---
title: "Security - Blogs on IT Support and Cybersecurity for Small Business"
description: "Stay informed with Coleman Technologies' blogs, featuring insights on cybersecurity for small business, managed services, and best IT practices. Read on!"
url: "https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security"
date: "2026-06-08T08:38:05+00:00"
language: "en-GB"
---
# Blogs on IT Support and Cybersecurity for Small Business
Insights on cybersecurity, AI, and IT strategy to help business leaders reduce risk, improve performance, and make better technology decisions.
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## [ Security ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security)
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## [Why Rigid Defenses Make Your Business Less Safe](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/why-rigid-defenses-make-your-business-less-safe)
Friday, 05 June 2026
[Darren Coleman](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
[Coleman Technologies Blog](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/blog) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/security)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/why-rigid-defenses-make-your-business-less-safe "Why Rigid Defenses Make Your Business Less Safe")
Most business owners assume that tighter security requires a slower user experience. They accept friction as the price of safety.
This mindset creates a dangerous paradox: when security is too difficult to use, your team becomes less secure. If logging in requires three different devices and ten minutes, employees will work around you. To eliminate this invisible productivity and security leak, you must remove friction.
Tags:
[Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security) [Productivity](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/productivity-1) [IT Support](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/it-support-1)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/why-rigid-defenses-make-your-business-less-safe)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/fredrick-valencia)
## [Session Hijacking and Token Theft Hitting Langley Businesses Bypass Your Login Entirely](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/session-hijacking-and-token-theft-hitting-langley-businesses)
Monday, 01 June 2026
[Fredrick Valencia](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/fredrick-valencia)
[Coleman Technologies Blog](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/blog) [Cybersecurity](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/cybersecurity)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/session-hijacking-and-token-theft-hitting-langley-businesses "Untitled-design-1")
Session hijacking and token theft hitting Langley businesses represents a serious and rising threat to small and medium-sized companies. Attackers no longer need your password or your multi-factor authentication code. They steal the digital proof that you already logged in, then walk straight into your accounts as if they were you.
Multi-factor authentication was supposed to be the answer to phishing. For nearly a decade, security teams treated it as the gold standard. Then attackers found a workaround that renders MFA useless for one critical window: after you have already authenticated.
## **What Session Tokens Are and Why Criminals Want Them**
When you log into Microsoft 365, your bank, or your CRM, the application issues you a small piece of data called a session token. Think of it as a digital wristband at a concert. Once you have it, you can move around freely without showing your ID again. Your browser stores it. The application trusts it. Nobody asks you to log in again until it expires.
That convenience is what attackers exploit. If they steal your wristband, the application has no way to tell the difference between you and them. They’re inside, with no password prompt, no MFA challenge, and no alert.
Session hijacking and token theft hitting Langley businesses works because the underlying technology was never designed with this threat in mind. Bearer tokens were built for usability, not for a world where criminals run industrial-scale phishing kits and credential-stealing malware.
## **The Scale of the Problem**
The numbers from the last twelve months should make every business owner stop and pay attention. This isn’t a niche threat affecting a handful of enterprises. It’s mainstream attacker behavior aimed at companies of every size.
- **Identity-based attacks accounted for 60 percent of all Cisco Talos Incident Response cases in 2024**, with attackers using valid credentials, session cookies, and API keys to gain access
- **84 percent of compromised accounts had MFA enabled**, according to Obsidian Security's 2025 SaaS Security Threat Report
- **88 percent of basic web application attacks involved stolen credentials**, according to the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report
- **Stolen credentials initiated 22 percent of all confirmed breaches**, the single largest initial access vector in the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report
- **Financially motivated threat groups used valid accounts for initial access in 69 percent of ransomware attacks** Cisco Talos responded to in 2024
These statistics share a common thread. MFA is being bypassed at scale, and small and medium-sized businesses are sitting in the middle of the target zone. Limited security budgets, fewer dedicated IT staff, and heavier reliance on cloud platforms like Microsoft 365 make smaller companies attractive targets for attackers who want easy wins.
## **How Criminals Steal Session Tokens**
Token theft is not science fiction. It happens through a small number of well-understood techniques, and attackers have automated nearly all of them.
### **Adversary-in-the-Middle Phishing**
A leading method involves a phishing kit acting as a transparent proxy between you and the real login page. You receive an email that looks legitimate, click the link, and land on what appears to be a Microsoft 365 sign-in screen. After you enter your username, password, and MFA code, the page passes everything to Microsoft in real time, completes the login, and then captures the session token Microsoft sends back. Both you and the attacker log in successfully. Microsoft's 2024 Digital Defense Report identified AiTM phishing and token theft as the attack categories most rapidly displacing traditional password-based attacks, even as Microsoft tracks over 600 million identity attack attempts every day across its customer base.
### **Infostealer Malware**
Some criminals skip phishing entirely. They infect computers with infostealer malware that quietly scrapes saved passwords, browser cookies, and session tokens from every application running on the machine. According to the Huntress 2025 Cyber Threat Report, infostealers accounted for nearly 24 percent of all observed incidents in 2024, making them the single largest threat category Huntress tracked across its endpoint base. Once tokens are harvested, attackers can sell them on dark web marketplaces or use them directly to access company accounts.
### **Malicious Browser Extensions**
A growing technique involves browser extensions that look harmless but read session tokens directly from browser storage. Users install them without reviewing the permissions, and the extension quietly exfiltrates tokens to an attacker-controlled server.
## **Why Multi-Factor Authentication Cannot Save You Alone**
MFA still works. It still blocks the vast majority of credential-stuffing attempts and basic phishing. The problem is that MFA only protects the login event. Once you complete the login, the session token takes over. Anyone holding that token has full access, regardless of how strong your password is or how many factors you used to authenticate.
This is why security professionals now describe the threat as a post-authentication problem. The attack happens after the security controls fire. By the time the attacker uses the stolen token, every alert you would expect to see has already been silenced because, from the application's perspective, you successfully logged in.
Session hijacking and token theft hitting Langley businesses tends to look completely normal in logs until the damage shows up. A finance employee opens a fake invoice email and authenticates through what looks like a Microsoft login page. Three hours later, a wire transfer goes out to a fraudulent vendor. The login event passes every check because it was a legitimate login. Behind it, the session belonged to the attacker.
## **What Small and Medium Businesses Across Langley Can Do**
Defending against session hijacking requires moving beyond password and MFA hygiene. Several specific controls have proven effective at either preventing token theft or detecting it before attackers can act on stolen sessions.
- **Deploy phishing-resistant MFA using FIDO2 or passkeys**, which bind authentication to specific devices and can’t be relayed through proxy phishing kits
- **Enforce conditional access policies** that check device compliance, location, and risk signals on every session, not just at login
- **Shorten session lifetimes** for sensitive applications so stolen tokens expire quickly and force re-authentication
- **Monitor for impossible travel and concurrent session anomalies**, where the same account appears active in two countries within minutes
- **Run endpoint detection and response tools** on every device that touches business data, including remote and personal devices used for work
A managed IT provider running a properly configured Microsoft 365 environment can implement these controls as part of a structured security program. The technical work is well-documented. What is missing in most small and medium businesses is someone with the time and expertise to do it.
## **The Role of Browser and Endpoint Security**
Browsers are where session tokens live, which makes browser security and endpoint protection the front line of defense. Outdated browsers, unmanaged personal devices, and missing patch cycles create the openings attackers need.
