🔒 Security Essentials™

Every day, attackers probe for weaknesses and vulnerabilities in software—flaws officially cataloged as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures). A CVE is simply a known security flaw that could be abused by an attacker. The worst type of vulnerability may lead to something called RCE, or ‘Remote Code Execution’. These critical vulnerabilities allow a remote attacker to take control of someone else’s computer. While this is a worst case scenario, many other vulnerabilities allow for different kinds of exploitation or let an attacker gain some type of advantage. Attackers often combine these vulnerabilities, along with other attack vectors, in order to gain control of a system and eventually the entire network.

Every day, our agent performs a full‑system sweep—covering your operating system, firmware/drivers, and all installed applications—to look for:

• New patches & updates
  As soon as a vendor releases a fix, we deploy it automatically, keeping your entire environment up to date without you lifting a finger. This step is not only critical for security – it helps keep your systems running smoothly as well!
• Emerging CVEs
  We track every new Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures entry and compare it against your software versions. If we detect a vulnerable release, we flag it for immediate patching.

By proactively hunting down and fixing known vulnerabilities, we make it much harder for attackers to achieve their goals — so you can focus on running your business, not chasing patches.

When most people hear the word “forensics,” they think of criminal investigations — and in many ways, what we do isn’t so different. We look for subtle, often-overlooked clues that your system may have already been compromised.

These clues, known as IOCs, include suspicious accounts, altered settings, unknown programs, unusual network connections, and more. Our process includes manually checking areas like:

• The operating system and installed services
• Registry entries (on Windows systems)
• Running processes and scheduled tasks
• User accounts and privilege changes

If we find evidence of compromise, we’ll remove the threat and remediate the issue whenever possible. For more complex cases, we’ll provide a clear summary and recommend next steps — with the option for our team to fully handle remediation for you.

It all starts with Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR)—software that watches your computers and servers for suspicious behavior, from stealthy memory‑only malware to unauthorized logins. But there’s a reason that EDR software isn’t as common as it should be – they need to be actively managed by actual cybersecurity experts. There are two main reasons that EDR needs to be managed by actual people: (1) They require constant (daily) management to ensure that they are actually set up correctly and are detecting the right things, and (2) They generate a ton of alerts that need to be triaged by someone who knows what they’re doing.

This is where Managed Detection & Response (MDR) comes in.

Rather than simply forwarding every alert to you with a generic playbook, our Fully Managed MDR takes full ownership of the incident lifecycle. When the SOC team spots a real threat, we:

• Investigate immediately, gathering context and understanding the scope of the issue.
• Contain and neutralize the threat whenever possible, so you don’t have to lift a finger.
• Deliver a clear report that explains what happened, how we fixed it, and simple steps to prevent a repeat.

Think of it as having a specialist cybersecurity SWAT team on call, ready to step in the moment danger appears, so you can focus on your business with complete peace of mind.

DNS (Domain Name System) is like the internet’s phonebook, translating human-readable domain names (e.g., example.com) into IP addresses that computers use to connect. The internet wouldn’t be easy to use if we had to remember IP addresses (like 8.8.8.8) instead of names!

DNS-based security tools can help small businesses protect themselves by monitoring and controlling DNS requests to prevent access to malicious sites. They can block phishing, ransomware, malware, or command-and-control (C2) communications by stopping DNS queries to known harmful domains.

For small businesses, DNS-based protection is a lightweight, cost-effective layer of defense that significantly reduces the risk of cyberattacks without requiring complex infrastructure.

Unpatched software is one of the top ways attackers break into systems. Every time a vulnerability is discovered and published, cybercriminals begin scanning the internet for systems that haven’t applied the fix. Small businesses are often easy targets—not because they’re careless, but because patching is more complicated than it looks.

Operating systems like Windows and macOS can update themselves, but most applications do not. Many programs only check for updates when you open them—so rarely used software may sit for months with multiple critical vulnerabilities, silently exposing your system to risk.

That’s why our service goes beyond basic OS updates. Using our remote management platform, we:

• Monitor new vulnerabilities (CVEs) across supported software
• Automatically deploy the latest security patches
• Support hundreds of the most common apps for Windows and macOS

This kind of proactive patching helps close security gaps, ensures compatibility with modern tools and protocols, and demonstrates due diligence to your customers and partners. It’s a quiet but crucial part of building a strong, reliable cybersecurity foundation.

Traditional security tools often treat each device as if it exists in a vacuum. But attackers rarely target just one computer—they move across systems, looking for weak points. That’s why Security Essentials includes network-aware threat detection for customers with more than one device.

By correlating activity across your enrolled devices, our team can detect patterns of suspicious behavior—like lateral movement, unusual logins, or coordinated attacks—that might otherwise fly under the radar.

This enhanced detection capability is part of what’s known as eXtended Detection and Response (XDR). And as our relationship with you grows, we can expand this protection even further—integrating with platforms like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace to detect threats across email, accounts, and cloud services too.

With the Security Essentials™, you’re not just protected device by device—you’re getting smarter, more unified defense that grows with your business.

As we set up your Security Essentials services, we’ll learn a lot about how your systems are configured—what software you use, how accounts are set up, and whether any red flags stand out.

Rather than keeping that insight to ourselves, we share what we see and help you fix what matters most. For example:

• If unnecessary administrator access is found, we’ll explain how the principle of least privilege helps reduce risk—without hurting productivity.
• If your password policy is weak, we’ll guide you toward using strong password practices and recommend password managers. We can even help you set up a free password manager!
• We’ll also perform basic hardening of your systems depending on your current settings and preferences.
• We may recommend follow-ups to address existing issues or to help you continue to improve your security posture.

This isn’t a formal training program—it’s practical, real-world coaching tailored to your systems and workflows.

We also offer ongoing, discounted coaching sessions for existing clients who want deeper help with things like policy development, incident response planning, or securing platforms like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace

Our goal is simple: empower you to make smart security decisions with confidence.