Welcome to The SME Security Brief, practical IT, cyber security and technology advice for Irish and UK businesses. No jargon. No scare tactics. Just what you need to know, every week.
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WHY THIS EXISTS
I have spent over 20 years working in IT across Irish and UK businesses. I have managed infrastructure, responded to incidents, sat in boardrooms explaining a variety of topics including breaches and how they happened or would happen if we don't do x or y, and spent countless hours helping small business owners understand risks that nobody had ever properly explained to them.
And the same conversation kept coming up.
"We're not big enough to be a target."
"We thought that was covered."
"Nobody ever told us we needed to do that."
That last one is the one that stayed with me.
The truth is, there is no shortage of cyber security advice out there. But almost all of it is written for large enterprises with dedicated IT teams, six-figure security budgets, and a CISO on speed dial. The SME owner trying to run a business while also figuring out whether their Microsoft 365 setup is secure enough? They are largely on their own.
I built this newsletter because I wanted a resource I could point people to and say: start here.
WHAT YOU WILL FIND HERE
Every issue covers three things:
A real threat — something that is actively affecting businesses like yours right now. Not theoretical. Not scaremongering. The kind of thing that lands in my inbox or on my desk and makes me think "people need to know about this."
A practical tip — one thing you can do this week, without needing a technical background, that will make your business meaningfully more secure.
A tool recommendation — software or a service that SMEs can actually use, at a price that makes sense for a business your size.
The whole thing takes about five minutes to read. That is by design.
WHO THIS IS FOR
If you run or manage an Irish or UK business with somewhere between 5 and 250 staff, this is for you.
You do not need to be technical. You do not need to understand how cyber attacks work at a deep level. You just need to understand the risks well enough to make smart decisions and ask the right questions.
Cyber security is not a technology problem. It is a business problem. The sooner SMEs treat it that way, the better protected they will be.
ONE THING I HAVE LEARNED
After 20 years in this industry, here is what I know for certain: most breaches are preventable. Not with expensive technology or complex processes, but with awareness, simple policies, and a culture where people feel comfortable asking questions.
That is what this newsletter is here to build.
I am glad you are here. Let's get started.
— The SME Security Brief