Are You Taking An Expensive Gamble With Your Company’s IT Security?
Take This Quick Quiz To Find Out:
Are you using just antivirus software to secure your network? Antivirus is nearly obsolete and useless as a stand-alone defense against the sophisticated ransomware attacks happening now.
Do you have VERIFIED daily backups of your data? Does your IT team conduct regular “fire drill” test restores to see if the backups are actually working? Do you even know if this is being done?
Can your IT company/team produce a formal, written, multistep process for securing your network and RECOVERING from a ransomware attack? Ask to see it; even if you don’t fully understand it, the “tell” is if they can’t produce it or make excuses and try to dismiss your request.
Are your employees’ workstations and devices truly LOCKED DOWN to prevent them from downloading files and accessing applications that can compromise your network? If not, you’re at HIGH RISK for having an employee accidentally invite a hacker in with just one mouse click.
Do you have a regular cybersecurity assessment done with a full report provided? No one should be complacent regarding their cybersecurity, especially during the turbulent times we live in today. Hackers will exploit any weakness they can find within in a network and you as the CEO should be engaging your IT company to provide reports of regular cybersecurity assessments and penetration tests done on your network instead of taking their word that everything is just “fine”.
If you cannot confidently say “Yes” to these questions, or if you don’t know the answers, this information is of critical importance to you.
In the past few months, we’ve seen the most aggressive uptick in ransomware attacks on small businesses in our lifetime. I’m sure you’ve already heard the recent news stories about big companies getting hit – but what you might not know is that small businesses are getting ransomed more frequently, and the attacks are getting more aggressive and costly.
Based on what we’re seeing, it’s not a matter of “if” but WHEN you’ll experience a cyber-attack.
I don’t mean to frighten you, but rather to EDUCATE you and offer help so you are able to minimize the cost, downtime and damages instead of being caught completely unprepared and suffering substantial losses – which is why I’m writing you today and extending this offer…
Our Free And Confidential Cyber Security Risk Assessment Will Give You The Answers You Want, The Certainty You Need
For a limited time, we are giving away a Free Cyber Security Risk Assessment to businesses in our area. This is confidential, entirely free and without obligation.
This assessment will provide verification from a qualified third party on whether or not your current IT provider or department is doing everything they should to keep your data and computer network SAFE from ransomware, hackers and cyber-attacks.
Here’s How It Works: We will have a brief, nontechnical conversation about your company’s IT security. We’ll ask you a few questions that you should easily be able to answer. Depending on what we discover, we can move to the next step, which is to conduct a quick, non-invasive, CONFIDENTIAL investigation of your computer network, backups and security protocols.
Your current IT company or team DOES NOT NEED TO KNOW we are conducting this assessment, or we can involve them. (The choice is yours, but we recommend NOT letting them know this inspection is happening so we can get a truer read of how secure you are. After all, the cybercriminals won’t tip you off that they’re about to hack you.)
Your time investment is minimal: 1 hour for the initial consultation and 90 minutes in the second meeting to go over what we discover. When this Risk Assessment is complete, here’s what you will know:
- If your IT systems and data are truly secured from hackers, cybercriminals, ransomware and even sabotage by rogue employees.
- If your current backup would allow you to be up and running again fast if ransomware locked all your files – 99% of the computer networks we’ve reviewed failed this test.
- If you and your employees’ login credentials are being sold on the dark web right now and what to do about it (I can practically guarantee they are due to recent hacks with 8.4 billion credentials being sold on the dark web. What we find will shock you).
If we find problems, we will tell you what they are and prepare a Security Action Plan, for free, on how to remediate the situation; and if you choose, we can assist you in its implementation.
After doing this for over 20 years, I can practically guarantee I will find significant and preventable security loopholes in your network and problems with your backups. Like Sherlock Holmes, we never fail. If nothing else, our Risk Assessment is an easy and cheap (free) way to get a valid third party to verify your security and give you peace of mind.
“We’re Fine…”
“Nobody Wants To Hack US…”
It’s natural to want to insist, “Not in MY company,” or think, “That won’t happen to us.” You may think because you’re small or don’t have “anything a hacker would want,” you’re immune to these attacks – but ransomware attacks are growing at an alarming rate, and it’s happening to small businesses that INSISTED it wouldn’t happen to them.
According to Cloudwards.net, 51% of businesses surveyed reported being hit by ransomware in 2020, and these last few years the numbers keep skyrocketing. Maybe you have already been hit and survived, which has left you feeling “safe.” But what you don’t realize is that you have identified yourself as a target THAT WILL PAY. It’s very likely they will come back to you, because to the hackers, you are a paying client – 68% of companies that have been hit WILL BE TARGETED AGAIN!
PenTest Magazine reported that the average business had to shell out $178,000 to a hacker group to get their data back – and that’s just for the ransom, NOT for the cost of downtime, emergency IT restoration costs, lost business, reputational damage and lost revenue from clients leaving and the enormous time and emotional toll it puts on you and your employees.
Yes, I’m Sure You Have An IT Company,
But Here’s How They Could Be Failing You
As a business owner myself, I understand that you have to delegate and trust, at some level, that your employees and vendors are doing the right thing – but it never hurts to validate that they are. Remember, it’s YOUR reputation, YOUR money, YOUR business that’s on the line. One mistake, one slip-up, even from a loyal and well-intentioned person, becomes YOUR nightmare.
How could they be failing to protect you?
The biggest reason is that they might not possess the expertise needed. Many IT pros know how to keep a computer network running but are completely out of their depth when it comes to dealing with the advanced cyber security threats we are RECENTLY seeing.
IMPORTANT: A little-known “secret” in the outsourced IT world is that many smaller IT shops don’t have the expertise or head count on staff to handle the sophisticated attacks going on. They won’t admit that to you, because NOBODY (particularly IT guys) likes to admit they are out of their depth.
Second, they may be “too busy” themselves to truly be proactive with your account – or maybe they don’t want to admit the security solutions they sold you have become OUTDATED and inadequate compared to far superior solutions available today.
If you talk to CEOs who have been hacked or compromised, all of them say they thought their IT team “had things covered.” That’s why you need a preemptive, independent risk assessment like the one I’m offering in this letter.
Why Free?
Two reasons. First, we want to do everything we can to protect other small business owners in our region against these cyber-scumbags who steal from honest, hardworking business owners like us without repercussions. WE have to stand together as Americans to stop this from happening.
Second, we would prize the opportunity to be your IT company. But we want to EARN your trust by demonstrating our expertise and providing value in advance. Again, I want to stress that this free Risk Assessment comes with no strings attached, no “hard sell” and no tricks.
Please…Do NOT Just Shrug This Off
(What To Do Now)
I know you are extremely busy and there is enormous temptation to discard this, shrug it off, worry about it “later” or dismiss it altogether. That is, undoubtedly, the easy choice…but the easy choice is rarely the RIGHT choice.
FREE Assessment
Request a free network assessment