Businesses Should Carefully Contemplate Their Cybersecurity Budgets

Is your company spending enough on cybersecurity? Unfortunately, it’s a question every business owner must contemplate carefully these days. The 2025 Security Budget Benchmark Report found that cybersecurity budgets increased by 4% this year, based on survey responses from nearly 600 Chief Information Security Officers collected by IANS Research and Artico Search.

That may sound impressive. But it’s a notable decline from the 8% budget growth in 2024 and the lowest rate in five years, according to the annually conducted report. This trend suggests that many businesses are balancing cybersecurity needs with broader macroeconomic pressures, including constrained hiring and rising operating costs. With cyberattacks on the rise, thoughtful budgeting is essential to mitigate your company’s exposure.

Deciding how much is enough

If you’ve never created a cybersecurity budget, you’re not alone. Very small businesses often fold these costs into general technology spending. However, as your company grows, cybersecurity becomes a core part of risk management. A dedicated budget helps ensure you’re allocating enough resources to protect operations; maintain compliance obligations; and preserve the trust of customers, employees and other stakeholders.

After deciding to create a cybersecurity budget, you must answer an inevitable question: How much is enough? There’s no single percentage that applies to every business. Generally, spending should align with a company’s reliance on technology and risk exposure. Businesses that depend heavily on digital systems or store confidential information typically require more robust protections than those with simpler environments. Begin by reviewing your current technological infrastructure for factors such as:

How your systems are set up and managed,
What protections are already in place, and
Whether past issues (such as phishing attempts or notable downtime) indicate vulnerabilities.

Many businesses find value in formal cybersecurity assessments. These intensive evaluations clarify your risk exposure and provide a more informed basis for budgeting. Some companies conduct assessments internally using established frameworks, while others engage external professionals to avoid bias and access specialized expertise.

Building the budget

When you have all the pertinent information in hand, identify what you need to do to maintain existing defenses and shore up weaknesses — and calculate how much you need to spend. Most companies have recurring cybersecurity expenses, such as:

Software subscriptions,
System updates,
Data backups, and
External monitoring or support.

Your cybersecurity budget should also account for periodic enhancements as your technology evolves or new threats emerge. Although unexpected upgrades may still be necessary — particularly if your business experiences a cyberattack — planning as far in advance as possible makes spending more predictable and easier to manage.

Adding it as a line item

Today’s business owners must view potential cyberattacks as likely rather than unlikely. Thus, cybersecurity is most effective when treated proactively as an ongoing priority rather than something addressed only occasionally or after a problem arises. Adding your cybersecurity budget as a recurring line item to your overall annual budget supports consistent investment and helps you plan for long-term improvements without sudden financial strain.

Just as you revisit and revise your overall budget throughout the year, review cybersecurity spending at least once annually. Your needs may increase as your business grows or adopts new technology. And as the aforementioned survey shows, cybersecurity budgets tend to fluctuate from year to year. Pay close attention to yours to ensure it remains aligned with your operational needs and strategic objectives.

Reducing risk

In addition to severely disrupting operations, cyberattacks create financial risk through downtime, recovery costs, and potential legal or compliance consequences. We can help you evaluate costs, set priorities and identify the most impactful investments — whether you’re developing a cybersecurity budget for the first time or refining an existing one.

As 2025 comes to a close, your focus is likely on year-end goals and holiday planning. But there is another item that deserves a prime spot on your agenda: preparing your 2026 IT budget and strategic roadmap.

For many business leaders, IT planning can feel like a complex, technical exercise. In reality, it is one of the most powerful business planning activities you can do. A proactive technology plan is not just about avoiding problems. It is about fueling growth, securing your assets, and making smart financial decisions.

Here is why starting this process now is critical for your business’s health and bottom line.

The High Cost of “We’ll Deal with It Later”

It is tempting to push IT planning down the list, but this approach carries significant, often hidden, risks. Without a clear roadmap, you are essentially reacting to technology instead of leveraging it.

Budget Surprises: An unplanned server failure or a critical security breach becomes a five-figure emergency expense, not a managed, budgeted cost.
Stalled Growth: Your team is stuck with inefficient software or hardware, slowing down projects and hampering your ability to compete.
Security Vulnerabilities: Cyber threats evolve daily. Without a plan to update and patch systems, your company’s data remains vulnerable to exposure.
Strategic Misalignment: Technology should support your business goals. Without a plan, IT spending becomes disjointed, failing to drive the company forward.

A 2026 roadmap transforms IT from a cost center into a strategic engine, ensuring every dollar spent works to advance your business objectives.

A Smart Financial Play: Leverage Year-End Tax Benefits

One of the most compelling reasons to plan your 2026 technology investments now involves a direct financial benefit. The Section 179 tax deduction and bonus depreciation rules allow businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment and software in the year it was purchased.

These deductions aren’t limited to old hardware—they apply to a wide range of investments, including:

Hardware: New servers, computers, network switches, and cybersecurity appliances
Software: Critical business applications, cloud management tools, and security licenses
Major Projects: Infrastructure upgrades for a new office or a cloud migration initiative

By strategically planning and purchasing these items before the end of the year, you can significantly reduce your 2025 tax liability. Such timing turns necessary technology investments into an opportunity for substantial savings, freeing up capital for other areas of your business.

The Foundation of Stability: Lifecycle Management

Do you know the average age of your company’s laptops? When does your server warranty expire? Or which software versions are nearing end-of-life and will no longer receive security updates?

Lifecycle management is the practice of proactively tracking and planning for the entire lifespan of your technology assets. It is the cornerstone of a stable IT environment because it allows you to:

Predict Costs: You can budget for replacements in advance, spreading the cost over years instead of facing a large, unexpected capital outlay.
Maximize Uptime: Replacing aging equipment before it fails prevents disruptive downtime that costs your business money and productivity. Even brief outages can have a significant financial impact.
Maintain Security: Using supported hardware and software ensures you receive vital security patches, protecting you from modern cyber threats. Known vulnerabilities are a primary attack vector for breaches.

A documented IT roadmap formalizes this process, giving you a clear, multi-year view of your technology investments and ensuring your infrastructure remains reliable and secure.

Start Your 2026 Planning Today

The fourth quarter is an ideal time to align your business goals with a practical and cost-effective technology strategy. By taking a proactive approach, you transform IT from a source of stress into a competitive advantage.

The first step is a conversation. Begin by reviewing your business goals for the next 12-18 months and assessing your current technology’s ability to support them. An experienced technology partner can help you navigate this process, identifying opportunities for efficiency, security, and smart financial planning.

A well-crafted IT budget and roadmap is more than a document. It is your blueprint for a more resilient, efficient, and successful year ahead. Do not let the opportunity to build it pass you by.

Take the First Step Toward a Stress-Free IT Budget.

Financial insight. Operational strength. Future-ready IT.

For Michigan businesses, resilience isn’t just about surviving disruption. It’s about adapting quickly enough to maintain stable operations and revenue, regardless of what happens next.

From AI automation to advanced cybersecurity, the technologies defining 2026 are providing small and mid-sized businesses with new ways to enhance both financial and operational stability.

