Cyberthreats are moving faster than SMBs: Readiness must accelerate
ESET's SMB Cyber Readiness Index 2026 finds 73% of SMBs adopting AI while 40% lack AI policy, and reports 3,000+ malicious AI agent skills.
ESET argues AI is accelerating cyberthreats while expanding the attack surface: its SMB Cyber Readiness Index 2026 found 73% of SMBs integrating AI and 40% of businesses lacking a proper AI policy. ESET analyzed 900,000 AI agent skills across popular repositories between March and May 2026, finding over 25,000 suspicious and more than 3,000 malicious skills that exfiltrate data, execute malware, or abuse prompt injection. The piece also cites AI-assisted reconnaissance, exploit development, and social engineering, plus PromptSpy, an Android spyware abusing Google Gemini at runtime for persistence.
- 73% of SMBs integrate AI; 40% of businesses lack a proper AI policy
- ESET analyzed 900,000 AI agent skills; 25,000+ suspicious, 3,000+ malicious, some stealing data or injecting prompts
- Cites AI-assisted reconnaissance, exploit development, and social engineering as accelerating attack capabilities
- Mentions PromptSpy, first AI-powered Android spyware, abusing Google Gemini at runtime for persistence
- Products
- PromptSpy
- Malware
- PromptSpy
- Countries
- United KingdomUnited States
- AI models
- Google Gemini
From the original article
8 min read at welivesecurity.com
As AI adoption expands the attack surface and adds to the security workload, businesses need automation backed by experts
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