Cybersecurity That Fits a Small Business

Small businesses are targeted precisely because they are assumed to be unprotected. Attackers do not pick you out personally — automated tools find the open door and walk through it, and a twelve-person office is as reachable as a corporation.

The good news is that most successful attacks on businesses your size exploit basic gaps: no multi-factor authentication, unpatched systems, one person with an easily guessed password, staff who have never been shown what a convincing phishing email looks like. Closing those gaps is neither exotic nor expensive.

What we put in place

• Multi-factor authentication across email and every system that supports it — the single highest-value control available to a small business
• Managed endpoint detection and response that isolates a compromised machine instead of logging the event
• Email security to filter phishing, spoofing and malicious attachments. No filter catches everything, which is why the training below matters
• Patch discipline, because unpatched software is how most intrusions actually begin
• Access review — people accumulate permissions they no longer need, and old accounts stay live for years
• Staff awareness training, since the person clicking the link is the control that matters most
• Backup verification, because a tested backup materially changes your options after a ransomware incident

If you handle patient or client records

Dental and medical practices, law firms, accountants and insurance agencies carry obligations beyond ordinary prudence. We have hands-on experience with practice management systems including Dentrix and athenahealth, and with the security requirements that come with protected health information.

Where we have access to protected health information we execute a Business Associate Agreement, as HIPAA requires. It is worth asking any prospective provider whether they will do the same.

What we will not do

We try not to sell products by describing threats you do not face. Security spending should follow real risk, and for most small businesses the highest-value items are also among the cheapest. If your budget is limited, we will give you our view of the order to do things in.

Related services

Security works alongside managed IT services, backup and disaster recovery, and Microsoft 365 management.