A 2025 study of mid-to-large enterprises by cybersecurity firms Hadrian and Passguard found that 64 percent had at least one infostealer infection that resulted in stolen data appearing on the dark web over the prior five years, with an average of 4.5 such infections per organization during 2024. The 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found that 46 percent of enterprise-linked devices found in infostealer credential logs were unmanaged machines holding both personal and business credentials. Every one of those infections represents tokens harvested from saved sessions.
Companies that allow employees to use personal laptops and phones for business email face the highest exposure. Without managed endpoint protection on those devices, your business has no visibility into what malware is running on them, what tokens are being scraped, or what credentials have already been stolen.
## **The Local Picture for Companies in the Fraser Valley**
Session hijacking and token theft hitting Langley businesses is not a future threat. It’s happening right now, across every industry your company likely competes in. Legal firms, accounting practices, construction companies, and real estate offices that rely on Microsoft 365 and other cloud platforms all share the same fundamental vulnerability: an authenticated session that can be stolen. Most never know they have been hit until money moves, a client complains, or a ransomware note appears.
The companies that survive this wave are the ones treating identity as the new perimeter. Passwords were the old gate. MFA reinforced it. Session security is the gate behind the gate, and attackers are already past the first two.
Businesses still running with default Microsoft 365 conditional access settings, no phishing-resistant MFA, no endpoint detection on personal devices, and no behavioral monitoring on session activity face significant exposure. Understanding where those gaps exist is the first step toward closing them.
## **Treating Identity as the New Security Perimeter**
Session security represents a fundamental shift in how businesses need to think about defense. For two decades, the security model assumed that strong authentication at the front door would keep attackers out. That model no longer reflects reality. Authentication is one moment in time. Sessions persist for hours or days, and that persistence is what attackers exploit.
Building defense around identity means assuming that any session token could be compromised and designing controls that catch abuse quickly. Continuous verification, short token lifetimes, device posture checks, and behavioral monitoring all serve the same purpose: limiting what an attacker can do with a stolen session before anyone notices.
The businesses making this shift are the ones least likely to wake up to a wire transfer fraud, a ransomware note, or a regulatory disclosure. Defending against the session hijacking and token theft hitting Langley businesses is well-understood work that a capable IT team can plan, prioritize, and execute methodically.
*Sources:*
- *Cisco Talos 2024 Year in Review*
- *Obsidian Security 2025 SaaS Security Threat Report*
- *Microsoft Digital Defense Report (2024)*
- *Verizon 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report*
- *Huntress 2025 Cyber Threat Report*
- *Hadrian and Passguard Infostealer Research (2025)*
Tags:
[Multi-factor Authentication](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/multi-factor-authentication) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/session-hijacking-and-token-theft-hitting-langley-businesses)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
## [Frustrated by Forgotten Passwords? Fret No More](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/frustrated-by-forgotten-passwords-fret-no-more)
Wednesday, 27 May 2026
[Darren Coleman](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
[Coleman Technologies Blog](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/blog) [Best practices](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/best-practices)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/frustrated-by-forgotten-passwords-fret-no-more "Frustrated by Forgotten Passwords? Fret No More")
How many passwords does anyone—you, your team, your family, your competitors—have to keep track of nowadays? According to research by password-management software NordPass, that number has actually decreased for the first time in years… their figures of 170 on average, 87 of which were business-related in 2024, shrank to 120 on average, 67 of which were work-related, earlier this year.
Granted, these figures were collected between April 4th and the 15th and included only 1509 users, so the statistical significance is questionable. Despite that, we can’t disagree with NordPass’ conclusion: more people are using password alternatives.
Tags:
[Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security) [User Tips](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/user-tips) [2FA](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/2fa)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/frustrated-by-forgotten-passwords-fret-no-more)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/fredrick-valencia)
## [Endpoint Protection for Surrey BC Business Owners: The Security Shift Your Competitors Already Made](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/endpoint-protection-for-surrey-bc-business-owners)
Monday, 25 May 2026
[Fredrick Valencia](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/fredrick-valencia)
[Coleman Technologies Blog](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/blog) [Managed IT](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/managed-it)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/endpoint-protection-for-surrey-bc-business-owners "endpoint")
Endpoint protection for Surrey BC business owners has changed more in the last three years than in the previous two decades. The antivirus software sitting on your computers right now was built to catch known threats by matching them against a list. The problem is that 82% of modern attacks no longer use the kinds of files that lists can catch.
Your competitors have already figured this out. Some of them have quietly upgraded. Others learned the hard way after a breach.
## **Why Traditional Antivirus Stopped Working**
For three decades, antivirus software did one job well. It scanned files, compared them to a database of known malware signatures, and quarantined matches. When attackers used predictable tools, this approach caught them.
That world is gone.
Modern attackers don’t need to drop a file on your computer to take it over. They log in with stolen credentials, use the legitimate tools already installed on your systems, and move through your network looking like a normal employee. CrowdStrike's most recent threat research found that 82% of detected attacks were malware-free, meaning no traditional malicious software was involved at any stage.
When 82% of attacks contain no malware to scan for, the entire foundation of traditional antivirus collapses.
## **What Surrey BC Business Owners Are Up Against**
The attackers targeting Surrey businesses now operate like efficient companies. They buy stolen passwords from credential marketplaces. They use voice phishing to trick employees. They install remote access tools that look identical to legitimate IT software. By the time anyone notices, the damage is already spreading.
Speed is the second piece of the problem. The average time from initial intrusion to lateral movement across a network is now 29 minutes. The fastest attack recorded moved through systems in 27 seconds.
Your antivirus runs scans on a schedule. Attackers do not.
### **The Small Business Target Problem**
Some owners still believe attackers focus on large enterprises with deeper pockets. The data tells a different story.
According to Verizon's most recent Data Breach Investigations Report:
- 88% of breaches involving small and medium businesses contained a ransomware component
- Only 39% of enterprise breaches included ransomware
- Third-party involvement in breaches doubled year over year to 30%
- Credential abuse accounts for 22% of all initial attack vectors
- Ransomware now appears in 44% of all confirmed breaches globally
Attackers prioritize victims with weaker defenses and slower response capabilities. That description fits most small and mid-sized businesses in Surrey, Langley, and across the Fraser Valley.
## **What Endpoint Protection Means Now**
Endpoint protection has become a category, not a product. The newer approach watches behavior on each device rather than scanning files for matches against a list.
When a process suddenly begins encrypting files at high speed, modern endpoint protection recognizes that pattern as ransomware behavior and stops it. When a user logs in from an unusual location and immediately tries to access financial systems they have never touched, the platform flags it. When an attacker uses a legitimate Windows tool in a way that legitimate administrators never do, the system raises an alert.
The shift is from detection by signature to detection by behavior. From reacting to known threats to recognizing suspicious activity in seconds. From static lists to active monitoring.
This matters because behavior is much harder for attackers to disguise than file identity. They can rename malware, repack it, and obfuscate it endlessly. They can’t easily change what their attack does once it executes.
### **Where Traditional Antivirus Still Has a Place**
Modern endpoint protection doesn’t replace every function of traditional antivirus. It absorbs them. The signature-based scanning your old software did is now one layer inside a larger detection system that also includes behavioral analysis, memory monitoring, network traffic inspection, and automated response.
Endpoint protection for Surrey BC business owners now means a layered system that watches everything happening on every device and acts within seconds when something looks wrong.
