An Irish SME with no security strategy should start with a 90-day roadmap: a clear, practical plan that tells you exactly what to do, in what order, and why it matters — no jargon, no overwhelm, no massive budget required.
You don't need to be perfect, implement everything at once, or hire a full security team. The roadmap is designed for Irish SMEs with 20-200 employees — practical, achievable, and affordable — and breaks the work into three monthly phases: Foundation, Protection, and Resilience.
The Reality for Irish SMEs
But here's the truth: you don't need to be perfect. You don't need to implement everything at once. You don't need to hire a full security team. What you need is a clear, practical roadmap that tells you exactly what to do, in what order, and why it matters.
- 43% of cyber attacks target small businesses
- €110K average cost of a data breach for an SME
- 60% of SMEs close within 6 months of a major breach
4 Quick Wins You Can Do This Week
These four actions will dramatically improve your security posture immediately.
Enable MFA everywhere
Blocks 99% of account attacks
Automate backups
Recover from ransomware in hours
Train your team
Reduce phishing clicks by 70%
Patch regularly
Close known vulnerabilities
Your 90-Day Security Roadmap
Designed for Irish SMEs with 20-200 employees. Practical, achievable, and affordable.
Month 1: Foundation
Week 1 — Quick security assessment to understand where you stand. Week 2 — Identify critical assets and sensitive data. Week 3 — Enable MFA on all business accounts. Week 4 — Set up automated backups with offline copy.
Month 2: Protection
Week 5 — Deploy email security (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). Week 6 — Implement endpoint protection across all devices. Week 7 — Establish access controls and least privilege. Week 8 — Run first phishing awareness session.
Month 3: Resilience
Week 9 — Create incident response plan. Week 10 — Review and patch all systems. Week 11 — Test backup restoration process. Week 12 — Document policies and plan next quarter.
What Happens After 90 Days?
After completing this roadmap, your business will have the foundational security controls that protect against the most common threats. You'll have MFA, backups, email security, endpoint protection, and an incident response plan.
From there, you can choose to continue building on your own, or bring in expert guidance to take your security to the next level with a vCISO engagement.