At Yeo & Yeo Technology, we help clients align technology investments with long-term business performance. Here are five advancements that are driving real-world resilience right now.

1. AI That Predicts, Not Just Reacts

Artificial intelligence is moving beyond analytics. It now anticipates risk, flags anomalies, and automates everyday decision-making. Analysts expect that nearly half of business applications will include built-in AI agents by 2026.

That shift matters for every business: predictive systems reduce downtime, prevent overspending, and improve forecasting accuracy—all key to maintaining steady margins in uncertain markets.

Yeo & Yeo Technology’s view: We help businesses adopt AI where it improves visibility and control, from financial reporting to network health monitoring.

2. Cybersecurity That Protects Profitability

Resilience starts with protection. The average cost of a breach can erase months of progress, especially for organizations with tight margins. Modern security employs layered defenses, identity management, continuous monitoring, and rapid-recovery frameworks to keep operations running smoothly when threats arise.

Why it matters: Every hour of downtime affects productivity, cash flow, and client confidence.

Our approach: We align cybersecurity investments with measurable ROI by quantifying the potential financial impact of disruption, turning security into a cost-avoidance strategy, not just an expense.

3. Cloud Efficiency = Operational Agility

Businesses that migrated to the cloud fast are now realizing they’ve accumulated redundant tools, unused storage, and unclear governance. The 2026 trend is cloud simplification, fewer platforms, tighter integration, and smarter cost control.

According to Gartner, optimized cloud ecosystems will define digital resilience this year, reducing both risk and expense.

Yeo & Yeo Technology’s view: We perform cloud audits that expose waste and strengthen security posture, ensuring resources are allocated to performance, not duplication.

4. Automation That Strengthens Consistency

Automation has matured from convenience to compliance. Process automation now reduces manual entry errors, enforces policy adherence, and guarantees audit-ready accuracy across financial and operational systems.

For sectors like manufacturing, accounting, and local government, this consistency translates to measurable resilience: predictable workflows, reliable data, and reduced risk of costly mistakes.

Our approach: We implement automation that supports your people, reinforcing—not replacing —the human insight behind good business decisions.

5. Recovery Readiness That Proves Stability

Business continuity planning is no longer optional. True resilience depends on how fast you can resume operations when systems fail or data becomes unavailable.

That means tested recovery strategies, verified backups, and role-specific protocols. A recovery plan isn’t complete until it’s been rehearsed under real conditions.

Yeo & Yeo Technology’s view: We design recovery frameworks that minimize downtime and validate their performance through live drills. So, when your team says, “We’re ready,” they mean it.

Resilience Is the New ROI

Financial resilience and operational stability are now inseparable. The technologies shaping 2026 enable leaders to identify risk early, adapt quickly, and protect profitability in every environment.

Book your business resilience review. Partner with Yeo & Yeo Technology and make sure your systems, people, and finances are ready for what’s next.

Artificial intelligence is transforming how organizations operate and how they’re attacked. As AI agents become embedded in business systems, workflows, and communications, a new frontier of cybersecurity has emerged: protecting the interactions between humans and AI.

According to Gartner, by 2026, 40% of enterprise applications will include task-specific AI agents, up from less than 5% today. This rapid adoption is reshaping every layer of the digital ecosystem—and expanding the attack surface in ways traditional security strategies were never designed to handle.

At Yeo & Yeo Technology, we’re helping organizations adapt to this new reality. Our focus isn’t just on securing systems; it’s on securing how people and AI work together.

The Dual Edge of AI in Security

AI offers tremendous advantages for cybersecurity—from analyzing threats in real time to automating detection and response. Yet, it also introduces new vulnerabilities.

Cybercriminals use AI to create more convincing phishing campaigns, generate deepfakes, and automate reconnaissance. Even more concerning, they’re developing attacks targeting AI systems through tactics such as prompt injection, model manipulation, and AI agent impersonation.

For example, a well-crafted malicious input could trick an AI tool into revealing sensitive data or taking unauthorized actions. At the same time, employees may unknowingly interact with fraudulent AI agents designed to harvest credentials or mimic trusted systems.

These risks demonstrate why cybersecurity in the AI era requires a broader, more adaptive defense.

Beyond Firewalls: Securing the Human–AI Boundary

For years, security programs have focused on perimeter defenses—firewalls, antivirus software, and intrusion detection systems. While these remain vital, they don’t fully address today’s reality: many threats now originate in the gray area between human and AI activity.

That’s why the most effective cybersecurity strategies pair advanced technology with human understanding. Employees must learn not only to recognize phishing emails but also to question unexpected AI outputs, validate data sources, and understand the security implications of the prompts they use.

Organizations that foster this dual awareness—technical and human—build stronger, more resilient defenses.

The Rise of AI Literacy

Cybersecurity awareness training has long been essential. In the age of AI, that training must evolve. Employees must understand how to safely interact with AI systems, identify unusual behavior, and know what to do if something feels “off.”

Building AI literacy across your organization means:

Teaching teams how to write and review secure prompts
Recognizing signs of AI manipulation or misuse
Monitoring AI agent behavior for anomalies
Validating outputs before acting on sensitive information

Yeo & Yeo Technology’s cybersecurity awareness training and AI consulting services help organizations make this shift—combining traditional security education with emerging AI best practices to reduce risk where humans and machines intersect.

The Future of Cybersecurity is Collaborative

As the line between human and artificial intelligence continues to blur, organizations that secure both sides of the interaction will lead with confidence. It’s no longer enough to protect systems from people—or people from systems. The future of cybersecurity lies in strengthening the partnership between humans and AI.

At Yeo & Yeo Technology, we help organizations navigate that future. Through cybersecurity awareness training, AI consulting, and managed security services, we empower your people and technology to work securely, responsibly, and in alignment with your business goals.

Let’s strengthen your human–AI defense together. Contact Yeo & Yeo Technology to learn how.

When was the last time you stopped to think, “What would happen to my business if all our files were suddenly locked away?”

That’s exactly the nightmare scenario the FBI is warning about right now. They’ve issued a new security alert about a nasty ransomware group called Interlock. If you haven’t heard of them before, don’t worry, this is what you need to know…

They only appeared in September 2024, but they’re already making a name for themselves by targeting businesses and infrastructure in North America and Europe.

And Interlock is in it for the money. Their playbook looks like this: Break into your systems, quietly steal sensitive data, then encrypt everything so you can’t access it. Finally, they hit you with a ransom demand, usually giving you a short deadline (about four days) to pay up, or they’ll dump your files onto the dark web for anyone to see.

This “double-extortion” method has become standard practice among ransomware gangs, but Interlock is proving very aggressive.

The way they break in is smart. They set up fake browsers or security updates, booby-trapped websites, and other tricks designed to make you click without thinking. Once inside, they drop malicious tools that let them spy, steal passwords, move through your network, and lock down files.

They’re not picky about systems either. They’ve developed tools to hit Windows and Linux machines, which means that any business could be a target.