## **The Five Capabilities That Define Modern Endpoint Protection**
If you’re evaluating whether your current security software qualifies, look for these capabilities:
- Behavioral detection that identifies attacks based on what they do, not what they look like
- Automated isolation that disconnects a compromised device from the network within seconds
- Memory monitoring that catches attacks running entirely in RAM without touching the disk
- Rollback capability that can reverse changes made during a ransomware encryption attempt
- Continuous monitoring rather than scheduled scans that only catch threats hours after they execute
Software that doesn’t include these capabilities is functioning as traditional antivirus regardless of what the marketing claims. The label has been borrowed by many vendors. The capabilities have not always followed.
## **Why Cyber Insurance Carriers Now Demand This Shift**
Cyber insurance applications used to ask whether you had antivirus software. They now ask specific questions about endpoint detection capabilities, response times, and around-the-clock monitoring.
Insurers learned from claims data that traditional antivirus correlates with high payout costs. Endpoint protection with behavioral detection and automated response correlates with contained incidents and lower claims. Premiums and coverage availability now reflect that pattern.
If your business carries cyber insurance, your next renewal will almost certainly include questions your current security software can’t answer affirmatively. Surrey BC business owners renewing policies this year are finding that what was optional twelve months ago is now required for coverage.
## **What Happens When the Wrong Tool Faces the Right Attack**
A finance manager at a mid-sized Surrey company opens an email that appears to come from a known vendor. The attachment is a legitimate-looking PDF. There’s no malware inside it. Instead, the email leads her to a fake login page that captures her Microsoft 365 credentials.
Within minutes, an attacker logs in from another country using her credentials. Traditional antivirus sees nothing because no malicious file was downloaded. The attacker browses her email, identifies pending invoice payments, and sends a request to accounting asking to update banking information for the next payment.
The entire attack involved no malware, no virus signatures, and nothing the company's antivirus software was designed to catch.
Modern endpoint protection for Surrey BC business owners would have flagged the unusual login location, identified the behavioral anomalies in how the account was being used, and prompted intervention within minutes. The difference isn’t theoretical. It’s the difference between catching the attack and reading about it later.
## **How to Evaluate Your Current Endpoint Protection**
Most Surrey business owners can’t say with certainty whether their existing software qualifies as modern endpoint protection. Some questions cut through the marketing:
- Does your security platform detect attacks based on behavior, or only by matching known signatures?
- Can it automatically isolate a compromised device from the network without human intervention?
- Does someone monitor alerts around the clock, or do alerts queue up until the next business day?
- When was the last time your platform stopped a threat your IT provider can describe to you in plain language?
- Does it integrate with identity protection, email security, and cloud monitoring, or does it operate as a standalone tool?
If the answers are unclear, vague, or contradictory, your endpoint protection probably hasn’t made the shift the industry has.
## **The Operational Side: Around-the-Clock Monitoring Matters as Much as the Tool**
Even the best endpoint protection platform generates alerts that need human judgment. An automated system can isolate a device. Deciding whether the threat warrants notifying the business owner, contacting law enforcement, or beginning a forensic investigation requires people.
This is where the gap between buying endpoint protection software and being protected becomes visible. A platform with no one watching it overnight is a platform attackers will exploit overnight. The 29-minute average breakout time gives no margin for waiting until morning.
Surrey businesses working with managed IT providers that include round-the-clock Security Operations Center coverage benefit from both the technology and the response capability. The two are not separable.
## **What This Shift Costs Compared to What It Prevents**
Owners often ask whether the cost difference between traditional antivirus and modern endpoint protection is justified. The math has become hard to argue with.
Ransomware now appears in 88% of small business breaches according to Verizon. Recovery from a successful attack typically requires weeks of business disruption, customer notification, regulatory reporting, legal consultation, and rebuilding systems from backups that may or may not be complete.
Modern endpoint protection costs more per device per month than legacy antivirus. The cost difference across an entire small business is modest. The cost difference between catching an attack and recovering from one is enormous.
The shift is happening across Surrey and the Fraser Valley because the math eventually catches up with every business owner who studies it.
## **Making the Move**
The companies that have already made this shift did so for one of two reasons. Either they conducted a security review and recognized the gap before being attacked, or they experienced an incident their antivirus failed to prevent and rebuilt their security stack afterward.
The second path is significantly more expensive than the first.
Endpoint protection for Surrey BC business owners is no longer optional or cutting edge. It’s the baseline expectation for any business that depends on technology to operate, holds customer data, or carries cyber insurance. The competitors who already made the move are not advertising the fact. They’re simply harder to attack than the businesses that haven’t.
If you’re unsure where your current security stack falls on the spectrum from legacy antivirus to modern endpoint protection, that uncertainty is the answer. A 30-minute conversation with a qualified IT provider can map your current state against current threats and identify whether the gap is small or significant.
*Sources:*
- *CrowdStrike 2026 Global Threat Report, published February 24, 2026 (82% malware-free detections, 29-minute average breakout time, 27-second fastest breakout)*
- *Verizon 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report (88% SMB ransomware involvement, 39% enterprise ransomware involvement, 30% third-party involvement, 22% credential abuse, 44% of breaches involve ransomware)*
- *Verizon 2025 DBIR press release, published April 23, 2025 (third-party involvement doubled from 15% to 30%, ransomware up 37% year over year)*
Tags:
[Managed IT Services](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/managed-it-services) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/endpoint-protection-for-surrey-bc-business-owners)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
## [Immediate Software Patching Is Critical Now That AI is Uncovering Zero-Day Flaws](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/immediate-software-patching-is-critical-now-that-ai-is-uncovering-zero-day-flaws)
Monday, 25 May 2026
[Darren Coleman](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
[Coleman Technologies Blog](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/blog) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/security)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/immediate-software-patching-is-critical-now-that-ai-is-uncovering-zero-day-flaws "Immediate Software Patching Is Critical Now That AI is Uncovering Zero-Day Flaws")
Imagine hiring a security inspector to check your office building, and they hand you a report showing thousands of unlocked doors and windows you never even knew were there.
That's essentially what just happened to the tech world.
Tags:
[Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security) [Current Events](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/current-events) [AI](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/ai)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/immediate-software-patching-is-critical-now-that-ai-is-uncovering-zero-day-flaws)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
## [Why Basic Antivirus Won't Save Your Company from Ransomware](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/why-basic-antivirus-won-t-save-your-company-from-ransomware)
Tuesday, 26 May 2026
[Darren Coleman](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
[Newsletter](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/why-basic-antivirus-won-t-save-your-company-from-ransomware "Why Basic Antivirus Won't Save Your Company from Ransomware")
It is tempting to look at your monthly IT bill and wonder if you could be doing more with less. I see it all the time: a business owner tries to trim the overhead by simplifying their technology. Usually, that starts by letting go of a managed security plan in favor of a basic, off-the-shelf antivirus found online for a few dollars a month.
Tags:
[Technology](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/technology) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security) [Small Business](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/small-business)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/why-basic-antivirus-won-t-save-your-company-from-ransomware)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
## [The 3-Step Checklist to Protect Your Business](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/the-3-step-checklist-to-protect-your-business)
Thursday, 28 May 2026
[Darren Coleman](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
[Newsletter](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/the-3-step-checklist-to-protect-your-business "The 3-Step Checklist to Protect Your Business")
We’ve all been there. You’re in the middle of a proposal, or maybe you’re finally clearing out that mountain of unread emails, and a little notification slides into the corner of your screen. Updates are available for your computer.
