Questions About AI Cybersecurity for Indianapolis SMBs
Q: How is AI changing cybersecurity for small businesses?
A: AI makes phishing, impersonation, and social engineering attacks faster and more convincing. It can also help security tools detect suspicious activity and respond faster. SMBs should focus on identity protection, employee verification procedures, controlled AI use, continuous monitoring, and recovery planning.
Q: Should a small business ban employees from using AI?
A: Usually, clear governance is more practical and better for your business productivity than an outright ban. Decide which AI applications are approved, what information employees may enter, what data is prohibited, and who can approve new tools. Then train your employees accordingly.
Q: Can a managed IT provider help a small business secure AI?
A: Yes. AI cybersecurity overlaps with identity management, Microsoft 365, endpoint security, data protection, SaaS management, monitoring, and employee security—all core managed IT responsibilities.
Q: Why use a local Indianapolis managed IT provider for cybersecurity?
A: Cybersecurity is closely connected to the day-to-day IT environment. A local provider can combine remote monitoring and security with on-site support when networking, infrastructure, hardware, or an incident requires someone physically there. This also skips the long wait times for people to travel to your location when you DON’T use local support. Toucan provides remote and on-site managed IT support throughout the Greater Indianapolis area.
Q: What makes Toucan’s managed IT model different?
A: Toucan combines managed IT, cybersecurity, Microsoft services, strategic guidance, and local support under a predictable monthly model. Our No Extra Fee Guarantee is designed to eliminate the project fees and surprise invoices that accompany many other IT provider services. We form partnerships with our customers and genuinely look out for their best interests. Read our Google reviews and case studies to hear more about us in our customers’ own words.
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