Top cybersecurity defence strategies for SME businesses in 2025

For businesses operating today, every click or swipe has the potential to open the door to a new cyber threat, and criminals aren’t fussy how they get their payday! Whether you’re a large multinational or an ambitious growing SME, you’re fair game in their eyes. Which is why strong cyber defences need to sit at the heart of every company’s IT system.

At Dragon IS, we have been supporting SMEs to address these challenges for over 15 years – including those within the legal and financial sectors, who remain a top target for criminals due to the high levels of valuable data they handle.

Our expert team ensures that such IT systems are designed with security, usability, and reliability at their core.  But it’s not just about having the right technology and processes in place. Given that employees and employee error represent the most common ways in for criminals, training and education must also form a core part of any cyber defences.

So, what are some of the key cyber defence strategies businesses are adopting in 2025 to minimise the risk?

 

Zero Trust Architecture

Never trust, always verify. That’s the principle behind zero trust architecture (ZTA).

With this model, employees are encouraged to assume all users and devices are untrustworthy. Even if it’s an email appearing to come from a colleague or known contact that is beyond the company firewall.

It’s a framework that assumes that anyone can be hacked, or email addresses and phone numbers spoofed, with no entity inherently trusted and all interactions verified continuously.

For example, if an email arrives from a line manager or even the CEO asking an employee to do something – a common current scam being a request for that staff member to buy vouchers for them – it must be verified as real before any action is taken.

ZTA also enforces strict identity verification for every person and device trying to access resources within the network, whether they are inside or outside of the network perimeter.

This model can help significantly reduce the risk of data breaches and insider threats. It can also help improve compliance, with many regulatory standards requiring rigorous access controls and monitoring. Plus, it supports a secure, modern workplace environment that is operating with remote workers and BYOD policies.

 

Key elements of ZTA include:

  • Continuous authentication: Users and devices must continuously authenticate their identity, something that often involves multi-factor authentication (MFA)

 

  • Micro-segmentation: The company network is segmented into smaller secure zones to help limit the movement of any ‘bad actors’ gaining access

 

  • Least privilege access: Users are only given the bare minimum level of access or permissions that are necessary for them to perform their job

 

  • Real-time monitoring: Constant monitoring of user activity is used to help detect unusual behaviour and identify potential threats early

 

Challenge-First Cybersecurity

A Challenge-First Cybersecurity Strategy is a proactive approach that focuses on identifying potential risks before they become problems, rather than just being reactive to attacks.

It follows these steps:

Risk Assessment: A risk assessment is conducted to pinpoint and evaluate potential risks and vulnerabilities, such as phishing, ransomware threats and insider attacks.

Prioritising: Instead of trying to fix everything all at once, with this approach the focus begins with the higher risk areas first. For example, securing customer data and preventing financial fraud.

Investing in measures: Tailored security measures are then implemented, such as advanced firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and employee training programmes, which are customised to the organisation and aim to block threats.

This strategy ensures that cybersecurity efforts are aligned with an organisation’s unique needs. While the approach has its advantages, it can sometimes overlook broader security measures that protect against unexpected threats and potentially leave gaps in lower priority areas.

 

Whole-House Approach to Cybersecurity

A Whole-House Approach to Cybersecurity means protecting every part of your business, just like you would secure all entry points to your home. Instead of focusing on just one area, this strategy ensures all systems, devices, and employees are safeguarded against cyber threats.

This approach can help strengthen defences and build a resilient organisational culture, where everyone contributes to security. It involves:

Employee training: Educating staff and raising awareness for new threats like phishing emails

Protection – Protecting all systems and devices with strong passwords and MFA, along with up-to-date security software, firewalls and encrypted Wi-Fi, to prevent unauthorised access

Responsibility: Ensuring all departments and employees are fully bought in to cybersecurity and understand their individual responsibilities

Improve: Regularly reviewing and updating policies, systems, and training to adapt to new threats.

 

Other strategies to think about….

 

AI-Driven Cyber Defence

While AI may present new challenges for cybersecurity it can also offer support.

AI has the potential to advance cybersecurity by providing enhanced threat detection and response capabilities, such as by helping to detect and respond to threats in real-time, analysing data for anomalies and monitoring for attacks.

By leveraging machine learning algorithms, AI systems can analyse vast amounts of data to identify patterns and spot potential security breaches. Real-time monitoring means any problems detected that may signify malicious activity, can be swiftly found and action can be taken, before they escalate.

AI-driven defence mechanisms also adapt over time, improving their accuracy and effectiveness as they learn from new threats and evolving attack vectors.

 

Cyber Resilience

Cyber resilience involves developing strategies to ensure that the organisation can withstand and recover from cyber threats effectively.  It focuses on recovery, including backup data and systems, incident response plans, and simulations.

This approach is about protecting a business from cyber threats while ensuring it can recover quickly, were an attack to happens. Instead of just focusing on prevention, cyber resilience helps businesses prepare, respond, and adapt to cyber risks. This includes maintaining robust backup systems that can restore critical data and operations in the case of a successful attack.

An incident response plan will outline the steps to be taken during and after a security breach, ensuring a coordinated and efficient reaction that minimises potential damage and disruption.

Regular simulations and drills can be run to help prepare staff for incidents, allowing them to practice and refine their response and actions, overall ensuring readiness and resilience against cyber attacks.

 

Supply Chain Security

This strategy aims to ensure that any third-party vendors are up to scratch when it comes to their own cybersecurity.

It focuses on the risk that a business could be negatively impacted, where a cyberattack to hit one of its suppliers. For example, were a successful hack on a supplier’s network to lead to sensitive information being stolen or systems accessed.

The connected nature of modern supply chains has introduced new challenges and vulnerabilities. Supply chain security focuses on establishing stringent cybersecurity requirements that all vendors must adhere to, along with regular assessments and audits to verify compliance. By enforcing high standards, organisations can reduce the risk and safeguard their operations from these types of threats, which will be outside of their direct control.

You can read more on this topic in our blog: Managing the supply chain cyber risk

 

In need of expert support?

As modern cyber threats evolve, so too must business cybersecurity strategies.

The strongest defence will always be a layered approach – one that combines technology and people, with intelligent security measures and system design backed by ongoing employee education and training.

At Dragon IS, we work with small and medium-sized businesses, assisting them with IT infrastructure and cybersecurity. For an informal discussion about your needs, please email info@dragon-is.com or call us on 0330 363 005.

 

 

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