RADICL Survey Reveals 38% of SMBs Supporting U.S. Defense Supply Chain Would Take a Week or More to Detect Cyber Threats Operating Within Their Environment

RADICL Defense’s 2025 Defense Industrial Base (DIB) Cybersecurity Maturity Report finds SMBs now rank cybersecurity as a top priority, yet many can take weeks to identify bad actors who evade protections

BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RADICL, a cybersecurity innovator on a mission to better secure small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) serving national defense and critical infrastructure, has released the findings from its second Defense Industrial Base (DIB) Cybersecurity Maturity Report. This year’s survey revealed that the majority (77%) of SMBs rate enhancing cybersecurity as a very high or high priority – a significant shift that underscores growing awareness across the DIB. The report examines three core areas: cybersecurity posture, outsourced service providers, and Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Program (CMMC) compliance.

“This year’s report shows encouraging momentum. More SMBs in the DIB are prioritizing cybersecurity, dedicating skilled staff to hardening the attack surface, and improving their defenses,” said Chris Petersen, co-founder and CEO of RADICL. “However, critical weaknesses remain. Many still take days to detect and respond to threats, leaving sensitive defense data exposed. At a time when foreign adversaries and nation states are escalating sophisticated cyberattacks, protecting small businesses is essential to safeguarding U.S. military readiness and the security of the entire defense supply chain.”

A survey of over 350 IT practitioners at SMBs in the DIB shows more organizations are prioritizing cybersecurity, yet major gaps remain.

SMBs overestimate their cybersecurity readiness

• 80% of respondents rate in-house security skill level as high – yet 38% would take a week or more to detect a threat and 54% say it would take two days or longer to respond.
• 47% had four or more of their endpoints compromised and four or more user accounts or emails compromised in the past year. 24% had 10+ accounts compromised!
  
  

Security skills gaps are driving outsourcing

• More than half of SMBs report low-to-medium effectiveness in key defense capabilities, including threat hunting (57%), threat investigation (56%), and threat monitoring (55%), underscoring the need for outside support against increasingly sophisticated attacks.
• 63% expect outsourced security budgets to grow, highlighting increasing reliance on third-party expertise to close skills and resource gaps.
  
  

Compliance remains a challenge

• Only 21% are fully compliant with CMMC Level 1 and just 17% with Level 2.
• While 16% more SMBs than last year say enhancing cybersecurity is a priority, and 13% more rate their posture as strong, most fall short of critical federal standards.
  
  

“When nearly a quarter of SMBs have more than ten accounts compromised, that’s not just a breach -it’s a prolonged presence in the environment,” said Petersen. “Many of these companies handle incredibly sensitive defense data, so we have to ask important questions like: who was in there, what did they extract, and are they still present??”

To view a full copy of the report, visit https://radicl.com/lp-dib-report

About RADICL Defense

RADICL is revolutionizing advanced cyberthreat protection for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the U.S. Defense Industrial Base (DIB) and other regulated industries. RADICL is ushering in a new era of turn-key and affordable cyberthreat protection via its AI-powered virtual SOC platform that allows human and digital agents to quickly and seamlessly become SMBs’ day-to-day compliance and security operations team. RADICL’s Cybersecurity-as-a-Service (CSaaS) offering uniquely combines CMMC and NIST compliance management with AI and expert-driven 24/7 security operations, deep-spectrum™ threat hunting, incident response, vulnerability management, and security awareness training. To learn more, visit www.RADICL.com

Media Contact Information
Isabelle Lewis
RADICL@matternow.com

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