Now, you might be wondering what this means for your business. Ransomware doesn’t just happen to big companies you read about in the news. SMBs are prime targets because attackers know their security budgets are smaller and often see them as an easier win.

Imagine losing access to your client files, financial data, or critical day-to-day systems. Even if you manage to recover, the reputational damage can be just as costly as the downtime.

So, what can you do? The FBI’s advice is clear:

Keep your systems patched and updated so attackers can’t exploit old flaws.
Make sure multi-factor authentication (that’s the extra code you enter after your password) is turned on wherever possible. It’s one of the simplest ways to block attackers.
Use web filtering and firewalls to keep malicious sites out.
Segment your network so the whole business doesn’t go down if one part gets infected.
Most importantly, invest in security tools that can detect and stop suspicious behavior before it spreads.

It might sound technical. But acting now is far less painful (and cheaper) than dealing with the aftermath of an attack. The FBI doesn’t issue these warnings lightly. Interlock isn’t going away anytime soon; this is the perfect moment to ensure your business isn’t its next victim.

Need help keeping your business protected? Get in touch.

Information used in this article was provided by our partners at MSP Marketing Edge.

Do we need to back up Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace data?

Yes. These services keep things running, but you’re still responsible for your data. Backups protect against accidental deletion or data loss if a cyberattack occurs.

Our passwords are strong. Do we still need multi-factor authentication (MFA)?

Absolutely. Even strong passwords can be stolen. MFA adds an extra layer of protection that makes accounts much harder to break into.

Should we worry about old staff accounts once someone leaves?

Yes. If ex-staff logins aren’t closed, they’re open doors for attackers. Always remove access right away.

Information used in this article was provided by our partners at MSP Marketing Edge.

As online shopping, shipping activity, and digital payments increase at the end of the year, so do fraud attempts. The FBI reports that scammers consistently use this period to target both individuals and businesses with more sophisticated, multi-channel attacks. For many organizations, this can lead to financial loss, data exposure, and operational disruption.

This article highlights the most common scams seen this time of year and the steps your business can take to stay protected.

Scam Tactics on the Rise

According to recent FBI warnings, attackers are focusing on several high-impact methods:

Non-delivery scams: You pay for goods or services that never arrive.
Non-payment scams: Your business delivers a product or provides a service, but the buyer never pays.
Fake online stores and marketplace listings: Scammers use look-alike websites, cloned product pages, or social media storefronts to collect payment and disappear.
Phishing and spoofed delivery notices: Emails and texts impersonate trusted retailers or shipping companies, prompting recipients to click a link, “resolve” a delivery issue, or update billing information.
Gift-card payment schemes: Fraudsters demand payment through gift cards or prepaid cards — a method chosen because it’s difficult to trace or reverse.

The FBI notes that non-delivery and non-payment scams alone resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses last year, with a significant increase in fraudulent purchase activity reported across major platforms.

What This Means for Businesses

Many businesses operate in environments where purchasing, invoicing, shipping, and online transactions are routine and seamless. That creates opportunities for scammers, especially when employees are moving quickly or managing a higher-than-usual volume of orders and communications.

Common risks include:

Employees clicking spoofed shipment or invoice links
Purchases from fraudulent vendors
Business email compromise tied to fake order confirmations
Stolen credentials through cloned login pages
Unverified payment requests sent to accounting teams

Even well-trained users can miss subtle red flags when messages appear legitimate, and urgency is implied.

How to Reduce Your Risk

The best defense is a mix of awareness, verification, and strong security controls. YYTECH recommends the following:

Verify unexpected messages. If an email or text asks you to confirm an order, resolve a delivery issue, or update your payment information, go directly to the vendor’s website rather than using the provided link.
Check URLs carefully. Look for misspellings, unusual domain extensions, or slight variations of well-known brands.
Use official tracking tools. For shipments, log in through the carrier’s app or website instead of following links.
Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA adds a strong layer of protection even if credentials are compromised.
Keep systems updated. Unpatched devices make it easier for scammers to deploy malicious attachments or exploit known vulnerabilities.
Provide quick refresher training. A reminder to your team about common scams can significantly reduce mistakes.

Final Guidance

Cybercriminals take advantage of the higher transaction volume and lower vigilance that typically occurs at this time of year. With intentional verification and the right technical safeguards in place, your organization can significantly reduce its exposure to these scams.

If your team would benefit from phishing-resistance tools, security awareness training, or a deeper review of your environment, Yeo & Yeo Technology can help you strengthen your defenses.

When a new employee joins your organization, most of the attention goes to helping them feel prepared and supported. They get their laptop, email account, and access to the systems needed to do their job. They meet their team, learn the ropes, and start getting comfortable in a new environment.

But while all of that is important, there’s another piece of the onboarding process that’s just as critical—and often overlooked: cybersecurity.

Why the First 90 Days Matter

The first few months of a new hire’s journey are some of the riskiest times for your organization’s data security. Research shows that nearly three-quarters of new employees fall for phishing or social engineering attempts within their first 90 days on the job. New team members are also 44% more likely to click on suspicious links compared to experienced staff, and 45% more likely to fall victim when attackers impersonate company leaders.

Why does this happen? Think about what it’s like to be new. You’re trying to make a good impression, don’t know all the systems and processes yet, and are eager to follow directions. Cybercriminals take advantage of this uncertainty. A message that looks like it’s from the CEO asking for help, or an email that appears to come from HR requesting updated information, can feel legitimate to someone who hasn’t learned what “normal” looks like in your workplace.

That’s why attackers deliberately target new hires. It’s not just bad luck—it’s a strategy.

The Cost of Overlooking Cybersecurity in Onboarding

If a phishing attempt is successful, the consequences can be severe. A single compromised login can open the door to sensitive data, financial loss, or even a full-scale ransomware attack. For small and mid-sized businesses, especially, the impact can be devastating.

And yet, many organizations don’t address cybersecurity until weeks or months after a new employee starts. By then, the riskiest period has already passed.

Training from Day One

The good news is that there are effective ways to reduce these risks. One of the most impactful is incorporating cybersecurity awareness into the onboarding process. Training should begin immediately- on day one rather than waiting until new employees are fully settled.

This training doesn’t need to be complicated. Practical guidance on how to spot phishing emails, what to do if something looks suspicious, and how to report potential issues can go a long way. When combined with phishing simulations tailored to new hires, organizations can create a safe environment for employees to learn and build confidence.

The results speak for themselves. Companies that prioritize security training during onboarding see their phishing risk drop by as much as 30%. That’s a measurable, significant improvement—demonstrating the value of making cybersecurity part of your culture from the beginning.

Technology Plus People

Of course, training is only one piece of the puzzle. Strong security tools—like firewalls, endpoint protection, and email filtering—remain essential. These tools create a baseline of defense against the majority of cyber threats. But no matter how advanced the technology, people will always be the first line of defense.

New employees, in particular, need to be equipped with both knowledge and the confidence to act if something doesn’t seem right. The combination of effective technology and well-prepared employees creates the strongest security posture for your organization.

