As cyber threats escalate globally, backup is no longer just insurance — it’s critical for business continuity. In the Middle East and Africa (MEA), 2026 has seen a surge in identity-based attacks, insider threats, and cloud misconfigurations, disproportionately affecting SMBs. Ransomware and extortion remain dominant threats: according to Microsoft’s Source EMEA 2025 report, the UAE ranked 9th globally and 2nd in MEA for customer impact, while Astra Security’s 2025 report shows that a ransomware attack occurs worldwide every 40 seconds, and over 60% of SMBs fail to fully recover, highlighting the urgent need for stronger backup and recovery capabilities.
Nearly 90% of SMBs were reported to be unprepared for a ransomware attack as they did not have the resources to prepare beforehand. What this means is that in the event of a cyber attack, most small to medium-sized companies simply do not have the means to respond effectively. This is why implementing a streamlined cyber resilient solution is necessary for businesses of all sizes.
How to select a suitable backup solution
For small and mid-sized companies with budget constraints and no dedicated IT admins, selecting the right data protection solution can be complex. Synology provides four key points for companies looking for a backup and recovery solution, keeping future data growth in mind.
- Easy to manage
As most SMBs lack large, specialized IT teams, they need to consider management and maintenance needs in the future. This will directly impact daily operations and reduce the chance of human errors causing security gaps.
- Optimized performance and efficiency
Ideally, the backups should be streamlined and not impact business operations. Essential business data should be backed up in the least amount of time possible while minimizing network bandwidth.
- Ransomware defense capabilities
Implement a multi-layered strategy that includes access controls, as well as two-factor authentication (2FA), multi-factor authentication (MFA), encrypted data transmission, and WORM (Write Once, Read Many) capabilities so that your data cannot be changed or deleted. Off-site backups are also recommended to defend against ransomware threats.
- Plan for future data growth
As a company evolves, you need a scalable and flexible data backup and recovery solution that comes with tiering abilities. This is to ensure that your data is automatically stored onto different media, depending on your data retention needs, cost requirements, as well as RTO. At the same time, IT teams are able to monitor and enforce backup policies from headquarters via a centralized management system. This ensures that cybersecurity and disaster recovery strategies are consistent across the board.
Synology offers a versatile range of backup solutions for businesses of all sizes, depending on their budget, data volume, and operational needs, to build a data management and protection strategy.
Why ActiveProtect is ideal for SMBs
Designed for simplicity, ActiveProtect offers a streamlined and secure approach to data protection, helping SMBs reduce IT complexity while ensuring reliable backup and rapid recovery.
- Streamlined deployment
ActiveProtect is a pre-configured, purpose-built backup appliance. During initial setup, no prior storage knowledge is needed. All you need is 10 minutes to set up your device quickly. This makes it perfect for meeting your backup needs even without a dedicated IT staff.
- Perform backups with speed
With source-side deduplication, redundant data is removed before being backed up. This boosts backup speeds, reduces data transmission traffic, and storage costs.
- Defend against ransomware
Leverage version-level immutability and automatic retention policies to reduce management times and meet compliance requirements. ActiveProtect also comes with support for role-based access controls as well as logical air-gaps to reduce complexity. View backup status, recovery, and more on a single pane of glass, and strengthen your security.
- Future-proof your data
With built-in tiering capabilities, companies can set up plans to automatically move cold data to lower-cost storage solutions. Centralized management is available so that even as your data grows, additional ActiveProtect appliances can be added without overhauling your entire data protection system.
With no end in sight for ransomware, ActiveProtect is recommended as it is a purpose-built backup appliance. This makes it perfect for small to mid-size businesses, as it ensures backup efficiency, has advanced security features, offers scalable storage options for future data needs, and can keep your business operations running smoothly at all times.