Adam Selwood has spoken to hundreds of small businesses about cyber security, and one thing still stands out: most people are not ignoring cyber risk because they do not care.
They are ignoring it because it feels too big, too technical or too expensive to know where to begin.
As co-founder of Cynch Security, Adam works with small businesses to make cyber security more manageable. His message is simple: you do not need to solve everything at once. You just need to start.
“The reality is, you just need to take one step after another,” Adam says. “It’s far more important that you’re at least doing something.”
Adam calls this cyber fitness. Like physical fitness, it is not about a one-off effort or a major transformation. It is about small, regular habits that build confidence over time.
That might mean turning on multi-factor authentication, checking who has access to your accounts, reviewing your contracts or setting aside time each quarter to ask what has changed in the business.
Why small businesses are more visible than they think
One of the biggest risks Adam sees is what he calls a business’s “external footprint”. Every business with an email address, website, social media account, booking tool, payment system or cloud platform is visible online.
That visibility is useful for customers. It can also give cyber criminals clues.
“We all ultimately are digital businesses nowadays,” Adam says. “The moment you are online, you are now discoverable.”
A scammer may be able to see which tools a business uses, who works there, what suppliers they deal with and how customers contact them. That information can be used to craft more convincing scams.
Security helps businesses grow
Adam also sees cyber security becoming more important for small businesses that want to work with larger organisations. Government agencies, supermarkets, banks, health providers and critical infrastructure businesses are increasingly asking suppliers to prove they have basic cyber protections in place.
For small businesses, that can feel like a barrier. But Adam says it can also become an opportunity.
Good cyber security can help businesses answer questions from clients, bid for larger work and adopt new technology with more confidence.
“The brakes on the car are not there to slow you down,” Adam says. “Security is the confidence builder.”
Adam’s advice for small businesses
Start with your risks. What do you hold? Who has access? What would hurt if it disappeared?
Then build a rhythm. Cyber security does not need to be dramatic to be effective. It needs to be regular.
Cyber Wardens training can help small businesses build that first layer of confidence by giving owners and teams practical steps they can use straight away.