How Yeo & Yeo Technology Can Help

At Yeo & Yeo Technology, we work with businesses of all sizes to strengthen cybersecurity from every angle. For new employees, that means helping you create onboarding processes that emphasize awareness and resilience from day one. From security awareness training and phishing simulations to advanced cybersecurity solutions, we provide a layered approach designed to protect your people, systems, and data.

Bringing someone new onto your team should be a moment of growth and opportunity—not a moment of added risk. By building cybersecurity into your onboarding process, you can protect your organization while giving employees the confidence to succeed in their new roles.

Information used in this article was provided by our partners at MSP Marketing Edge.

Is it ok to let staff install their own apps on work devices?

Not without approval. Unchecked apps can introduce malware or data leaks.

How often should we test our data backups?

At a minimum, back up a few times a year and check that your backup works weekly. A backup isn’t helpful if it doesn’t restore when you need it.

Can we save money by turning off automatic software updates?

No. It might save a little time now, but it leaves you wide open to attacks fixed by those updates.

Information used in this article was provided by our partners at MSP Marketing Edge.

Is Your Bad IT a Trap?

Most small and midsized businesses don’t think about their IT documentation until it’s too late. When a system goes down, an audit is looming, or a provider relationship turns sour. Suddenly, you need credentials, network diagrams, or process notes, and they’re nowhere to be found.

Some IT providers even make things worse by holding your documentation hostage. They keep critical records hidden to make switching harder, even though those records belong to you. What looks like an “inconvenience” quickly becomes a costly business risk.

The Real Risks of Bad or Missing Documentation

When IT documentation is incomplete, outdated, or inaccessible, the risks go far beyond inconvenience. They affect every part of your business:

Slower resolutions = longer downtime
Without clear records, technicians are forced to guess, retrace steps, or rebuild what should already be known. That means routine fixes can take hours or even days. Every extra minute of downtime decreases productivity, revenue, and client trust.
Higher costs = hidden financial drain
Gaps in documentation often lead to repeat work, unnecessary troubleshooting, and “emergency” labor charges. What starts as a simple ticket quickly inflates into a costly problem. Over time, poor documentation silently drains your IT budget.
Compliance failures = legal and financial risk.
In industries like healthcare, finance, and legal, documentation isn’t optional. It’s required. Missing or outdated records can cause failed audits, regulatory fines, or denied insurance claims. Worse, it could expose sensitive client data, damaging your reputation.
Messy transitions = stalled growth
If you switch providers, missing or inaccurate documentation can make migrations risky and disruptive. Instead of a seamless handoff, you face longer outages, frustrated staff, and potential data loss. For businesses looking to modernize, this stalls momentum and growth.

Bad documentation slows you down and erodes your business from the inside out. Without control of your records, you’re left vulnerable and reactive, paying for problems that could have been avoided.

Q4 Is the Time to Take Control

Waiting until January to address documentation only multiplies your risks. Q4 is the ideal window to act:

Use remaining 2025 budget – Invest before year-end so you don’t carry today’s risks into 2026.
Smooth transitions—If you’re switching providers, start in Q4 so migrations can be completed during the holiday slowdown, not during peak operations.
Compliance alignment – Enter the new year audit-ready, with records that meet insurer and regulatory expectations.
Start fresh in Q1 – Your staff returns from the holidays with stronger IT processes, not lingering gaps.

If you wait until January, you risk carrying the same vulnerabilities into the new year, when problems will only grow more expensive and disruptive.

Switching to Yeo & Yeo Technology Means Transparency

For decades, Michigan businesses have trusted Yeo & Yeo Technology to deliver IT services with clarity and integrity. We believe documentation should empower you, never trap you. That’s why our approach is always client-first:

Perpetual access – Your records belong to you. You’ll always have them.
Documented onboarding/offboarding – Our proven processes keep transitions smooth and staff productive.
Up-to-date accuracy – We maintain and refresh documentation to resolve issues faster and more safely.
Transparency and trust – No locked files, no hidden records, and no excuses.

With Yeo & Yeo Technology, switching providers doesn’t mean disruption. It means gaining clarity, control, and a partner rooted in your community.

Get Control of Your IT

Don’t let poor documentation or shady practices put your business at risk. Your IT should work for you, not against you.

Ready to get your data back?

👉 Schedule a consultation today and discover how Yeo & Yeo Technology ensures your IT documentation is always accurate, accessible, and truly yours.

If your business relies on the cloud, you felt the ripple effects. In recent weeks, major cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure experienced significant outages that brought thousands of companies, both giants and SMBs, to a screeching halt.

The takeaway for business leaders is clear: even the most powerful, “always-on” cloud platforms are not infallible. The question isn’t if an outage will occur, but how prepared your business is to handle it.

Let’s break down what happened, why it matters to you, and how a strategic approach to technology can turn a potential disaster into a minor inconvenience.

The Root Cause of the Outages

While we imagine complex cyberattacks, the reality is often more mundane. The AWS outage on October 20 stemmed from a DNS configuration error in the US-EAST-1 region, which cascaded into widespread communication failures across services. Azure’s disruption on October 29 was triggered by a faulty configuration change in Azure Front Door, a core traffic-routing service, which bypassed safety checks and overwhelmed the system for over eight hours.

In simple terms, it’s like a single wrong turn in a massive, interconnected highway system, causing a traffic jam that brings an entire city to a standstill. A small mistake at the provider level can cascade, demonstrating that no single provider, regardless of its size, is immune to failure.

This underscores a critical lesson: putting all your digital eggs in one basket is a significant business risk.

Real-World Impact: When Giants Stumble

You don’t need to be a tech expert to understand the impact. These weren’t isolated IT issues; they were business disruptions with tangible consequences.

The AWS Outage: During the AWS outage on October 20, 2025, Canva, the go-to design tool for marketing teams, went completely offline, halting collaborative projects and content creation for millions of users worldwide. Eventbrite, vital for event planners and SMBs managing registrations, faced widespread disruptions from the same incident, freezing ticket sales and attendee communications at a critical time. HubSpot, the CRM powerhouse for sales and marketing, experienced partial downtime tied to AWS, delaying lead tracking and email campaigns for dependent businesses.
The Azure Outage: The Azure outage struck just nine days later, on October 29, 2025, amplifying the chaos. Airlines like Alaska Air saw booking systems fail, stranding travelers and crews. Starbucks reported app and payment glitches, frustrating customers during rush hours. Gaming services like Xbox Live and Minecraft went offline, while Microsoft 365 tools, including Teams, Outlook, and OneDrive, left remote teams unable to collaborate.

For these companies, the immediate cost was lost productivity and revenue. For the SMBs relying on them, the outage meant missed opportunities, delayed projects, and frustrated customers. The dependency is real, and the risk is shared.

How to Build Cloud Resilience

At Yeo & Yeo Technology, we believe your technology should empower your business, not expose it. We help our clients move from a reactive to a proactive stance. The goal isn’t to avoid using AWS or Azure—they are incredible tools—but to use them intelligently to build a resilient operation.

