Trust has become the new attack surface for businesses in 2026, according to Richard Frost, Head of Technology Solutions and Consulting at Armata Cyber Security. Attackers are no longer forced to break through firewalls or exploit complex vulnerabilities; instead, they are being invited in through social engineering and simple human interactions. Frost notes that decades of security investment have focused on hardening perimeters, leaving the instinct that opens the door from the inside largely undefended.
People trust inherently, and modern phishing exploits that biological reliance. Attackers craft messages around psychological triggers rather than technical flaws. A person might know an email about an FNB account isn’t theirs, yet they open it out of curiosity. It might offer a preferential interest rate or a cost-effective sales pitch. That moment of hope is enough to bypass skepticism, leading the recipient to click a link that releases malware. The same vulnerability exists when someone opens an unexpected payslip or year-end bonus they were not promised.
Executives are not immune to these tactics. Leaders who are too busy to scrutinize every message can fall victim to highly targeted social engineering. An attacker can study a public LinkedIn profile to understand a CEO’s interests and schedule. With enough information, they can construct a believable message that opens doors within the company. Locking these professional profiles is becoming a necessary step to limit these initial entry points before an attack begins.
Related: Forminator Flaw Threatens Over 600,000 WordPress Sites
Voluntary security exposure
Businesses often hand over their own defenses voluntarily during client interactions. If a sales representative asks what antivirus and email security a company runs, the client might answer in full detail. A company running only entry-level Microsoft tiers for endpoints has just identified itself as a soft target in under ten minutes. Attackers no longer need passwords; they just need to know the shape of the fence to design an attack that can climb over it. The safest approach is to keep security specifics private until an NDA is signed.
Third-party service providers introduce additional risk because their systems are often less sophisticated than the enterprises they serve. A contractor who works for a contractor can accidentally send an infected invoice that spreads through the chain. The security team might not assess the third-party trench-digging company that worked for a fiber installation firm because they sit three or four degrees of separation from the network. This creates a blind spot that attackers can easily exploit.
Trust also creates physical vulnerabilities in the office. A receptionist might leave her desk to fetch a person a visitor claims to be meeting. The attacker then uses this time to insert a USB drive into the front desk computer. The receptionist did nothing wrong, but the environment is compromised before she returns. Politeness has become an exploit. Furthermore, the visitor register is a simple target; attackers can photograph the page to collect names and details, putting the business in breach of privacy laws.
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Protecting the business requires treating trust like a link in an email—something to be viewed with suspicion. This means implementing strict third-party governance that matches security controls to the supplier’s role, rather than applying enterprise standards to a milk delivery service. Beneath that layer, companies must prioritize endpoint and email security alongside rapid threat detection. Until security controls catch up with the sophistication of cybercrime, businesses must assume that every interaction carries a potential risk.
Armata Cyber Security recommends a holistic approach to closing these gaps. Organizations must verify the security posture of every vendor and limit data access based on necessity. When a supplier fails to meet basic hygiene standards, the contract should be terminated immediately. [1] Recent data highlights the danger of these gaps, as a Forminator flaw threatens over 600,000 WordPress sites, demonstrating how a single unpatched plugin can serve as a gateway for widespread compromise.
Regional markets are also feeling the impact of these digital threats. Financial hubs are seeing increased liquidity growth as institutions move assets to safer ground. [2] Nigeria markets see liquidity growth as investors seek stability in the face of global volatility. Frost suggests that these economic shifts reflect a broader move toward risk mitigation. Businesses that ignore the human element of security do so at their own peril.
