Maximizing Security for an SMB

Organizations can put a lot of money into cybersecurity protection. The truth is, even after having the best protection systems in place, sometimes virus intrusion may occur. An effective cybersecurity solution should provide tools for basic protection and detection and include an immediate response plan. Without a detection mechanism, users won’t even know an intrusion has happened, which can lead to a potentially significant loss of data. 

With some planning, selecting the right services, and partnering with an experienced managed services provider (MSP), you can maximize your cybersecurity budget.

Maximize Value

There isn’t a specific, fixed amount when it comes to a cybersecurity budget. To come up with a cybersecurity plan, you first need to identify the key areas that face risks, then select services that can protect them. An MSP will do an initial security assessment and work directly with you to develop a successful plan.

The typical cybersecurity budget of SMBs depends on the overall spend of an organization, often represented as a percentage of the IT budget. When working with an MSP, you have the option to bundle core security services for a price that is more affordable than if services were purchased individually, and the best part is, you get the experts to install and manage the solution. To give you an idea, our Enhanced Security Package for a company with 50 users might be around $1000 per month, and you get managed threat response, secure password manager, user awareness training, dark web monitoring, content filtering, policy management, and a breach response plan. There’s a lot of value in a single package!

Things You Can Do Right Now

There are several things you can do right now to increase cybersecurity for your organization, some of which require no technical experience. For example, ensure secure user passwords by drafting an official company policy and training users. 

You should also…

• Set up recurring backups for critical company data; don’t forget to test restoring your backups!
• Keep software and operating systems up to date with current patches
• Document and train users on current cybersecurity policies; just having a policy won’t guarantee compliance, so make sure you spend the time to adequately train and get the buy-in from all users

Along with these practices, do your best to come up with a breach response plan. Your plan should include details about what happens when a breach occurs–who does what and when, who needs notified, and how you’ll secure your systems from further damage.

We make this possible by offering a comprehensive cybersecurity package called the StepUP IT Enhanced Security Service. The plan bundles several services that organizations of all sizes and budgets will benefit from. 

StepUP IT Security Plan

StepUP IT Enhanced Security includes the following services:

Secure Password Manager

Passwords a common way that users get hacked. For many years, we have focused solely on creating passwords that are difficult for humans to remember, based on the premise that the more complex the password, the more difficult it is to be breached. What we need to do is create passwords that users can remember, but are difficult for computers and hackers to guess. The Secure Password Manager is great way to empower employees to take control of their passwords, alleviate some of the administrative and help desk burden for forgotten passwords, and ensure password policies are being followed.

User Awareness Training

The User Awareness Training educates employees on the popular tactics that hackers use to gain unauthorized access to a system. It allows employees to understand how phishing attacks work and the steps to prevent them. 

Fake attacks or phishing simulations are also conducted to find out if some users are still clicking on suspicious links. If a user clicks, we bring them back to the video training. This helps raise the user awareness across the organization to a point where they become cautious before clicking on a link. 

Dark Web Monitoring

Dark Web is where millions of hacked passwords and personal and confidential data is available for sale. We include dark web monitoring in the package to check if there has been a previous breach and whether the firm’s user credentials are available for sale. 

Internet Content Filtering

Sometimes, even after all the training, users may accidentally click on an unknown link. The Internet Content Filtering software uses advanced filtering mechanisms to restrict users from opening known malware or virus websites. There are millions of harmful sites and the content filter helps ensure they are not opened.

Security Policy Management Software

Many firms don’t have a secure password or cybersecurity policy. Our security policy management software makes it easy for firms to create a policy by using simple templates. A cybersecurity policy doesn’t take a lot of time or resources to create, but can increase the firm’s overall security posture.

Breach Response Plan

The first 24 hours following a cybersecurity attack are crucial. The Breach Response Plan is a playbook that includes the steps to be followed when a breach occurs. The response plan covers everything that needs to be done, from documentation requirements, securing and restoring data, notifying stakeholders, and more.