Our approach focuses on practical, foundational strategies:

Cloud Preparedness & Strategy: We work with leadership to assess your true dependency on cloud services. What systems are mission-critical? What is the financial impact of an hour or a day of downtime? We help you develop a Cloud Business Continuity Plan so everyone knows what to do when the lights go out.
Architecting for Redundancy: We help design your key systems with failover strategies. This could mean spreading non-sensitive data across multiple geographic regions or even leveraging a secondary cloud provider for your most critical applications. If one path fails, traffic is automatically rerouted with minimal disruption.
Proactive Monitoring & Support: Our team doesn’t wait for you to report a problem. We employ advanced monitoring tools that continuously monitor your core systems, often identifying and mitigating issues before they impact your end-users.

This isn’t about selling fear; it’s about building confidence. By taking these steps, you’re not just buying an IT service, you’re investing in the operational stability of your business.

Your Next Step: A Conversation About Confidence

An outage at a major cloud provider is a stark reminder that business continuity is not a given. It’s the result of deliberate planning and strategic partnership.

You don’t have to navigate this complexity alone.

Let’s start with a conversation. Contact our technology team today for a no-obligation Business Continuity Assessment. We’ll help you identify your key vulnerabilities and outline a clear, practical path to a more resilient and confident future.

What Michigan Small Businesses Need to Know

Cyberattacks are growing in frequency and severity; even small Michigan businesses are prime targets. The right insurance policy can help cover financial losses after an incident, but only if you meet the strict requirements insurers now demand.

The global average cost of a breach reached $4.45 million in 2024, and many small organizations never fully recover after an attack.

In this blog, we’ll break down what cyber insurance covers, how policies have evolved, and what steps you need to take to protect your business and ensure your claims will be honored.

What Does Cyber Insurance Cover

At its core, cyber insurance is designed to reduce the financial impact of a cyber incident. Policies typically cover:

Incident response costs (forensics, investigation, and breach containment)
Data recovery and restoration
Notification costs if customer records are compromised
Legal expenses and regulatory fines
Business interruption losses from downtime
Ransom payments, if legally allowed

This coverage can be the difference between recovery and closure for small businesses.

Premiums Are Getting Higher & Guidelines Stricter

Insurance providers are tightening the rules as attacks become more frequent and damaging. Premiums are rising, and coverage comes with more requirements. To qualify, or to avoid having a claim denied, you often must prove that you have baseline protections in place, such as:

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) on all critical systems
Regular, verifiable data backups stored securely offsite
24/7 monitoring to catch unusual activity
Security awareness training
Endpoint detection and response tools
Patching

Without these safeguards, insurers argue that businesses are too high-risk. CISA recommends many of the same baseline protections as essential cybersecurity hygiene.

The Danger of “Check-the-Box” Security

One of the most common mistakes we see is businesses treating security requirements as a checklist. They may say they have MFA or monitoring in place, but the truth emerges when an attack occurs and the insurance company audits them.

Too often, insurers find that safeguards were incomplete or poorly implemented. In these cases, claims are denied, leaving the business to absorb all the costs of the attack. This is not just a theoretical risk. Real companies have faced devastating outcomes after discovering their policies did not apply because controls were not enforced.

How Yeo & Yeo Technology Helps You Stay Covered

Meeting insurer requirements isn’t a one-time exercise, it’s an ongoing process. That’s where Yeo & Yeo Technology comes in. We help Michigan businesses:

Implement MFA, backups, and monitoring correctly from the start
Conduct regular audits to confirm compliance with insurer guidelines
Provide documentation and reporting to prove controls are in place
Train employees to avoid the human errors that often trigger attacks.
Create layered defenses that not only satisfy your insurance provider but actually reduce your real-world risk

With more than 40 years of experience supporting Michigan businesses, our team ensures your security is not just a box checked, but a living system protecting your people, data, and operations.

Being Denied is a Risk You Can’t Afford

Cyber insurance is essential for today’s small businesses. It only works if you qualify and if your claims will stand up under scrutiny. Waiting to see if you’re covered after an attack is a risk no business can afford.

Get your complimentary cyber risk assessment today. Our cybersecurity specialists will review your security posture, identify gaps, and help you put the right controls in place, so your business is ready for both attackers and insurers.

Hybrid work—where employees move between office, home, and sometimes public spaces—presents opportunity and risk. It gives teams flexibility and supports diverse working styles, but it also stretches your security perimeter. Every device used outside a managed network can become a potential entry point for cyber threats. To keep your data safe, you need more than an antivirus; you need a strategy built for this environment.

Here’s how businesses can develop a strong endpoint security strategy tailored for hybrid work, and what to watch for as signs you might need to adjust or upgrade.

Why the Hybrid Model Changes Everything

In a traditional office-centric model, most devices connecting to sensitive systems do so through a managed network protected by firewalls, secure configurations, and controlled access. In hybrid setups, however:

Devices access systems via public or home networks, which may be unsecure.
Employees may use personal devices (or mix personal + work use) with weaker security controls.
Patch management becomes harder because devices are dispersed and may not always be online or connected to centralized update servers.
Threats like phishing, ransomware, device theft, or unauthorized access grow more likely.

These changes mean that an endpoint is no longer just a “machine.” It’s a frontline of exposure. Recognizing this is your first “aha” moment: the shift isn’t minor—it’s foundational.

Key Elements of an Effective Endpoint Security Strategy

If you see any of the following in your organization, it’s a signal you might need to reexamine or improve your endpoint strategy:

You don’t have complete visibility into what devices are used.
If laptops, tablets, phones, or IoT devices are being used that your IT team can’t inventory, or you’re unsure of what software and patches are installed on them, you have gaps. Without knowing what you have, you can’t protect what you have.
Patch management feels reactive, not proactive.
Do many devices lag in updates? Are updates optional or user-initiated? Outdated OS or application versions are a favorite vector for attackers. An effective strategy means automatic or centrally managed patching and updates that reach remote or offline systems when possible.
Authentication methods are inconsistent or weak.
If some systems rely only on passwords or remote access doesn’t require multi-factor authentication (MFA), that’s a risk. Also watch for cases where personal or untrusted networks are allowed without checks.
You lack unified management of endpoints.
When policies differ between device types or locations (office vs. home), or if there’s no single dashboard or tool showing endpoint health and compliance across the board, it’s harder to detect abnormal behavior. Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) or device management tools help consolidate that oversight.
Employees are unclear on security practices, especially outside the office.
It’s easy to overlook that human behavior compounds risk. For example, using public Wi-Fi without a VPN, reusing passwords, and disabling firewalls or antivirus software because of performance or annoyance. Training and clear policies for hybrid work are critical.
You don’t have rapid detection and response capabilities.
If alerts occur but follow-up is slow, or you only discover threats after data loss, the damage can be steep. Tools for behavioral monitoring, anomaly detection, endpoint detection and response (EDR), and remote isolation are increasingly important.

