*That Time Brenda from HR Nearly Emailed Our Payroll Info to a Nigerian Prince *
We Were a “Small Business.” Hackers Wouldn’t Bother Us... Right?
Ah, the innocence of small business life.
When we launched our boutique agency, we were five people, two laptops, one French press, and exactly zero plans for cybersecurity. Our “IT strategy” was “Don’t click on weird stuff.” Solid, right?
Then came the day Brenda got an email from “our CEO” (spoiler: it wasn’t me) asking for all W-2 forms immediately. She almost sent them. I almost fainted.
That’s when we realized: we may be small, but hackers? They love small. Why? Because we’re usually under-protected, over-trusting, and too busy running a business to check if "google support" is legit.
Cybersecurity Culture Isn’t Just for Big Corporations
Cybersecurity is not a policy—it’s a mindset.
It’s not about having a Fort Knox-level firewall (though that helps), but about making security second nature. Like washing your hands after touching a gas pump. Or not eating sushi from a truck called “Bob’s Raw Fish Surprise.”
We had to build a cybersecurity culture from scratch. It was weirdly like teaching toddlers to clean up after themselves. Repetitive. Frustrating. Totally worth it.
Step One: Accept That Brenda Is Going to Click the Link
Your employees aren’t stupid. They’re just human.
They’re trying to meet deadlines and figure out who finished the last donut in the break room. So when an email pops up saying “Your Amazon package has been delayed—click here,” yeah… they might click.
Instead of shaming them, we started running phishing simulations. The first one? Half the team failed. But we laughed, we learned, and turned it into a trivia contest with coffee gift cards as prizes.
Gamify security, and suddenly everyone cares.
Step Two: Passwords Shouldn’t Look Like “Coffee123”
I used to think multi-factor authentication (MFA) was just for banks and spies. Now we use it for file storage, payroll, and even the company Spotify.
We banned weak passwords—no more birthdays, pet names, or “Password1.” We use a password manager. Yes, there was resistance.
I said, “You remember 16 digits of your best friend’s Wi-Fi, but not one secure password?” They got the point.
Step Three: The “It’s Just a Small File” Myth
One of my team members once sent me a ZIP file from a “vendor.” It had a virus. I spent my Saturday night restoring our shared drive.
Lesson learned: If it looks even slightly weird, don’t open it. Forward it to IT—or, in our case, Jeff, who also brews office kombucha but somehow knows everything about endpoint protection.
(Everyone needs a Jeff.)
Step Four: Train Like You Mean It
Annual PowerPoints with stock photos and monotone voiceovers don’t work.
What does work?
- Real-world examples
- Funny Slack reminders with memes
- Lunch-and-learns with local cybersecurity pros
One expert scared us just enough to care, but not enough to go full tinfoil hat.
Step Five: Lead by (Paranoid) Example
If you’re the boss, your attitude sets the tone.
I celebrated people who caught scams. I overshared stories like “That time my cousin clicked a fake FedEx link and lost access to her Etsy shop.”
It’s not about fear—it’s about transparency.
And it helps when you back that culture with real protection. We started using Kenoxis Antivirus to cover our endpoints, flag phishing attempts, and keep Brenda safe. Lightweight, effective, and built with small teams like ours in mind.
Conclusion
Creating a cybersecurity culture isn’t about perfection. It’s about progress.
It’s about caring enough to ask, “Does this seem off?” and making that okay.
You don’t need a $10K firewall. Start with awareness. Build habits. Empower your people.
We’re still a small team. We still drink too much coffee. But now? We think before we click, use MFA like it’s our job, and back each other up.
And Brenda? She’s our official Phishing Queen.
(She hasn’t fallen for a fake email in two years. I bought her a mug that says Trust No One.)
Top comments (1)
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