By Tom Hermstad, CEO of HD Tech — We manage your tech so you can manage your business.
Because it’s no longer a tech problem—it’s a business-ending risk. A single breach can wipe out a quarter’s revenue, destroy client trust, and expose you to crippling fines. Cybersecurity is a core leadership responsibility, just like financial controls.
Focus on the fundamentals that stop over 90% of all attacks: Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), tested offline (immutable) backups, consistent software updates, and security awareness training (SAT) for employees. These are the “Big Four,” and they cost a fraction of a single hour of downtime.
Think like a risk manager. You don’t need to know how to configure a firewall. You need to ask your IT team or partner, “Are we protected, and can you prove it?” Your job is to demand accountability, clear policies, and proof of protection—not to understand the jargon.
The Executive's Guide to Cyber-Resilience The Threat Has Changed. Your Mindset Must, Too.
Let’s be blunt: Hackers don’t care how big you are. They care how easy you are.
Small and mid-sized companies are prime targets because you have valuable client data and handle significant payments but often lack a dedicated security team.
If your systems go down, payroll halts, orders stop, and clients start asking why they can’t trust you with their data. That’s not an IT issue. That’s a business continuity failure.
As I’ve told clients for 30 years: “It’s not if you get targeted, it’s when. Preparation is what separates victims from survivors.”
The 5 Non-Negotiable Security Pillars
As a leader, your job is to ensure these five pillars are in place and non-negotiable.
- Access Control (MFA) Passwords are stolen every day. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) stops these attacks. Your one-question-ask for your IT team: “Is MFA enforced on 100% of our email, remote access, and financial accounts?” Anything less than “yes” is a critical failure.
- Tested Data (Immutable) Backups Backups are your only way out of a ransomware attack. You need automated, encrypted backups that include an offline (air-gapped) copy. But a backup is useless until it’s restored. Your question: “When was our last successful restore test, and can I see the report?”
- System Patching & Updates Unpatched software is a wide-open, unlocked door for hackers. This is not optional. Your question: “Who is accountable for our patching schedule, and can I see the compliance report?”
- Employee Awareness & Culture Your biggest vulnerability is often a well-meaning but distracted employee. Your team needs short, regular training to spot phishing emails and fraudulent requests. This isn’t a “one-and-done” task; it’s a core part of your company’s defense.
- A Written Incident Response (IR) Plan When an incident happens, panic is the enemy. You need a simple, one-page playbook. Who do you call? What gets disconnected first? How do you communicate with clients? This plan must be documented and reviewed quarterly.
- The CFO’s View: Cybersecurity as Financial Control
A security budget isn’t an “IT expense”; it’s a non-negotiable risk mitigation strategy. The average breach now costs SMBs over $120,000 (IBM, 2024). That figure includes downtime, recovery fees, client loss, and potential fines.
Investing in proactive security:
- Reduces your financial exposure
- Lowers cyber insurance premiums
- Simplifies regulatory compliance
It’s the most effective insurance policy you can buy because it’s designed to prevent the loss in the first place.
The COO’s View: Cybersecurity as Operational Uptime
Downtime is the enemy of operations. Every hour your CRM, billing, or production systems are offline, your company is bleeding money. Teams sit idle, deadlines are missed, and client confidence evaporates.
Modern cybersecurity is, at its core, an uptime strategy. It ensures your critical workflows are secure, stable, and always available. At HD Tech, we build resilient systems that protect your productivity first.
How Leadership Builds a Security-First Culture
Your team follows your lead. When they see you take security seriously, they will too.
- Add “Security” as a standing 5-minute item in your leadership meetings.
- Hold teams accountable for security hygiene (e.g., locking screens, reporting phishing).
- Celebrate prevention. Publicly recognize employees who spot and report a phishing attempt.
- Partner with an IT provider who gives you a clear dashboard showing your protection status, not just a bill.
Why CEOs Nationwide Partner with HD Tech
30+ Years of Experience: We’ve been protecting U.S.-based SMBs since 1995.
Certified U.S.-Based Experts: Our team holds top certifications in Microsoft, Cisco, and CompTIA Security+.
24/7 Proactive Monitoring: We provide real-time alerts and active threat hunting, not “wait-and-see” support.
Client Review: “HD Tech has provided us with top-notch security solutions for over a decade, ensuring zero security breaches that affected our organization. Their proactive approach catches potential threats early, protecting our systems effectively. From procurement to installation and maintenance, HD Tech handles everything, including laptops, accounting software, servers, and networks.” — CEO, Software Firm
Our Core Belief: Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. We prepare you for the when, keeping your business safe, stable, and running.
Executive Action Plan: 5 Questions to Ask Your Team This Week
- Are 100% of our accounts protected with MFA?
- When was our last full restore test from backup (and can I see the proof)?
- Who is personally accountable for patching our systems, and are we 100% compliant?
- When was our last mandatory phishing/security training for all employees?
- Where is our written Incident Response Plan, and has it been tested this year?
If you can’t get an immediate, confident “yes” to all five, your business is exposed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Nearly half of all cyberattacks target SMBs. Attackers use automated tools to find the easiest victims. They’re betting you don’t have the budget or processes to stop them. Our job is to prove them wrong.
A good benchmark is 7-10% of your total IT budget. But think of it in terms of risk: what would one day of total downtime cost you in salaries, lost revenue, and reputation? The cost of prevention is always a fraction of the cost of recovery.
The CEO always owns the risk. The COO or top operations manager often owns the process. We provide “fractional CISO” (Chief Information Security Officer) services to bridge that exact gap, giving you executive-level strategy and accountability without the six-figure salary.
Partner with Orange County’s trusted cybersecurity experts. Proactive protection is the best defense against the financial and reputational costs of a cyber attack. Contact us today for your free, no-obligation security assessment.
H&D Technologies, LLC
322 Main Street, Suite 4
Seal Beach, CA 90740
