5 cybersecurity myths MSPs hear from clients

Every October, Cybersecurity Awareness Month serves as a reminder that knowing and doing are two very different things. Clients are hearing more about breaches, ransomware and AI-powered threats than ever before, but a set of persistent beliefs keeps many small businesses from taking their security posture seriously. We asked MSP owners to share what they wish their clients would stop saying. Here’s what they told us. 

1. “We’re too small. They don’t even know we exist.” 

According to Bob Jenner of The Network Doctor, this is the myth he and other MSPs encounter the most. Small and midsize businesses accounted for 63% of global data breaches in 2025 according to Forbes. Smaller organizations are sought out precisely because they’re easier to breach and still willing to pay to restore operations. 

“People still think that they are immune because it hasn’t happened yet, or they are too small, or have nothing of value, so they do not really understand how a cyber event can negatively affect them, and the real risk their organization is exposed to.” – Nathan Meese, Marketing Manager at Affiliated Resource Group 

2. “We don’t have an office or a server. What is there to hack?” 

Remote and hybrid work have fundamentally changed the attack surface, and many small businesses haven’t caught up. A company without a central office or on-premises server often assumes there’s little to protect. However, according to Jake Gump of Creative IT, there are two consistent gaps in security: a former employee who still has access and a security policy that hasn’t been reviewed.  

“The one I hear all the time from remote companies is ‘We don’t have an office or a server, so what is there to hack?’ A 40-person remote company has 40 offices. Each one runs on home Wi-Fi, and the company’s logins are spread across all of them.”— Jake Gump, Business Development Manager at Creative IT 

3. “We have nothing they would want.” 

This belief tends to focus on financial assets, but that’s not what most attackers are after. Client records, vendor contacts, employee data and access credentials all carry value. Exposure doesn’t have to benefit an attacker financially to damage a business significantly. 

“The truth is every business has something of value, whether they realize it or not. It may only be valuable to them, or it may be damaging if certain conversations or data get exposed externally, but both are reasons to protect what they have. In almost every case, the cost of prevention is significantly less than the cost of a breach.”— Brad Lassiter, CEO at LastTech 

4. “Antivirus is enough.” 

Antivirus alone is not a strategy in 2026. Modern attacks include AI-crafted phishing emails that are indistinguishable from legitimate messages, ransomware designed to evade signature-based detection and social engineering that targets people rather than systems. A client who believes antivirus covers them is working with a decades-old assumption. 

“AI is more pervasive than ever, and the bad guys are using AI to craft even more effective cyber-attacks specifically aimed at small business.” — Jenner 

5. “It hasn’t happened to us yet, so we must be fine.” 

Absence of an incident is not evidence of protection. It may be timing, or simply a posture that hasn’t been tested yet. Clients who’ve operated without incident tend to trust that what they’re doing is working. While the reasoning feels rational, it confuses luck with security, and without real security, they remain at risk of a breach.  

“Those who are forward-thinking or have experienced an incident, or have close friends who have, focus more on not wanting to experience a security breach or cyber-attack. They tend to be more open to addressing the core concerns and staying prepared with an incident response plan and regular employee training to minimize the effect if a breach were to happen.” — Meese 

The clients who take cybersecurity most seriously are often the ones who’ve already paid the costs of ignoring it. The goal of Cybersecurity Awareness Month is to help more businesses make that shift before an incident forces it. 

These conversations aren’t easy. Clients believe the cybersecurity myths, especially when they haven’t experienced an attack or breach firsthand. Pushing back works best when it comes from genuine concern rather than a sales pitch, and that kind of trust is built through ongoing cybersecurity conversations.  

For more information and to keep up with the latest topics in cybersecurity, such as The phony 60% cyberattack statistic refuses to die.