77% of Cyberattacks on Distributed Enterprises Spread to Other Locations, Systems, and Vendors

For brands with franchised locations, one corporate security mandate makes an attack three times more likely to stay where it started, according to new VikingCloud research

CHICAGO and DUBLIN, Sept. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Eighty-six percent of distributed enterprises experienced a cyberattack in the past 12 months, according to new research released today by VikingCloud, a cybersecurity and compliance company trusted by 4+ million business locations worldwide. Among those attacked, 77% say the attack spread beyond where it started: to other brand locations, corporate systems, or shared vendor relationships.

VikingCloud's 2026 Cyber Threat Landscape Report: The Distributed Enterprise Illusion found that among brands where independent franchisees operate some or most sites, attacks spread in 89% of cases where corporate sets no unified security standard, versus 64% where it mandates one. Yet, only 51% mandate one security standard across every location today. The other 49% operate with fragmentation: 33% give individual locations discretion in how they apply corporate guidelines, and 15% let each location set its own cybersecurity policy independently.

Despite the exposure, 83% of cybersecurity leaders describe themselves as confident or very confident in their organization's security posture.

"Distributed enterprises are among the most targeted and exposed organizations in the world," said Kevin Pierce, President and Chief Operating Officer at VikingCloud. "Each of their hundreds or thousands of locations is a way into the broader footprint. Leaders have tried to contain the blast radius by investing heavily in technology. But investment without enforcement leaves the gaps open. Strong governance narrows them and keeps one location's incident from becoming a brand-wide breach."

VikingCloud's research is based on a survey of cybersecurity and IT decision-makers at large multi-location brands with 5,000 or more employees and 500 or more locations across the United States and Europe, including supermarkets, quick service restaurants, and mass-market retail. It uncovered five realities for distributed enterprises today:

• Site-wide visibility is lacking. Forty-eight percent of respondents do not have real-time visibility across all locations. Forty percent admit they would likely miss an active threat at their least-monitored sites, and 5% say a breach could go undetected for days.
• New locations are an open door. Eighty percent of enterprises do not fully integrate a new location into central cybersecurity monitoring and enforcement before or on opening day. Forty-seven percent take more than a week, 18% take more than a month, and 3% take more than 90 days or have no mandatory protocol at all.
• Ransomware and AI-generated attacks are escalating. Eighty-eight percent say ransomware attacks originating at or spreading across individual locations have become more frequent, more severe, or both in the past 12 months. AI-generated phishing and deepfake attacks targeting location managers and frontline staff follow at 87%. Sixty-three percent say at least one location already received a deepfake or cloned-voice attack impersonating a corporate executive.
• The silence is deepening. Ninety-one percent admit at least one material cybersecurity incident in the past year never reached executive leadership or the board. Seventy-nine percent say multiple incidents went unreported, and 43% admit five or more. This is the third consecutive year VikingCloud research has found fear of professional repercussions (47%) driving that silence.
• The fallout can be severe. Forty-seven percent estimate a breach affecting a majority of their locations would cost $11 million or more; 22% say $101 million or higher. Respondents also cite loss of consumer confidence (40%), workforce reduction (36%), and location closures (36%) as the top impacts beyond the direct financial exposure..

Breaking the illusion requires more than technology.

Nearly all enterprises (98%) have a formal cybersecurity policy covering their location footprint, and the average organization has 5.6 of the 13 security technologies measured in VikingCloud's research—respondents plan to nearly double tech investment to 11 in the next 12 months. The most common additions are a next-generation firewall centrally managed across all locations (46%), a 24x7 Managed Detection & Response (MDR) service covering every location (46%), and third-party vendor risk monitoring covering suppliers with access to their systems (43%).

But technology without the right partners is a failing strategy. Only 33% outsource day-to-day security operations to a Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) today, but 38% plan to adopt an MSSP contract covering all locations within the next 12 months. When evaluating a partner, leaders rank a single platform with visibility across all cyber threats (45%), standardized security configurations across the footprint (42%), and always-on connectivity with automatic failover (36%) as what matters most.

"Distributed enterprises are making the right investments," Pierce said. "But a security program is only as strong as its weakest location. The most secure brands back their technology investments with security mandates and partners built to enforce them everywhere. That's what contains the blast radius."

Download the full 2026 Cyber Threat Landscape Report: The Distributed Enterprise Illusion.

About VikingCloud

VikingCloud delivers cybersecurity and compliance solutions that simply work. Our expert-led approach combines proven technology and AI-driven insights with dedicated support—keeping businesses secure, audit-ready, and uninterrupted. VikingCloud is trusted by over 4 million business locations in 70+ countries to stop threats before they stop business, so they can work on what matters most. For more information, visit www.vikingcloud.com and follow us at www.linkedin.com/company/vikingcloud/.