Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity for Toledo and Northwest Ohio Businesses

Most small businesses are not breached by a genius. They are breached by a password that still worked somewhere else.

That matters, because it changes what is worth spending money on. The attacks that actually reach companies your size are ordinary, repeatable and largely preventable — and the controls that stop them are not exotic either. What they require is that somebody owns them and keeps them working.

A manufacturing technician reviewing a laptop on a walkway above an electronics production line
The systems worth protecting are rarely the glamorous ones. They are the ones the work stops without.

How it actually happens

Security sales tend to open with a frightening statistic. It is more useful to look at the handful of routes an attacker genuinely takes into a business of your size, and what has to be in place to close each one.

Where an attack gets stopped How it actually gets in What stops it there A password that still works somewhere else Enforced multi-factor authentication An email that looks exactly like your bank Mail filtering, plus trained staff Software nobody got round to patching Patching tested, then scheduled A program that should never have been allowed to run Application allow-listing Something already inside, moving quietly Managed detection and response
None of the right-hand column is something you buy once. Each one only works while somebody keeps it working.

Note that none of the right-hand column is a product you buy once. Multi-factor authentication only helps if it is enforced rather than offered. Patching only helps if someone tests updates before they go out, so an update doesn't take your line-of-business application down with it. Allow-listing only helps if someone maintains the list as the business changes.

What we put in place

We run layered security rather than depending on any single product, on the assumption that any one layer can fail:

  • Identity. Multi-factor authentication enforced on email and remote access, and account hygiene as people join, move and leave.
  • Endpoint protection and managed detection and response. Not just software that flags something, but a process for acting on what it flags.
  • Application allow-listing. Deciding what is permitted to run, rather than trying to recognise everything that shouldn't.
  • Mail filtering. The majority of attempts still arrive by email.
  • Patching, tested then scheduled — operating systems and supported applications.
  • Backups that get restore-tested, and kept where an attacker who reaches your network cannot reach them.

We will walk you through exactly what runs where. It is worth comparing line by line against any other quote you are holding — the differences between providers usually sit in this list, not in the price.

When something gets through

Assume at some point something will. What matters then is how quickly it is noticed and who actually picks up.

We monitor around the clock, and there is a person on the end of it outside business hours — not simply an alert queued until Monday. Where an incident is already underway we handle incident response and recovery: containing it, working out what was reached, getting you running again, and producing the account of events your insurer and your lawyer are going to ask for.

Finding out where you actually stand

Most businesses we talk to are not sure how exposed they are, which is a reasonable place to start from. We offer each of these separately from any ongoing agreement:

  • Security and risk assessment — what you have, what is missing, and what to fix first.
  • Vulnerability scanning — what is exposed and what is unpatched, as an ongoing measure rather than a one-off.
  • Penetration testing — someone actively attempting to get in, which is a different exercise from scanning and answers a different question.
  • Phishing simulation and user training — because the control with the worst track record is the one sitting at the keyboard, and training only counts if you can measure whether it worked.

Insurance and compliance

For many businesses the pressure now arrives from an insurer rather than from an attacker. The bar for cover has moved considerably, and the questionnaire is no longer a formality.

What cyber insurers now ask for What used to be enough What they ask for now Antivirus on every machine Multi-factor authentication on email and remote access A firewall at the door Round-the-clock monitoring with a human on the end of it Backups running overnight Backups that are tested, and kept out of reach A written security policy Evidence that staff training actually happened An annual reminder not to click things Control over which programs are allowed to run
If you cannot evidence the right-hand column, the questionnaire is where that becomes a problem — usually at renewal, occasionally at claim.

We help clients answer those questionnaires honestly — which sometimes means telling you that a control is not in place before you sign something saying it is. Answering inaccurately is the fastest way to find out a policy doesn't pay.

We also support HIPAA, CMMC and NIST 800-171, and PCI DSS. Each of those deserves more depth than this page gives it; our compliance overview and HIPAA page go further.

Start with an assessment

The first conversation is a scoping conversation, not a pitch. We will look at what you have, where the exposure actually is, and what is worth doing first — and if your current provider already has most of this covered, we will tell you that.

Call 419-419-5737 or send us a message and ask for a no-obligation security assessment.

Argyle IT Solutions · 28304 Cedar Park Blvd., Suite A, Perrysburg, OH 43551 · Serving Toledo, Perrysburg, Maumee, Sylvania, Bowling Green, Findlay and across Northwest Ohio, Northeast Indiana and Southeast Michigan.