You look at it, you look at your to-do list, and you click Remind Me Later. Then you do it again the next day. And the day after that. That **Remind Me** **Later** button is essentially a **Leave the Front Door Unlocked** button.
Tags:
[Software](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/software) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security) [Data](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/data)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/the-3-step-checklist-to-protect-your-business)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
## [How Outdated Technology Creates Employee Friction](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/how-outdated-technology-creates-employee-friction)
Saturday, 25 April 2026
[Darren Coleman](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
[Newsletter](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/how-outdated-technology-creates-employee-friction "How Outdated Technology Creates Employee Friction")
There is a dangerous phrase that often precedes a crisis: “...But it is still working fine.”
Viewing technology as a one-time purchase or a fix-it-when-it-breaks utility is a recipe for stagnation. If you are not consistently investing in your digital infrastructure, you are not just standing still; you are falling behind. This lack of movement creates a widening gap between your capabilities and the expectations of the people that depend on your business.
Tags:
[Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security) [Technology](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/technology) [Productivity](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/productivity-1)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/how-outdated-technology-creates-employee-friction)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
## [5 Business Technology Mistakes Costing You Time and Money](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/5-business-technology-mistakes-costing-you-time-and-money)
Thursday, 23 April 2026
[Darren Coleman](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
[Newsletter](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/5-business-technology-mistakes-costing-you-time-and-money "5 Business Technology Mistakes Costing You Time and Money")
Nowadays, technology isn't just a tool in the background, it is the heart of how you make money and serve customers. However, as things like AI and cloud storage become easier to buy, it also becomes easier to make expensive mistakes.
Here is a guide to the five biggest technology traps businesses are falling into right now and how you can stay safe.
Tags:
[Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security) [Technology](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/technology) [Cloud](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/cloud)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/5-business-technology-mistakes-costing-you-time-and-money)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
## [Your Guide to Strategic IT Management for Small Businesses](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/your-guide-to-strategic-it-management-for-small-businesses)
Tuesday, 28 April 2026
[Darren Coleman](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
[Newsletter](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/your-guide-to-strategic-it-management-for-small-businesses "Your Guide to Strategic IT Management for Small Businesses")
Most business owners view their IT the same way they view their utilities: they only notice it when the connection drops or a system fails. However, in an era where your digital infrastructure is the backbone of your entire operation, waiting for something to break before you address it is risky.
Tags:
[Small Business](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/small-business) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security) [IT Services](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/it-services)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/your-guide-to-strategic-it-management-for-small-businesses)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
## [How to Build a Solid IT Foundation for Small Business Growth](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/how-to-build-a-solid-it-foundation-for-small-business-growth)
Thursday, 30 April 2026
[Darren Coleman](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
[Newsletter](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/how-to-build-a-solid-it-foundation-for-small-business-growth "How to Build a Solid IT Foundation for Small Business Growth")
Running a small business is often romanticized as a scrappy adventure, a series of late nights and breakthroughs, but anyone actually in the trenches knows it’s more like trying to repair a plane while it’s hurtling through the air at thirty thousand feet than it is a pleasant stroll in the park.
Tags:
[Productivity](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/productivity-1) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security) [Small Business](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/small-business)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/newsletter-content/how-to-build-a-solid-it-foundation-for-small-business-growth)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/fredrick-valencia)
## [Network Segmentation for Fraser Valley Small Business Owners: The Security Layer Hackers Pray You Never Add](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/network-segmentation-for-fraser-valley-small-business-owners)
Wednesday, 20 May 2026
[Fredrick Valencia](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/fredrick-valencia)
[Coleman Technologies Blog](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/blog) [Network Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/network-security)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/network-segmentation-for-fraser-valley-small-business-owners "Network Segmentation for Fraser Valley Small Business Owners")
Most attacks don’t succeed because hackers are brilliant. They succeed because the network they break into has no internal walls. One compromised laptop reaches the file server. The file server reaches the backups. The backups reach the accounting system. Network segmentation for Fraser Valley small business owners is the architectural fix that turns a company-wide disaster into a contained incident on a single device.
If you run a business in Langley, Surrey, Abbotsford, or anywhere across the Lower Mainland, your network is probably flat. Every device talks to every other device. Guest WiFi sits on the same network as payroll software. The security camera reaches the domain controller. The office printer can ping the CEO's laptop. Attackers love this.
## **How Network Segmentation Works**
Network segmentation divides one big network into smaller, isolated zones. Each zone has its own access rules. Traffic between zones is controlled, inspected, or blocked entirely.
Think of it like a building. A flat network is a warehouse with no interior walls. Anyone through the front door can walk anywhere. A segmented network is an office with locked doors, keycard access, and cameras at every hallway. A break-in at reception doesn’t give the intruder access to the executive floor or the server room.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency describes segmentation as a physical or virtual architectural approach dividing a network into multiple segments, each providing additional security and control.
## **Why Flat Networks Are the Hacker's Best Friend**
When ransomware lands on a flat network, it doesn’t stop at the first device. It scans for everything reachable and encrypts as it goes. Within hours, an entire company can be down.
According to the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, ransomware appeared in 44% of all confirmed breaches, up from 32% the year before. For small and medium-sized businesses, that figure climbs to 88%, compared to 39% for large enterprises. Small businesses are getting hit harder because attackers know the defenses are thinner and the networks are flatter.
Here’s what makes flat networks so dangerous:
- **No internal barriers.** Once an attacker gets in anywhere, they can reach everything.
- **Single point of failure.** One compromised device equals total compromise.
- **No detection time.** Lateral movement happens fast, and flat networks offer nothing to slow it down.
- **Backup exposure.** If your backups sit on the same network as production, ransomware encrypts them too.
- **Compliance gaps.** Most regulatory frameworks now expect some form of segmentation.
## **The Anatomy of a Lateral Movement Attack**
The phrase to know is lateral movement. It’s the technique attackers use after they get inside. They land on one device, then move sideways across the network looking for higher-value targets.
A typical attack on a Fraser Valley small business unfolds like this. An employee clicks a phishing link. The laptop gets infected. The attacker uses stolen credentials to reach the file server, then the email system, harvests more credentials, finds the accounting software and customer database, and finally the backup server. Once backups are compromised, ransomware deploys everywhere at once.
The Verizon DBIR found credential abuse was the most common initial access vector, used in 22% of breaches, while exploited vulnerabilities accounted for 20%. Both methods rely on what happens after the initial foothold, and that’s almost always lateral movement.
In a flat network, this attack chain takes hours. In a segmented network, it stops at the first locked door. This is why network segmentation for Fraser Valley small business owners has shifted from an enterprise concern to a baseline requirement.
## **What Proper Segmentation Includes**
You don’t need an enterprise security budget to segment a network. You need a competent IT partner and a clear plan. Most Fraser Valley small businesses can implement meaningful segmentation in a few weeks using the firewall and switches they already own.
Here are the zones every small business should have:
- **Production zone.** Servers, business applications, accounting systems, customer databases. Locked down tight.
- **Employee zone.** Workstations and laptops. Filtered access to production, no direct access to backups or admin tools.
- **Guest WiFi zone.** Completely isolated from everything internal. Internet access only.
- **IoT and printer zone.** Cameras, smart devices, printers, copiers. No access to anything that matters.
- **Backup zone.** Air-gapped or heavily restricted. The last line of defense against ransomware.
- **Remote access zone.** VPN connections terminate here and pass through inspection before reaching anything else.
Each zone communicates with the others only through controlled paths, with rules that explicitly allow what is needed and deny everything else.
