ARTIFICIAL intelligence is putting SMEs in the firing line of online criminals as automated attacks reshape the threat landscape, a leading north west cyber security expert has warned.
Robbie O’Brien, co-founder of Safe Harbour Security, says AI has tipped the balance decisively in favour of criminals, making smaller firms the softest targets in an increasingly automated cybercrime environment.
Having sold MetaCompliance in 2025 after building it to 350 staff and servicing enterprise and government clients, Mr O’Brien says small businesses are now the “softest targets” in what he describes as an increasingly automated threat landscape
“AI has lowered the skill barrier, increased scale, increased precision, and removed the human error that used to expose scams. It has effectively turned cybercrime into a mass-production system,” said Mr O’Brien.
He warns that cybercrime is no longer limited to highly skilled operators, nor does it require the time it once did.
“AI tools now enable organised groups to generate convincing phishing emails, impersonation fraud and ransomware campaigns at speed and at scale.
“We are facing adversaries who are better funded, better organised and more technologically enabled than ever before. For a small business, that is a very uneven fight.”
Mr O’Brien says many SMEs are facing that fight alone.
“The reality is that SMEs are on their own. Government agencies are stretched and can barely protect their own systems. Small businesses cannot assume someone else is going to step in.”
According to Mr O’Brien, many SMEs are still relying on outdated assumptions about what an attack looks like.
“There was a time, for example, when phishing emails stood out because the language was poor. AI has removed that weakness. The old advice to ‘just look carefully’ is no longer enough.”
The result is a constant stream of automated attempts targeting businesses of every size.
“The volume of automated attacks is increasing weekly. Many SMEs don’t realise they’ve already been targeted. Most only discover their vulnerabilities after an incident.”
For large organisations, breaches can be costly. For smaller firms, they can be fatal.
“For many SMEs, one successful attack is all it takes. Cashflow stops. Systems go down. Reputation is damaged. Cyber security isn’t a discretionary spend — it’s operational survival.”
Mr O’Brien is running seminars in Belfast and Derry to help local business leaders understand how the rules of cybercrime have changed — and what they can do about it.
Two briefings are being held – ‘Cyber Security For Dummies — The SME Survival Briefing Protecting your business in an age of automated attacks’ to provide SMEs with clarity.
The first will take place in Catalyst, The Innovation Centre, Bay Road, Derry on Tuesday, March 24. The second event will be held in Catalyst, Titanic Quarter, Belfast, on Thursday, March 26. Both events will take place from 10am to 10.45am.
Both sessions will include a light breakfast and refreshments and will focus on practical, actionable steps SMEs can take without requiring enterprise-level budgets or specialist in-house teams. Business saving tips will be delivered for free by Mr O’Brien and the Safe Harbour Security team, alongside a former black-hat hacker who now works as an ethical security specialist and who will demonstrate modern cyber attack techniques to look out for.