What to Do with That Strategy

Define policies that match real-world use. Set guidelines for how personal vs company devices are used, what networks are acceptable, and what software is allowed.
Deploy tools that give centralized control without overly burdening users. Balance is key: security controls should protect, not simply frustrate or disable productivity.
Implement Zero Trust principles. Don’t assume any device or user is safe by default. Always verify identity, device posture, and location before granting access.
Continuous monitoring and improvement. Threats evolve; your strategy should, too. Regular vulnerability assessments, audits, and updates of tools and policies are essential.

How Yeo & Yeo Technology Helps

YYTECH works with businesses to design endpoint security strategies that are practical, scalable, and aligned with hybrid work realities. We offer:

Asset discovery and endpoint inventory services, so you know exactly what devices are used.
Managed patching and update management, ensuring remote devices are brought up to standard.
Deployment of EDR tools for unified endpoint visibility and response.
Employee training tailored to hybrid risks (public Wi-Fi, device sharing, phishing) to turn potential weak points into strengths.

Endpoint security in hybrid environments isn’t just an IT issue—it’s a business issue. As flexibility becomes the norm, security should adapt. If your organization checks several of the signs above, it may be time to reevaluate your endpoint security posture. The good news is that hybrid work can remain productive and secure with a solid strategy and the right partners.

As your business grows, small inefficiencies can compound. Automation isn’t just for large firms or tech unicorns—it can make a real difference for any organization struggling with repetitive tasks, stretched staff, or scaling challenges. Here are key indicators your business may be ready for automation.

1. Repetitive, Manual Work Is Eating Time

If your team spends a lot of hours doing manual tasks—data entry, routine report generation, processing invoices, or moving files between systems—those are prime candidates for automation. When you realize certain tasks feel like “rinse, repeat” and offer little strategic value, that’s your cue.

Automating those tasks frees up time for higher-value work, such as strategy, customer interaction, and rigorous planning. It also reduces human error and frustration.

2. New Hires Take Too Long to Get Fully Operating

Onboarding should be exciting—not frustrating. If getting a new employee fully equipped feels slow, chaotic, or burdensome, you’re likely losing productivity and morale. Every hour someone sits idle waiting for access or tools adds up.

3. Scaling Is Limited by Process Complexity or Staff Capacity

Maybe you’re seeing demand for your products or services rising, but you can’t respond quickly because your team is already at capacity. Processes spread across multiple apps or manual handoffs slow everything down.

If every growth opportunity requires adding people or causes more stress, you may be on the cusp of hitting a scaling ceiling. Automation here—bridging systems, creating workflows that hand off tasks cleanly—can let you scale without proportional cost increases.

4. Inconsistency, Errors, or Bottlenecks Are Becoming Normal

When you spot issues like missed deadlines, inconsistent data, recurring mistakes, or tasks bottlenecking because one person or process can’t keep up—that’s a red flag. Automation can enforce consistency, reduce error-prone manual touches, and streamline bottlenecks.

5. You’re Spending Too Much Time on Oversight or Firefighting

If you find yourself constantly fixing mistakes, putting out fires, or micromanaging errors instead of focusing on growth, strategic planning, or innovation—that’s a clear signal. In businesses ready for automation, oversight shifts from reacting to preventing. Dashboards, automated alerts, and audit trails can help you stay ahead.

6. You’re Curious or Concerned about Competitive Pressure

Even if your operations are “good enough” now, seeing competitors or peers using automation tools effectively can spark something important: the realization that inefficiency is putting you behind. If you’re exploring options but unsure where to begin, that curiosity is itself a signal that you’re ready.

What to Consider Before You Jump In

Start small, high impact. Pick one process that, when improved, benefits many people.
Measure before and after. If you can track time saved or error rates, you’ll see real ROI, which helps build internal support.
Don’t forget people. Training, change management, and helping staff adapt matter as much as the technology itself.

How Yeo & Yeo Technology Supports Automation

At YYTECH, we help organizations identify where automation will deliver the most significant gains. We work with you to map workflows, integrate the right tools, build automations (from simple ones like system notifications or report triggers to more advanced workflows), and ensure your team is ready for the change. Our managed IT and automation services mean you don’t have to figure everything out in-house.

Automation isn’t about replacing people—it’s about enabling them to focus on what only humans can do: unleash creativity, exercise judgment, and shape strategy. If you see two or more of these signs in your business, chances are you’re already ready. It’s less about whether automation is possible and more about whether you’re prepared to make it work.

Upgrading to Windows 11 is more than a routine software update—it’s an opportunity to make your business faster, more secure, and more productive. While the system looks familiar, it introduces features designed for how we work today: remote, hybrid, and on the go. By understanding what’s new and how it benefits your team, you can turn this upgrade into a real advantage for your business.

A Smarter, More Productive Desktop

Windows 11 introduces a streamlined, modern interface that feels clean and intuitive. The Start button has shifted to the center of the taskbar, creating a balanced layout whether you’re using a keyboard, touchscreen, or stylus. But the upgrades go beyond appearance—they’re built to help your people work more efficiently.

Snap layouts and groups simplify multitasking by arranging windows into organized grids and remembering preferred setups. Virtual desktops let employees separate spaces for projects, meetings, or personal use, reducing clutter and boosting focus. And with File Explorer tabs, navigating and searching for documents is faster than ever.

Tools That Save Time

Windows 11 comes packed with features designed to simplify everyday tasks. Voice typing makes it easy to draft emails or notes hands-free, while Focus Sessions help reduce distractions by silencing notifications. The Widgets panel provides quick access to calendars, tasks, and news—all personalized to the user.

Most importantly, Microsoft Teams is built into the taskbar, making collaboration seamless. Employees can chat, call, or meet without switching apps, while file sharing and calendar integration keep work moving. For businesses already using Microsoft 365, the connection between Teams, Outlook, and Office apps is tighter than ever.

Security You Don’t Have to Think About

Cybersecurity remains top of mind for businesses, and Windows 11 strengthens protection in ways that work quietly in the background. It leverages hardware-based safeguards like the TPM 2.0 chip to help prevent ransomware and unauthorized access. Windows Hello provides faster, more secure logins without the hassle of passwords, and automatic updates ensure devices are protected with the latest security patches.

Combined with Microsoft Defender and phishing protection, these features give businesses enterprise-grade security without constant interruptions. However, like any tool, their effectiveness increases when paired with strong cybersecurity policies and managed IT support.

Simpler Device Management

Whether your business has five employees or fifty, keeping devices up to date and secure can be challenging. Windows 11 simplifies this process with cloud-based management. Devices can be configured automatically through Microsoft 365—meaning new team members can log in with their work email and have everything set up in minutes.

For businesses working with a managed IT provider, this makes it easier to enforce security policies, push updates, or even remotely lock a lost device. It’s a step toward greater efficiency and peace of mind.

Built for Flexibility

Today’s teams expect to work across devices, locations, and tools—Windows 11 is designed for that. It adapts seamlessly to laptops, desktops, tablets, and 2-in-1 devices, while Phone Link keeps mobile notifications, messages, and calls connected to the desktop. Accessibility tools are also more powerful and customizable, ensuring every employee can work comfortably.