## **The Printer and Camera Problem**
Penetration testers almost always start with printers, cameras, and other connected devices. Why? These devices ship with default passwords, rarely get patched, and almost always sit on the same network as everything else.
A compromised printer in Langley is not a printer problem. It’s a beachhead. From that printer, an attacker can scan your network, identify your servers, and start hunting credentials. The printer isn’t the target. It’s the door.
The same goes for cameras, smart thermostats, conference room displays, and any device with a network connection. If it can talk to your servers, it can be used to attack your servers. Segmentation solves this by putting these devices on their own isolated zone.
## **Why This Matters More in the Fraser Valley**
Small businesses in British Columbia face a unique combination of pressures. Provincial privacy legislation under PIPA requires reasonable security measures for personal information. Federal compliance under PIPEDA adds another layer. Cyber insurance carriers now require documented segmentation before renewing policies or paying claims.
Manufacturing firms in Abbotsford, accounting practices in Surrey, law offices in Langley, and construction companies across the Fraser Valley all handle sensitive data that attracts attackers. The cost of a breach isn’t just the ransom. It’s the downtime, client notifications, regulatory reporting, lost contracts, and reputational damage that follows for years.
Segmentation doesn’t prevent every attack. Nothing does. What it does is contain the damage, and attacks will happen. That containment is what makes network segmentation for Fraser Valley small business owners the difference between a bad afternoon and a closed business.
## **The Cyber Insurance Connection**
If you carry cyber insurance, segmentation is no longer optional. Insurers have caught on: flat networks turn small incidents into catastrophic claims. Many carriers require evidence of segmentation as a condition of coverage. Some deny claims outright when the breach spread because the network was flat.
Cyber insurance applications now ask whether you separate critical systems from general workstations, whether guest WiFi is isolated from internal networks, whether backups are protected from production network access, whether you have implemented zero trust principles, and whether you can prove segmentation through documentation and testing.
Answering yes to these questions used to be a competitive advantage. Now it’s the baseline required to keep coverage.
## **Microsegmentation: The Next Level**
Traditional segmentation creates broad zones. Microsegmentation goes further, applying security policies at the individual workload or application level. Instead of separating departments, you separate individual servers, applications, and even users.
For most Fraser Valley small businesses, full microsegmentation is overkill. Traditional segmentation with five to seven well-designed zones delivers most of the practical defense at a fraction of the complexity. The goal is not to build the most sophisticated network in British Columbia. It’s to make it dramatically harder for an attacker to move from their initial foothold to anything that matters.
If your business handles health records, legal files, or financial information, microsegmentation around those specific systems is worth the additional investment.
## **What Implementation Involves**
A proper segmentation project follows a structured process. Your IT partner should map the current network completely before changing anything, including every device, application, data flow, and user access pattern.
From there, the work breaks into clear phases:
- **Discovery and mapping.** Document the current state of every device, application, and data flow.
- **Zone design.** Decide what belongs where based on risk and function.
- **Firewall and switch configuration.** Implement the rules that enforce the zones.
- **Testing.** Verify that legitimate traffic still works and unauthorized traffic is blocked.
- **Monitoring setup.** Configure alerts for any attempt to cross zone boundaries.
- **Documentation.** Record everything for compliance, insurance, and future reference.
Most projects take four to eight weeks for a small business with fewer than 50 employees. Disruption is minimal when handled properly. Most of the work happens behind the scenes. Done right, network segmentation for Fraser Valley small business owners becomes invisible to staff and impossible for attackers to ignore.
## **The Business Case Beyond Security**
Segmentation pays for itself in ways that go beyond breach prevention. Network performance often improves because broadcast traffic is contained within smaller zones. Troubleshooting becomes faster. Compliance audits go smoother because the architecture itself demonstrates due diligence.
For Fraser Valley businesses pursuing contracts with government agencies, financial institutions, or healthcare organizations, segmentation is often a prerequisite. Procurement questionnaires now include detailed questions about network architecture, and flat networks are a deal-breaker.
## **Where Most Companies Get Stuck**
The biggest barrier to segmentation isn’t cost or complexity. It’s inertia. Most networks grew organically over years. Devices were added wherever there was a free port. Applications landed on whatever server had capacity. The result is a tangle nobody fully understands.
This is where an experienced IT partner makes the difference. Untangling years of network sprawl requires patience, methodology, and the willingness to ask uncomfortable questions about why things were configured the way they were.
The companies that successfully segment aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets. They’re the ones who decided one more year of running flat was one year too many.
## **The Conversation to Schedule This Week**
Network segmentation for Fraser Valley small business owners is not a luxury, a future project, or a nice-to-have. It’s the security layer that determines whether a successful phishing attack becomes a minor incident or a company-killing event. The attackers know this. The insurers know this. The regulators know this. The people who often don’t are the ones whose networks are still flat.
If you haven’t had a serious conversation with your IT provider about segmentation, schedule it this week. Ask them to map your network. Ask where the zones are. Ask what happens when a device gets compromised. The answers will tell you where your business stands.
*Sources:*
- *Verizon 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report:[ ](https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/reports/dbir/)*
- *Verizon 2025 DBIR SMB Snapshot:[ ](https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/infographics/2025-dbir-smb-snapshot.pdf)*
- *Verizon Business 2025 DBIR Press Release:[ ](https://www.verizon.com/about/news/2025-data-breach-investigations-report)*
- *CISA Layering Network Security Through Segmentation:[ ](https://www.cisa.gov/resources-tools/resources/layering-network-security-through-segmentation-infographic)*
- *NIST SP 800-207 Zero Trust Architecture:[ ](https://www.nist.gov/publications/zero-trust-architecture)*
Tags:
[Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security) [Managed IT Services](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/managed-it-services)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/network-segmentation-for-fraser-valley-small-business-owners)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
## [Managed IT Services Stop IT Stress and Ensure Predictable Costs](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/managed-it-services-stop-it-stress-and-ensure-predictable-costs)
Monday, 18 May 2026
[Darren Coleman](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
[Coleman Technologies Blog](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/blog) [Best practices](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/best-practices)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/managed-it-services-stop-it-stress-and-ensure-predictable-costs "Managed IT Services Stop IT Stress and Ensure Predictable Costs")
How often do you find yourself sitting in your car, coffee in the cupholder, dreading going into your own business just because you know that there will be some number of IT challenges and issues that you will have to deal with?
This is completely understandable… unless you happen to be working with a managed service provider.
Tags:
[Managed Service](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/managed-service) [Business](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/business) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/managed-it-services-stop-it-stress-and-ensure-predictable-costs)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
## [The 2010 Antivirus vs. The 2026 Cyberthreat: Why Legacy Tools Fail](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/the-2010-antivirus-vs-the-2026-cyberthreat-why-legacy-tools-fail)
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
[Darren Coleman](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
[Coleman Technologies Blog](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/blog) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/security)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/the-2010-antivirus-vs-the-2026-cyberthreat-why-legacy-tools-fail "The 2010 Antivirus vs. The 2026 Cyberthreat: Why Legacy Tools Fail")
Traditional antivirus relies on a database of known threat signatures to identify malicious files. While this method was effective a decade ago, it is now dangerously reactive. Modern cybercrime utilizes automated tools to generate malware that alters its digital signature every few seconds. This means a threat can bypass security measures before a definition update is ever released to your network.
