IT Myths: Security is too expensive for small businesses

2025-09-23

Small and mid-sized businesses often believe that proper security is out of reach. The myth goes: we don’t have the budget for enterprise-grade security, so we’ll just have to accept the risk.

That thinking is dangerous. The reality is that basic, affordable measures stop most threats. What’s expensive is the downtime, fines and reputational damage from not acting.

The problem

SMBs see headlines about big banks and tech firms spending millions on security and assume the same bar applies to them. So they:

Skip patching and backups because we’ll do it later.
Put off multi-factor authentication because it’s too much hassle.
Hope insurance will cover any losses.

Criminals know this. That’s why SMBs are prime targets — you’re easier to hit and often more willing to pay.

What good looks like

You don’t need a huge budget. You need discipline and a few non-negotiables:

Multi-factor authentication everywhere. Free or low-cost in most cloud services.
Regular patching. Automate it if you can; schedule it if you can’t.
Off-site, tested backups. Local copies get encrypted too.
Basic monitoring. Know what’s normal so you can spot what’s not.
Least privilege access. Staff only get what they need, nothing more.

Quick wins checklist

✅ MFA turned on for email, finance and admin accounts.
✅ Weekly patch cycle for servers, laptops and apps.
✅ Daily backups tested monthly for recovery.
✅ Anti-virus/EDR running and alerting.
✅ Clear process for staff to report anything suspicious.

Contract essentials with partners

Patch compliance reporting.
MFA enforced for all admin accounts.
Backup status visible to you, not just your provider.
Incident response times in hours, not days.

Common pitfalls

Believing insurance is a substitute for prevention.
Treating security as a one-off project, not ongoing hygiene.
Assuming your cloud provider covers everything.

FAQ

Isn’t MFA too much hassle for staff? Not compared to explaining a breach. Most adapt in a week.

Can’t we just rely on Microsoft/Google defaults? Defaults are better than nothing, but you need to check what’s actually turned on.

Do we really need backups if we’re in the cloud? Yes. Accidental deletions, insider mistakes and sync errors still happen.

Bottom line

Security isn’t expensive. Breaches are. For SMBs, the essentials are well within reach — cheaper than lost data, lost customers and lost trust.