For businesses using a mix of cloud and desktop apps, compatibility won’t be an issue. Most Windows 10 applications run smoothly on Windows 11, and many perform better thanks to performance upgrades. Integrating Microsoft 365 and cloud services like OneDrive and SharePoint keeps everything accessible and secure.

Looking Ahead: AI in Windows 11

Microsoft continues to invest heavily in Windows 11, with artificial intelligence playing a growing role. Features like Microsoft Copilot are rolling out to help employees draft emails, summarize meetings, and automate routine tasks. By staying current, your business benefits from these innovations as they arrive.

Getting the Most from Your Upgrade

Making the most of Windows 11 isn’t just about turning on a new device—it’s about configuring it to support your business goals. From security settings to productivity features, the right setup ensures your team gets the benefits without the headaches.

At Yeo & Yeo Technology, we help organizations implement and manage Windows 11 in ways that maximize productivity and security. Whether it’s training your team on new features, streamlining device management, or adding layers of cybersecurity protection, our team ensures your technology works for you.

Windows 11 is more than an operating system upgrade. It’s a platform designed for modern work—fast, secure, and flexible. With the right support, your business can take full advantage.

Information used in this article was provided by our partners at MSP Marketing Edge.

When your IT help desk drags, your business pays in real ways.

Many small and midsized businesses live with slow help desks simply because “that’s how it’s always been.” A printer won’t connect, email is broken, or a system lags, and instead of a quick fix, you wait. Tickets stretch from minutes to hours, sometimes days.

You might tell yourself it’s a minor annoyance, but those delays stack up. With poor response and extended resolution times, you’re silently losing productivity, frustrating employees, and risking client satisfaction. And that’s before hidden costs like lost opportunity and damaged reputation kick in.

The Real Business Pain Behind the Wait

When responses are slow, the impact isn’t just technical. Here’s what you’re really facing:

Frustrated staff: Your employees lose confidence in internal systems and feel helpless when support takes too long.
Lost productivity: Every minute waiting for help is downtime. For small businesses, that can mean $137 to $427 per minute in losses.
Disrupted workflows and missed deadlines: When your team is blocked, projects stall, making it harder to meet client expectations.
Hidden financial bleed: Even “small” tickets add up—when your IT provider bills extra for “emergency labor” or after-hours work, those small fixes become costly.
Damaged trust: Clients expect reliability. When your internal operations lag, it reflects outward.

Why Q4 Is the Time to Act

You may think you’ll switch at some point, but waiting pushes more pain into the future. Q4 gives you a strategic window to act:

Use remaining 2025 budget: Invest now before it expires.
Plan for Q1 transitions: Your staff returns from the holidays to better, faster support—not more frustration.
Vendor and provider incentives: Many technology and service providers offer discounts at year-end.
Lock in improved service in 2026: Don’t start the year stuck with bad IT. Switch now so you can launch the 2026 productively.

Let this quarter be the one where you refuse to settle for slow IT.

Switching to Yeo & Yeo Technology Is Easier Than You Think

Many companies avoid switching providers because they fear disruption. But with YYTECH, change is seamless. For decades, Michigan businesses have relied on us to make onboarding easy, behind the scenes, and productive from day one.

Here’s how we do it:

Documented onboarding process: We transition clients using a proven framework that keeps teams productive under the hood.
Behind-the-scenes work: Your systems shift while your staff stays focused on their tasks.
Local, responsive support: You’ll never wait days to hear back.
No surprise fees: We believe in transparency—no “emergency labor” billing surprises.
Decades of trust: Yeo & Yeo Technology has been doing this for Michigan businesses for 40 years.

With us, you don’t just switch IT providers—you gain a trusted partner rooted in your community.

Stop Letting Your IT Slow You Down

If your team is waiting, your business is losing. Stop settling for delays and uncertainty.

Turn your IT from a liability to a tool for growth.

👉 Schedule a consultation today and see how Yeo & Yeo Technology makes switching effortless, so you can start 2026 with IT that works for you.

A Recap of Our September Webinar

On September 9, Yeo & Yeo Technology proudly hosted an interactive webinar, “How to Build Copilot Agents to Automate Your Business,” presented by Software Consultant Adam Seitz. The session drew over 90 registrants from across several industries, who were eager to explore how Microsoft Copilot Agents can transform their business.

If you missed the live event, you can watch the full recording here: Webinar Recording.

Here’s a summary of what we covered at the webinar and how Yeo & Yeo Technology can help your business with the power of Copilot AI Agents.

What Are Copilot Agents?

Copilot Agents are more than just smart assistants. Think of them as digital co-workers that can:

Respond to employee or customer questions.
Act autonomously to complete multi-step tasks.
Handle repetitive business processes so your team can focus on higher-value work.

Unlike traditional chatbots, Copilot Agents are specialized, secure, and deeply integrated into your Microsoft 365 environment, ensuring data protection while extending automation across your business.

How They’re Built

During the webinar, Adam walked attendees through the four key steps to building an effective Copilot Agent:

Identify – Define the process or workflow you want to automate.
Connect – Integrate relevant systems and data sources.
Create – Build the flows and logic in Copilot Studio.
Review – Test, refine, and publish your Agent for users.

This structured approach ensures your agents are aligned with business needs and deliver measurable results.

Real-World Agent Examples

Adam shared practical demonstrations showing how Copilot Agents can support everyday business scenarios:

Document Review Agent that automatically scans and summarizes files.
Purchase Order Workflow Agent that processes approvals and updates records.
New Hire Onboarding Agent that manages tasks like sending emails, scheduling meetings, and updating systems.

These examples highlight how quickly Copilot Agents can be tailored to fit specific business workflows, eliminating repetitive manual tasks.

The Key Benefits of Copilot Agents

The presentation emphasized four core benefits for businesses adopting Copilot Agents:

Time Savings – Free employees from manual processes.
Consistency – Standardize workflows and reduce human error.
Improved Employee Experience – Empower teams with automation that removes friction.
Better Customer Experience – Respond faster and more consistently to client needs.

Yeo & Yeo Technology and the Power of Automation

At Yeo & Yeo Technology, we go beyond explaining the benefits of Copilot AI Agents. We help you put them to work in your business. Our process ensures that automation is not only implemented but also secure, practical, and aligned to your goals.

Here’s how we help you get started:

Assess Your Readiness: We evaluate your existing workflows and technology stack to identify the best opportunities for automation.
Design & Build Agents: Our team guides you step by step through agent design, securely connecting your systems and tailoring agents to your business needs.
Implement Securely: We ensure your Copilot Agents are deployed safely, with the right governance, permissions, and compliance protections in place.
Support & Optimize: After launch, we provide ongoing monitoring and refinements, so your agents continue to deliver measurable business outcomes.

Whether you’re taking your first steps with AI or scaling automation across multiple departments, Yeo & Yeo Technology gives you the roadmap, tools, and expertise to succeed.

Start Automating Today

Copilot Agents empower small and mid-size businesses to automate complex, multi-step workflows intelligently, freeing up time, reducing errors, and enabling teams to focus on strategic growth instead of repetitive tasks

👉 Schedule a Consultation with Yeo & Yeo Technology and find out how Copilot Agents can save you time, boost consistency, and improve employee and customer experiences.