Tags:
[Ransomware](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/ransomware) [Hackers](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/hackers) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/the-2010-antivirus-vs-the-2026-cyberthreat-why-legacy-tools-fail)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
## [The New Era of Phishing: Don’t Trust Every Phone Call](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/the-new-era-of-phishing-don-t-trust-every-phone-call)
Monday, 11 May 2026
[Darren Coleman](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
[Coleman Technologies Blog](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/blog) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/security)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/the-new-era-of-phishing-don-t-trust-every-phone-call "The New Era of Phishing: Don’t Trust Every Phone Call")
For years, the gold standard for avoiding a scam was simple: if an email looked suspicious, you just picked up the phone to verify it. Unfortunately, that safety net is fraying. Cybercriminals are now leveraging AI voice cloning to turn a quick phone call into a sophisticated trap.
Tags:
[AI](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/ai) [Phishing](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/phishing) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/the-new-era-of-phishing-don-t-trust-every-phone-call)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/fredrick-valencia)
## [Privileged Access Management for Greater Vancouver Firms: The Keys to Your Kingdom Are in Too Many Hands](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/privileged-access-management-for-greater-vancouver-firms)
Thursday, 30 April 2026
[Fredrick Valencia](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/fredrick-valencia)
[Coleman Technologies Blog](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/blog) [Administrator](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/administrator)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/privileged-access-management-for-greater-vancouver-firms "coleman-admin")
Steal an employee's password and a hacker gets a piece of your business. Steal an admin password and they get everything. That distinction is why privileged access management for Greater Vancouver firms is the most important cybersecurity decision your business will make this year.
Most small and medium-sized businesses across the Lower Mainland have no idea who currently holds administrative rights, what those rights unlock, or how many of those accounts belong to people who left months ago. It’s the single most exploited weakness in modern cyberattacks, sitting inside your network right now.
## **What Privileged Access Means Inside Your Business**
A privileged account is any login that can do more than a regular user can. Admin rights to your network, the ability to install software, access to your email tenant's master settings, control over your accounting platform, or the password to your firewall. Anyone holding one of these accounts can change configurations, create new users, disable security tools, or copy entire databases without leaving the obvious trail a normal user would.
In a small business, these accounts multiply quietly. The IT vendor needed admin rights to set up a server. Your office manager got elevated access to handle vendor portals. A former employee was made a domain admin to fix a one-time problem and never had it revoked. A contractor from two years ago still has VPN access nobody disabled.
Each is a key to your kingdom. And right now, you almost certainly have more keys floating around than you realize.
## **Why Attackers Target Privileged Accounts First**
Cybercriminals are economically motivated, and stolen admin credentials are the highest-value target in every breach. The numbers from independent research aren’t subtle.
- According to the Verizon 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report, stolen credentials were the initial access vector in 22% of all breaches analyzed.
- 60% of all breaches involved a human element, including credential misuse and social engineering.
- Privilege misuse appeared in 12% of confirmed data breaches.
An attacker who steals a regular user's credentials gets a small piece of your business. An attacker who steals an admin's credentials gets all of it. This is the single threat that privileged access management for Greater Vancouver firms is built to neutralize.
## **The Privilege Creep Problem Hiding in Your Office**
In every business operating longer than three years, a phenomenon called privilege creep takes hold. An employee starts in one role with specific permissions. They move to a different role and gain new ones. Nobody removes the old ones. Five years later, that person has accumulated access to systems they no longer need, often including admin rights granted for a single project that was never revoked.
Multiply this by every employee, contractor, and vendor your business has worked with over the past decade.
When permissions accumulate without review, the line between a regular employee and an inadvertent insider threat blurs. An employee who never intended harm becomes a high-value target the moment their credentials are stolen, because attackers inherit every right that account has accumulated.
### **The Three Faces of Privilege Creep**
Privilege creep shows up in three predictable patterns inside small and medium-sized businesses across British Columbia.
- **Role transitions without cleanup**: Employees promoted or moved between departments keep old permissions while gaining new ones, creating accounts with excessive access.
- **Project-based grants that never expire**: Temporary admin rights given for a one-time project remain active years later because nobody scheduled the revocation.
- **Shared admin accounts**: Multiple staff use a single administrative login, making it impossible to know who did what or to revoke access when one person leaves.
Each pattern is a separate breach waiting to happen. Together, they describe the standard state of access in most Greater Vancouver businesses without formal privileged access management.
## **The Ghost Accounts You Forgot Existed**
Every employee, contractor, vendor, and consultant who has ever logged into your systems left behind a digital footprint. How many are still active?
Verizon's 2025 DBIR research found that the median daily percentage of credential stuffing attempts against single sign-on providers reached 19% of all authentication attempts, with small businesses facing 12%. If even one dormant admin account has a reused password floating in a breach database, it can be exploited the moment an attacker decides your business is worth ten minutes of effort.
Stale admin access is a problem in every business. The difference is that small and medium-sized businesses rarely have anyone whose actual job is to find and close these accounts before someone else does.
## **What Privileged Access Management Does to Shut This Down**
Privileged access management for Greater Vancouver firms is not one tool. It’s a discipline combining technology, policy, and ongoing review to answer four questions on a rolling basis. Who has elevated access? Why do they have it? When was it last verified? Is it being used appropriately?
Organizations applying just-in-time access, automated credential rotation, and centralized privilege management catch breach attempts faster and limit damage when one occurs. The IBM 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Report identifies credential-based attacks as among the costliest vectors organizations face.
### **Core Functions of a Real PAM Program**
A meaningful program addresses several functions that small and medium-sized businesses rarely handle on their own.
- **Discovery and inventory**: Identifying every privileged account across your network, cloud services, applications, and devices, including service accounts and forgotten admin logins.
- **Just-in-time access**: Granting elevated permissions only when needed, for a defined window, and automatically revoking them when the task is complete.
- **Session monitoring and logging**: Recording what privileged users actually do during elevated sessions, so anomalies can be detected and audited.
- **Credential vaulting**: Storing privileged passwords in an encrypted vault that rotates them automatically and prevents them from being shared in spreadsheets or shared mailboxes.
- **Multi-factor authentication on every privileged account**: Treating MFA as non-negotiable for any login with elevated rights, regardless of how inconvenient it feels.
Most Greater Vancouver businesses have implemented none of these. A small minority have implemented one or two. Almost none have implemented all five as a coordinated program.
## **The Co-Managed IT Reality for Small and Medium Businesses**
If your business has between five and one hundred employees, you can’t maintain a serious privileged access management program with internal staff alone. You don’t have a full-time identity engineer. Your IT person is busy keeping the office running. This is why privileged access management for Greater Vancouver firms is almost always delivered through a co-managed model.
The right managed services provider runs discovery on your environment, surfaces dormant and orphaned accounts, deploys MFA across every privileged login, implements just-in-time access for admin tasks, and puts session logging in place so you have a record of what privileged accounts are doing.
The IBM 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Report found that global breach costs declined 9% year over year, the first decline in five years, driven by faster breach containment powered by AI-driven defenses. Privileged access management is one of the highest-impact areas where this acceleration pays off, because privileged accounts are where attackers live longest before being detected.
## **What Greater Vancouver Firms Should Do This Quarter**
You don’t need to solve everything at once. Start with concrete actions that move your business out of the highest-risk zone.
- **Get an inventory**: Demand a complete list of every account in your business with administrative rights, including in your email platform, your accounting system, your network equipment, your cloud services, and any line-of-business applications.
