IT Governance & Risk
Ransomware Doesn't Skip Small Companies. It Prefers Them.
88 percent of small and mid-sized business breaches in 2025 involved ransomware, compared to 39 percent at large enterprises. Most $10M to $20M companies still operate like the bigger, more attractive target is somewhere else. The data says otherwise.
What This Actually Covers
Four ways I bring discipline to risk and compliance
Security Posture Review
A Zero Trust gap check that gives you an honest, plain-language read on where you're exposed today.
Compliance Readiness
SOC 2, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS readiness assessments and gap remediation, so certification audits stop being a scramble.
Incident Response Planning
A documented, tested plan for the first 24 hours of a breach or ransomware event, not a binder nobody's opened.
Governance Framework
Risk ownership, escalation paths, and board-level reporting, so security is a standing conversation, not one that only happens after something goes wrong.
Why This Requires Independence, Not Just a Checklist
Findings, not what's convenient to recommend
A lot of security assessments are sold by the same company that profits from the tools or services recommended to fix what they find. That's not a hypothetical concern, it's a live debate inside the security industry itself: should the division running your security monitoring also be the one grading how well it's working. ClearStack doesn't sell security tools and doesn't sell managed detection and response. The findings reflect what's actually there, not what's convenient to recommend afterward.
How This Fits Into the Broader Engagement
It starts with an audit, then it stands watch
Security posture and compliance readiness start as part of the Clarity Audit, where the Zero Trust gap check gives you a plain-language read on where you're exposed. If you move into an ongoing fractional CIO partnership afterward, this becomes standing governance: incident response plans that get tested, not just written, and compliance readiness that's maintained ahead of an audit instead of assembled in a panic before one.
88 percent of small and mid-sized business breaches in 2025 involved a ransomware component, compared to 39 percent at large enterprises. Separately, organizations with a tested incident response plan saved an average of $2.66 million per breach compared to those without one, according to IBM's global benchmark research. Preparation isn't a compliance formality. It's the single biggest lever on how bad a bad day actually gets.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
We're too small to be a real target, aren't we?
The data says the opposite. Small and mid-sized companies saw ransomware in 88 percent of their breaches in 2025, compared to 39 percent at large enterprises. Attackers often prefer smaller targets precisely because the defenses are thinner and the payout is still worth it.
Is this the same as a SOC 2 or HIPAA audit?
No. This is readiness, closing the gaps before a formal audit, not the certification audit itself. I can work alongside your certification auditor or help you select one, but ClearStack isn't the certifying body.
Isn't security the MSP's job?
Most MSPs handle security tooling and monitoring, which is real and necessary work. What they don't do well is independently assess whether their own monitoring is actually catching what it should. That's the same accountability gap this closes for your broader IT spend, applied specifically to security.
Do you handle the response if we actually get breached?
The plan gets built and tested in advance, so you're executing something rehearsed instead of improvising under pressure. If an incident happens, I coordinate the response and bring in specialized incident response resources as needed, rather than acting as your primary forensic responder.
Find out where you're actually exposed.
Every risk and compliance engagement starts with the Clarity Audit, a fixed-fee, independent Zero Trust gap check.
Start With a Clarity Audit