What Attackers Are Planning for 2026 and How Dallas-Fort Worth Businesses Can Ruin It

Somewhere right now, cybercriminals are setting New Year’s resolutions too. They are not focused on self improvement or work life balance. They are reviewing what worked in 2025 and planning how to steal more in 2026.

And small businesses remain their favorite target.

Not because small businesses are careless.
Because they are busy.

Attackers count on distraction, speed, and overloaded teams. Here is their 2026 game plan and how to stop it.

 

Resolution 1: Phishing Emails That Look Completely Legitimate

The era of obvious scam emails is over. Modern phishing messages are written using AI and look professional, normal, and familiar.

Today’s phishing emails often:

  • Use real employee and vendor names
  • Match your company’s writing style
  • Reference invoices, files, or processes you actually use
  • Avoid urgency that feels suspicious

A modern phishing email might read like a routine vendor follow up, not a threat.

January is prime time for these attacks. Businesses are catching up after the holidays, onboarding staff, and moving fast.

How to counter it:

  • Train employees to verify requests involving money or credentials through a second channel
  • Use email security tools that flag impersonation attempts
  • Create a culture where verification is encouraged, not criticized

Resolution 2: Impersonating Your Vendors or Your Leadership Team

One of the most damaging scams involves impersonation.

A message arrives stating that a vendor has changed banking information. Or a text appears claiming to be from the CEO asking for an urgent payment.

Voice cloning scams are also increasing. Attackers can replicate voices using publicly available audio from podcasts, videos, or voicemail greetings.

This is no longer theoretical. It is already happening.

How to counter it:

  • Require phone verification for all banking or payment changes
  • Never move money based solely on email or text requests
  • Enforce multifactor authentication on all financial and administrative accounts

 

Resolution 3: Targeting Small Businesses More Aggressively Than Ever

Large enterprises improved security. Insurance requirements tightened. Regulations increased.

Attackers adapted.

Rather than one complex attack against a hardened enterprise, criminals now launch many smaller attacks against businesses without dedicated security teams.

Small businesses have money, valuable data, and fewer defenses.

The belief that a business is “too small to be targeted” is one of the most dangerous assumptions in cybersecurity.

How to counter it:

  • Implement basic security measures such as MFA, patching, and tested backups
  • Stop assuming size equals safety
  • Work with a professional IT partner to reduce exposure

 

Resolution 4: Exploiting New Employees and Tax Season Chaos

January brings new hires. New hires want to help. They do not yet know what requests are normal or suspicious.

Attackers know this.

They impersonate executives or HR staff and target new employees with urgent requests. At the same time, tax related scams increase. Fake W 2 requests and payroll phishing messages are common.

Once W 2 data is stolen, employee identities are compromised and fraudulent tax filings follow.

How to counter it:

  • Include security awareness in onboarding before email access is granted
  • Establish written policies such as never sending W 2s by email
  • Reward employees who verify requests rather than rushing

 

Prevention Always Beats Recovery

Businesses have two cybersecurity paths.

One path is reacting after an attack. Paying ransoms, hiring emergency help, notifying customers, and repairing reputations. This path is expensive, stressful, and disruptive.

The other path is prevention. Training teams, closing vulnerabilities, monitoring systems, and stopping attacks before damage occurs.

Prevention costs less and protects trust.

Just like fire extinguishers, security measures exist so you never have to use them.

 

How to Ruin a Cybercriminal’s 2026

A strong IT partner helps businesses stay off attacker target lists by:

  • Monitoring systems continuously
  • Enforcing access controls so one stolen password does not expose everything
  • Training employees on modern scams
  • Creating verification policies that block wire fraud
  • Maintaining and testing backups
  • Applying patches before vulnerabilities are exploited

This is fire prevention, not firefighting.