- **Identify the dormant accounts**: Go through that list and mark every account belonging to a former employee, finished contractor, or completed project. Disable them immediately.
- **Enforce MFA on every remaining privileged account**: No exceptions. Not for the owner, not for the IT vendor, not for the bookkeeper.
- **Review who actually needs admin rights**: For every active privileged account, ask whether the person needs that level of access for their current role. If not, downgrade to standard user rights.
- **Establish a quarterly review**: Privileged access is not a one-time cleanup. Schedule a formal review every ninety days and treat it as a board-level item.
Privileged access management for Greater Vancouver firms is not a technical detail to delegate downward. It’s a governance issue. Your business survives or fails on whether the right people have the right access to the right systems, and whether you can prove it.
## **The Cost of Doing Nothing**
The most expensive position is the one most Greater Vancouver businesses currently occupy. Privileged accounts exist in numbers nobody has counted, held by people nobody has reviewed, protected by passwords nobody has rotated. The Verizon 2025 DBIR confirmed that ransomware appeared in 44% of breaches analyzed, with stolen credentials as the dominant initial access vector.
When that breach happens, the question your insurance provider, your customers, and your regulators will ask is the same. Who had access to this system, and how did they get it? If you can’t answer that with confidence today, you can’t answer it during a crisis either.
The keys to your kingdom are in too many hands. Getting them back into the right hands is not glamorous, and it’s not optional. It’s the single most leveraged cybersecurity decision available to a small or medium-sized business in the Lower Mainland right now.
Coleman Technologies works with Greater Vancouver firms to implement privileged access management as part of a fully managed IT department model. Predictable pricing, complete ownership, and 24/7/365 support that treats your access controls the way an attacker would: as the most valuable thing in your business.
*Sources:*
- *Verizon 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report (full PDF):[ ](https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/T16f/reports/2025-dbir-data-breach-investigations-report.pdf). Verifies 22% stolen credentials initial access (p. 21), 60% human element (p. 20), 12% privilege misuse (cover graphic), and 44% ransomware (p. 10).*
- *Verizon 2025 DBIR Credential Stuffing Research:[ ](https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/articles/credential-stuffing-attacks-2025-dbir-research/). Verifies 19% median daily credential stuffing rate and 12% rate at small businesses.*
- *IBM 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Report (Think analysis):[ ](https://www.ibm.com/think/x-force/2025-cost-of-a-data-breach-navigating-ai). Verifies 9% global breach cost decline driven by AI-powered defenses.*
- *Verizon 2025 DBIR Press Release:[ ](https://www.verizon.com/about/news/2025-data-breach-investigations-report-emea). Supplementary verification of ransomware and third-party involvement figures.*
Tags:
[Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security) [Multi-factor Authentication](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/multi-factor-authentication) [Managed IT Services](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/managed-it-services)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/privileged-access-management-for-greater-vancouver-firms)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
## [Secure Your SMB Data with Mobile Device Management](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/secure-your-smb-data-with-mobile-device-management)
Monday, 27 April 2026
[Darren Coleman](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
[Coleman Technologies Blog](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/blog) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/security)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/secure-your-smb-data-with-mobile-device-management "Secure Your SMB Data with Mobile Device Management")
It’s almost impossible to find a workplace these days where mobile devices aren’t part of the furniture. We use them for everything from checking email between meetings to approving contracts while waiting for a latte. When done right, giving your team the ability to work from anywhere is a massive win for productivity.
Tags:
[Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security) [Best Practices](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/best-practices) [Mobile Device](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/mobile-device)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/secure-your-smb-data-with-mobile-device-management)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
## [A Simple Guide to the Three Pillars of Cybersecurity](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/a-simple-guide-to-the-three-pillars-of-cybersecurity)
Friday, 24 April 2026
[Darren Coleman](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
[Coleman Technologies Blog](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/blog) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/security)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/a-simple-guide-to-the-three-pillars-of-cybersecurity "A Simple Guide to the Three Pillars of Cybersecurity")
Cybersecurity can often feel like a complex web of buzzwords, but professionals actually rely on a simple framework called the CIA Triad to stay safe. This doesn't refer to the intelligence agency; instead, it stands for Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability. You can think of these three pillars as the locks, the reinforced walls, and the key to the vault. If any one of these pillars fails, the entire system is at risk.
Tags:
[Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security) [Computer](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/computer) [Network Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/network-security)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/a-simple-guide-to-the-three-pillars-of-cybersecurity)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/fredrick-valencia)
## [Office Printer and Copier Security for Burnaby Businesses: Why Penetration Testers Always Start With Your Copier](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/office-printer-and-copier-security-for-burnaby-businesses)
Thursday, 23 April 2026
[Fredrick Valencia](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/fredrick-valencia)
[Coleman Technologies Blog](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/blog) [Cybersecurity](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/cybersecurity)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/office-printer-and-copier-security-for-burnaby-businesses "ColemanPrinter")
Ask any ethical hacker what device they target first when breaking into a company network, and the answer surprises most executives. It’s not the CFO's laptop. It’s not the server room. It’s the multifunction copier sitting in the hallway. Office printer and copier security for Burnaby businesses has quietly become one of the most exploitable weak points in corporate networks, and the people paid to find vulnerabilities know it.
## **The Forgotten Computer Every Office Owns**
Modern copiers are not the analog machines of the 1990s. They’re full Linux-based computers with processors, storage drives, network connections, email capabilities, and the ability to scan documents directly to cloud services. They sit on the same network as your accounting software and your client files, yet they rarely appear on an IT security audit checklist.
According to Quocirca's Print Security Landscape 2024 report, 67% of organizations experienced data losses due to unsecured printing practices in the past year, up from 61% the year before. That number jumps to 70% for mid-market companies, which maps directly to the kind of businesses that dominate the Burnaby economy. The problem is getting worse, not better.
This weakness is often treated as an IT afterthought, bundled into a copier lease and forgotten the moment the machine is installed. That oversight is exactly what penetration testers exploit during a test, and it’s what real attackers exploit when no one is watching.
## **Why the Copier Is the First Door a Hacker Knocks On**
A penetration tester is a security professional hired to simulate an attack on a company's network. Their job is to find the fastest, quietest path to sensitive data. When a pen tester walks into an office with a laptop and a few hours to spare, the networked copier is almost always their opening move.
The reasons are strategic, not accidental:
- Copiers run on default administrator credentials that are freely documented online
- Firmware is rarely patched, with HP Wolf Security reporting that only 36% of IT teams apply printer firmware updates promptly
- Most copiers are connected directly to the internal network with no segmentation or monitoring
- They store scanned, printed, faxed, and emailed documents on internal hard drives
- They often have access to email servers, file shares, and cloud storage accounts
Once a tester gains access to the copier's admin panel, they can extract stored documents, harvest email credentials used for scan-to-email functions, and pivot deeper into the network. A single compromised copier frequently gives an attacker a map of the entire business.
## **The Hard Drive Problem Every Office Ignores**
Almost every commercial copier built in the past fifteen years contains an internal hard drive. That drive caches every scan, every fax, every print job, and every email attachment that passes through the machine. Confidential contracts, tax returns, payroll runs, legal documents, financial statements, and HR files all live in the copier's memory until they are overwritten or wiped.
When a lease ends, most businesses simply hand the copier back to the dealer. Very few request a certified data wipe or a destroyed drive certificate. That leased copier then gets refurbished, resold, and shipped to another buyer, hard drive and all. Security researchers have purchased used copiers off secondary markets and recovered thousands of confidential documents from previous owners. The machines left the building, and the data left with them.
