We’re going to talk security today, and I want to level set with TechAisle’s latest analysis. In 2026, the landscape of security for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) will shift dramatically, as these companies transition from mere targets to central players in the security ecosystem. The article emphasizes ten critical predictions, including the rise of identity-based attacks where business email compromise will evolve into complex schemes utilizing deepfake technology. Additionally, the need for managed service providers (MSPs) to pivot toward co-managed security models is highlighted, as businesses increasingly seek to regain control over their own security measures.
Organizations are adopting zero-trust models due to rising low-quality AI-generated data, or “AI slop.” The spread of AI data threatens large language models’ reliability, with 84% of CIOs expecting more funding for generative AI in 2026.
Rogue artificial intelligence agents are increasingly recognized as a significant threat to managed service providers, accounting for 40% of insider cybersecurity threats, according to a report by Akati Sekurity. Non-human identities outnumber humans 144 to one in the average business—creating vulnerabilities most security services are not equipped to handle.
Akati’s CEO, Krishna Rajagopal, emphasized that while partners focus on securing large language models and server assessments, rogue AI agents pose a unique challenge that many managed service providers and managed security service providers are unprepared for.
Why do we care?
SMBs aren’t becoming more dangerous targets. They’re becoming active participants in security decisions because they don’t trust anyone else to hold the wheel alone anymore.
Deepfake-driven BEC isn’t just better phishing. It’s a collapse of identity certainty. When voice, video, and email can all lie convincingly, “verify the sender” stops working as advice.
Zero trust is shifting from network enforcement to data verification, because polluted AI inputs make traditional controls irrelevant.
And the rogue AI agent problem? That’s the quiet earthquake. Non-human identities with authority outnumber humans by two orders of magnitude.
Authority is not free. The moment an MSP accepts decision-making authority over AI, identity systems, or automated remediation, they are no longer selling tools—they are underwriting risk. That risk must be priced explicitly, limited contractually, or refused operationally. Bundling governance into “standard security” is not competitive pricing; it’s margin erosion disguised as convenience.
If MSPs do not explicitly define decision authority in writing, courts and insurers will infer it. And inference never favors the service provider. In the absence of clear boundaries, MSPs will be treated as the responsible operator—even when the failure originated in vendor AI, client misuse, or automated systems acting as designed.
Every AI agent with credentials is an insider. Every insider without accountability is a governance failure.
MSPs deploying or managing AI agents must answer three questions before activation:
Who authorized it? Who audits it? Who can terminate it instantly?
If those answers are unclear, the agent should not exist.
Co-managed security is not just a delivery model shift—it’s a signal that exclusive trust has failed. SMBs are reclaiming control because they no longer believe any single party can safely hold it alone. MSPs who treat co-managed security as a downgrade are misunderstanding why their clients stopped trusting single-party control in the first place.
Security isn’t failing because tools are weak. It’s failing because authority, accountability, and compensation are misaligned.
This entire episode boils down to one uncomfortable truth: security failures are no longer caused by missing tools—they’re caused by unclear authority.