2026 Planning / 2026 Essentials
Keep the Security Basics in Your 2026 IT Plan
New AI projects should sit on top of maintained accounts, devices, and recovery controls.
NIST describes cybersecurity as continuous improvement because business systems and threats keep changing. Its small-business basics include MFA, strong passwords, protected backups, updates, and staff awareness. These foundations remain relevant when an organisation adopts AI; a new tool does not maintain the underlying environment for you.
What matters
- Assign owners to essential controls instead of treating them as one-off setup tasks.
- Review unsupported software, missing updates, and default credentials.
- Include staff education and recovery checks in the same recurring plan as technical maintenance.
Practical example: An office pairs a new AI pilot with a review of account protection and workstation updates before broad rollout.
One action today: Create a monthly review list with an owner and evidence for each essential control.