Even worse, many businesses don’t know whether their copier has a hard drive at all. Lease agreements rarely mention internal storage. Service contracts skip the topic entirely. When the question gets asked, the answer often comes back as a shrug from whoever signed the paperwork. That uncertainty is itself a breach waiting to happen, because office printer and copier security for Burnaby businesses starts with knowing what storage exists and where the data goes.
## **Burnaby's Business Climate Makes This Worse**
Burnaby and the surrounding Lower Mainland host a concentration of professional services firms, legal practices, accounting offices, construction companies, and real estate brokerages. Every one of these industries handles sensitive client data daily, and every one runs at least one networked copier.
Legal firms scan signed contracts and client files. Accounting practices process tax returns and corporate financials. Real estate offices handle purchase agreements and personal identification. Construction and development firms scan blueprints, bid documents, and subcontractor records. Each document passes through a copier that almost certainly has never had its firmware updated, its default password changed, or its hard drive encrypted.
Under Canadian privacy law, specifically PIPEDA, organizations are required to protect personal information in their custody. A breach traced back to an unsecured copier is not a technical footnote. It’s a regulatory problem with real consequences for the business owner and a reputation risk that lingers long after the incident is contained.
## **The Five Copier Attack Vectors Every Business Should Know**
Attackers don’t need exotic tools to compromise a networked copier. They rely on well-documented weaknesses that have existed for years and remain unfixed in most offices.
- **Default credentials** remain unchanged on a majority of office copiers, allowing admin access from any device on the network
- **Unpatched firmware** creates known vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit with publicly available tools
- **Unencrypted hard drives** store every document the machine has processed, recoverable after disposal
- **Open network ports** allow remote access to the copier's management interface from outside the office
- **Scan-to-email misconfigurations** expose email server credentials that attackers can harvest and reuse
HP Wolf Security's 2025 report noted that IT teams spend an average of 3.5 hours per printer per month managing security issues, yet the vast majority of those teams still fail to apply firmware updates on time. The gap between effort and effectiveness is where attackers live, which is why office printer and copier security for Burnaby businesses demands a documented process rather than scattered ad-hoc fixes.
## **Why Most Burnaby Businesses Get This Wrong**
The reason copier security gets overlooked isn’t stupidity. It’s responsibility confusion. The copier was sold by a printer dealer. It was installed by a technician in a branded uniform. It gets serviced by the lease provider. Nobody assumed the IT provider owned its security, and nobody assumed the copier vendor owned it either. So it falls through the cracks.
Quocirca's Print Security Maturity Index found that only 20% of organizations qualify as Leaders, meaning they have implemented six or more print security measures. That leaves 80% of companies operating without a mature print security posture, and they tend to experience more data losses and less confidence in their print environment. Maturity isn’t a badge, it’s a forecast of risk.
Small and mid-sized businesses in Burnaby are especially exposed because they rarely have an internal IT team large enough to treat the copier as a first-class security asset. The device gets tracked like a piece of office furniture rather than what it actually is, a networked endpoint with more access to sensitive data than most employees.
## **Six Controls That Close the Copier Attack Surface**
Securing a networked copier isn’t complicated, but it requires discipline and a provider who treats every connected device as part of the overall security posture. Effective office printer and copier security for Burnaby businesses means every endpoint gets approached the same way, with the assumption that it’s a potential entry point until proven otherwise.
A proper print security program includes several concrete measures:
- Default administrator passwords changed to unique, complex credentials stored in a secure password vault
- Firmware updates scheduled and applied on a documented cadence, not left to default auto-update settings
- Hard drive encryption enabled on every device that supports it, with certified data wiping at end of lease
- Network segmentation that places printers and copiers on their own VLAN, isolated from sensitive systems
- Secure print release requiring user authentication before any document prints
- Audit logging enabled so every print, scan, and fax is traceable to a specific user
These measures don’t require buying new equipment. Most are configuration changes on machines businesses already own. What they require is an IT partner who actually inspects and maintains the devices, not one who treats them as someone else's problem.
## **The Lease Return Trap**
One of the most dangerous moments in a copier's lifecycle is the day it leaves the building. Lease returns happen fast, usually with a few days' notice, and almost always without any data sanitization discussion. The old machine goes out, the new one comes in, and the business moves on.
That’s the moment penetration testers and opportunistic criminals love. The old copier, still packed with years of scanned documents, enters a supply chain that’s rarely audited. A Burnaby business might lose more confidential data on lease return day than it would in a typical phishing attack, and it might never know the breach happened.
A proper lease return process includes a written data destruction certificate, a witnessed hard drive wipe or physical destruction, and documented chain of custody from the office door to final disposition. Businesses that skip this step are gambling with client data and betting they’ll be lucky.
## **How a Managed IT Provider Should Handle Print Infrastructure**
The right IT provider treats copiers and multifunction devices as what they are: networked computers with access to sensitive business data. Office printer and copier security for Burnaby businesses means every device gets inventoried, hardened, patched, and monitored as part of the overall managed IT service, not handled as a separate line item or an optional upgrade.
That means print infrastructure shows up in the same security conversations as servers and laptops. Firmware status, credential hygiene, network placement, and end-of-lease sanitization are reviewed on a regular cadence. The business knows what its copiers are, where they sit on the network, who has access, and what happens to the data when a lease ends.
For Burnaby business owners who have treated the copier as office furniture, the shift in mindset is necessary. The devices are too capable, the data they handle is too sensitive, and the regulatory environment is too unforgiving. The copier in your hallway is a computer. It deserves the same attention as the laptops in your boardroom, and the penetration testers who get paid to break in already know it.
*Sources:*
- *Quocirca Print Security Landscape 2024 Executive Summary:[ ](https://quocirca.com/quocirca-print-security-landscape-2024-executive-summary/)*
- *HP Wolf Security, Securing the Print Estate Report 2025:[ ](https://www.hp.com/us-en/newsroom/press-releases/2025/only-36-of-it-teams-apply-printer-firmware-updates-promptly-leaving-devices-vulnerable.html)*
- *Xerox, Quocirca 2024 Print Security Market Landscape commentary:[ ](https://www.xerox.com/en-us/services/managed-print-services/quocirca-security-report)*
- *Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, PIPEDA compliance guidance:[ ](https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/privacy-laws-in-canada/the-personal-information-protection-and-electronic-documents-act-pipeda/)*
Tags:
[Managed IT Services](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/managed-it-services) [Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/office-printer-and-copier-security-for-burnaby-businesses)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
## [Essential Best Practices for Identity Governance](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/essential-best-practices-for-identity-governance)
Wednesday, 22 April 2026
[Darren Coleman](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman)
[Coleman Technologies Blog](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/blog) [Best practices](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/best-practices)
[  ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/essential-best-practices-for-identity-governance "Essential Best Practices for Identity Governance")
As your team expands, so does your digital footprint. Managing who has access to your company’s financial records, customer data, and internal systems quickly shifts from a simple task to a significant liability that takes time and effort to manage.
Without a centralized strategy, your business becomes vulnerable to a lot of problematic situations. This occurs when employees accumulate access rights over time, often retaining permissions from previous roles or temporary projects that they no longer need. This simple problem actually creates security holes in your network and increases the risk of a data breach that could compromise your reputation and your revenue.
Tags:
[Security](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/security) [Technology](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/technology) [Business](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/business)
[ Continue reading](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/essential-best-practices-for-identity-governance)
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