Can we rely on email filters to stop phishing attacks?

Email filters help, but they’re not foolproof. Staff training and awareness are just as important to stop someone from clicking on a dangerous link.

How long should we keep old employee accounts active?

You shouldn’t. Unused accounts are a security risk, and they should be disabled or deleted as soon as someone leaves.

Is it OK if staff share logins for tools we only have one license for?

No. It’s risky and could breach licensing agreements. It’s better (and safer) to have proper accounts for everyone.

Information used in this article was provided by our partners at MSP Marketing Edge.

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. It’s a time to spotlight the growing risks businesses face online and the steps they can take to stay safe. It’s also the perfect season to sit back with a refreshing beer and enjoy Michigan’s beautiful fall weather.

At Yeo & Yeo Technology, we know cybersecurity can sometimes feel abstract or overwhelming. We want to make it go down smoothly. That’s why we’re pairing some of today’s biggest cyber risks with unique brews from our friends at Midland Brewing Company, a proud Michigan business and valued Yeo & Yeo Technology client.

Like every craft beer has its distinctive flavor, each cyberthreat carries a unique “profile.” And every Michigan business needs to understand what’s on tap.

Here are the pairings:

Ransomware – Oktoberfest

Ransomware is one of the most damaging cyber threats today, locking businesses out of their systems until a ransom is paid. Global damages are expected to surpass $20 billion this year, according to CISA, and small businesses are no less vulnerable than large enterprises. We’ve paired this threat with Oktoberfest because, like the bold flavor of a fall brew, ransomware hits hard and fast.

Michigan businesses can defend themselves by backing up data regularly, training employees to spot suspicious emails, and preparing an incident response plan before disaster strikes.

Malware – Boom Run Oatmeal Stout

Malware, malicious software designed to steal data or disrupt operations, remains a major risk for businesses of all sizes. Even something as simple as downloading a compromised attachment can infect your systems, slow productivity, and expose sensitive information. The richness of Boom Run Oatmeal Stout reflects the “weight” of malware, which often runs quietly in the background until it causes serious damage.

Protecting against malware means patching software, using strong endpoint protection, and deploying monitoring tools to catch unusual activity before it spreads.

Phishing – Dam Good Beer

Phishing continues to be the number one entry point for cyberattacks, with Microsoft reporting that 91% of incidents start with a deceptive email. Just like Dam Good Beer lives up to its name, phishing messages often look good, appearing like they came from a trusted sender, while hiding a dangerous trap.

For Michigan businesses, a single click can compromise an entire network. The best defense is regular employee awareness training combined with multi-factor authentication (MFA), so stolen credentials can’t be reused.

Insider Threats – Copper Harbor Ale

Not all threats come from outside. Insider threats, whether intentional or accidental, pose unique risks, particularly for industries like healthcare and finance where sensitive data is involved. The Copper Harbor Ale pairing reminds us that threats can come from “inside the harbor,” bypassing traditional defenses.

Mitigation strategies include limiting access to sensitive information, enforcing role-based permissions, and monitoring user activity to catch risky behavior early.

Data Breaches – OPE! Michigan Hopped IPA

Few things make business owners say “Ope!” like discovering customer or financial data has been exposed. Data breaches are costly and widespread, with IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report finding the global average breach cost climbed to $4.45 million.

The crisp bite of Michigan Hopped IPA mirrors the sharp sting of a breach that impacts reputation, compliance, and customer trust.

To avoid becoming a statistic, Michigan businesses should encrypt sensitive information, enforce strong password policies, and invest in continuous monitoring that identifies intrusions before they escalate.

Yeo & Yeo Technology: Keeping Michigan Businesses Safe Year-Round

Every cyberthreat on this list, from ransomware to data breaches, requires more than just software to stop. It takes the right mix of technology, processes, and people. That’s where Yeo & Yeo Technology comes in.

We help Michigan businesses stay protected with:

Managed IT and cybersecurity services that monitor threats 24/7
Advanced endpoint protection to block malware before it spreads
Email security and training programs that reduce phishing risks
Access controls and compliance support to prevent insider threats
Data backup and recovery solutions that ensure ransomware never wins

With over 40 years of experience supporting Michigan businesses, our team provides the layered defenses you need to stay one step ahead of today’s most dangerous cyberthreats.

Take Action This Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility. As threats grow more sophisticated, now is the time to evaluate your defenses. How safe is your business from these threats? What vulnerabilities don’t you know about?

Schedule your complimentary cyber risk assessment today.

Our cybersecurity specialists will review your current posture and provide clear recommendations to protect your business. Raise a glass to security this Cybersecurity Awareness Month, because when your business is safe, every pour is a good one.

Cyberattacks that once seemed like isolated incidents are now hitting industry giants back-to-back, disrupting operations and exposing sensitive data. This is happening for major brands and should serve as a warning for small businesses across the country, too.

United Natural Foods (UNFI): The grocery distributor for Whole Foods and over 30,000 retailers had to shut down critical systems after detecting unauthorized access. Ordering stopped, shelves went empty, and losses may reach $400 million.
Aflac Insurance: Attackers gained entry through social engineering, exposing Social Security numbers, claims data, and personal information. The breach was stopped quickly but still affected millions and shows how fast attackers can pivot.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR): A cyber incident forced a global shutdown of IT systems, halting production lines and disrupting dealerships during a peak sales period. While customer data appears safe, the operational paralysis was massive.

Michigan Small Businesses in the Crosshairs

If billion-dollar companies with global resources can be crippled, how would a Michigan manufacturer, healthcare office, or nonprofit fare? The truth is sobering; most small and mid-sized organizations would not recover quickly, if at all.

Smaller businesses don’t have cybersecurity teams, can’t afford weeks of downtime, and don’t have the financial cushion to absorb prolonged losses. For businesses that handle sensitive data, financial records, patient information, and donor details, an incident can also mean regulatory fines and reputational damage that lasts for years.

Cybercrime is no longer a distant threat. These attacks prove it’s accelerating, becoming more targeted, and spreading across industries once thought “safe.”

Yeo & Yeo’s Advice: Urgency Over Complacency

This is not the time to wait and see. Every day without a plan is a day of exposure. Here’s where to act now:

Strengthen defenses at the human layer. Social engineering remains the easiest way in. Train your staff and enforce phishing-resistant MFA across accounts.
Know your business-critical systems. Identify which applications, vendors, or platforms would stop operations if compromised.
Test your incident response. A plan in a binder isn’t enough. Walk through a breach scenario with your leadership team and staff.
Keep communication ready. Clients, patients, and partners will judge you as much by how you respond as by what was lost.
Don’t rely on “it won’t happen here.” The attacks on UNFI, Aflac, and JLR show no industry, size, or geography is immune.

Act Before It’s Too Late

Every business owner has to ask: If a cyberattack hits today, how long would we survive offline?

Schedule a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment with Yeo & Yeo.

Uncover vulnerabilities, prepare your staff, and build a practical response plan, so your business isn’t left paralyzed when the next attack makes headlines.