For years, firewalls were the first and last line of defense. Keep the bad guys out, keep the data in.

But business doesn't work that way anymore. Even with the recent trend to move back to offices, chances are, your team is still doing a combination of working from home, from shared spaces, from mobile devices. For all their convenience, cloud platforms, SaaS tools, and third-party integrations have extended your operations far beyond your office walls permanently for good.

In other words, the modern perimeter isn't your network. It's your people, your endpoints, and your data, wherever they are.

If you're still relying on a traditional firewall alone, you're protecting a building that your team is working outside of.

The Perimeter Has Moved. Has Your Security?

Today's threats don’t always come through the front door. They come through:

• A contractor's laptop with outdated antivirus
• A staff member accessing cloud apps from unsecured Wi-Fi
• A third-party app integration that no one reviewed
• A user reusing passwords across multiple systems

And because these threats bypass the old perimeter, they require a new kind of defense: one that’s layered, responsive, and centralized.

What a Modern SMB Cyber Stack Looks Like

Here’s how Smartt approaches cybersecurity for growing businesses:

1. Centralized Firewalls
   Applied across locations and managed remotely, with policies that follow the user, not just the office.
2. Endpoint Protection
   Laptops, phones, and remote devices monitored and secured. Not just antivirus, but behavior-based protection.
3. Automated Backups
   Versioned, tested, and stored off-site. So ransomware doesn’t mean a full rebuild.
4. Patch Management
   System updates applied proactively, across your stack, not just when someone notices something is broken.
5. Access Controls
   Clear rules on who can access what, with multi-factor authentication and audit logs.
6. Incident Response
   Clear playbooks, defined roles, and a support partner who doesn’t need a crash course when you call.

This is what we mean by Cyber Agility: protection that adapts to how you really work, not just how the documentation says you should.

Why SMBs Are Prime Targets

Cybercriminals specifically target small and medium businesses because they know:

• You don't have dedicated security staff monitoring threats 24/7 or staying current with emerging attack vectors.
• You rely heavily on third-party services and cloud platforms, multiplying potential entry points.
• Your incident response often involves calling multiple vendors, creating delays that attackers exploit.
• Your operations are concentrated, meaning a successful attack can shut down your entire business rather than just one department.

The stakes are higher for SMBs because you have fewer resources to absorb the impact of a breach, and cybercriminals know it.

The FlexHours Advantage

Managing cybersecurity shouldn't require a computer science degree or a dedicated IT department. FlexHours gives you enterprise-level protection with SMB-friendly flexibility.

Instead of juggling multiple security vendors and hoping they work together, you get a unified team managing your entire cyber posture. Your flexible hour pool covers everything from firewall updates to incident response, scaling up or down based on your actual needs.

And the same hours may be allocated towards other things that grow your business, including digital marketing and web development.

You will also get productivity licenses included and other tools such as firewalls and a password management system.

It’s Time to Evolve!

If your security strategy still centers around a single firewall, you're defending against yesterday's threats with yesterday's tools.

Modern cyber protection shouldn’t be about building higher walls. Instead, let’s create some adaptive defenses that move with your business. We'll show you exactly what that looks like for your organization, and how to implement it without disrupting your operations or breaking your budget.

Because in today's threat landscape, the question isn't whether you'll face a cyberattack. It's whether you'll be ready when it happens! Contact us today for a free consultation.