There’s a common misconception that the larger your organisation, the more attractive you are as a target for hackers and other adversaries. In reality, there’s a lot more to it. For example, companies that hold a lot of sensitive, confidential and/or financial data make very appealing “marks”, regardless of their size. Also, many hackers are lazy and will take the path of least resistance wherever possible.

All of which means that small and mid-size businesses experiencing rapid growth - with their valuable data, expanding digital footprints, and often stretched resources - can easily become the focus of a hacker’s malicious intentions.

At Talanos, we've witnessed how this combination creates significant risk for our customers. This is borne out by the UK government’s Cyber security breaches survey 2024, which states that half of businesses (50%) report having experienced some form of cyber security breach or attack in the last 12 months, with the number increasing to 70% for medium-sized businesses.

The good news? By implementing five strategic cybersecurity measures, your scaleup can dramatically reduce its attack surface and build resilience against a multitude of threats. Here's how to protect your business as you scale:

1. Implement robust Identity and Access Management (IAM)

As your team expands, controlling who has access to what becomes increasingly complex - and ever more critical. During rapid growth phases, access control often becomes disorganised, creating security gaps that attackers eagerly exploit. In fact, according to Verizon's Data Breach Investigations Report, over 80% of breaches within the hacking category are caused by stolen or brute-forced credentials.

What you can do:

• Deploy multi-factor authentication (MFA) across all systems and applications
• Implement role-based access controls aligned with the principle of least privilege
• Establish automated onboarding/offboarding processes as employee numbers fluctuate
• Conduct quarterly access reviews to identify and remove unnecessary permissions
• Consider password-less authentication options to improve both security and user experience

2. Develop and test an Incident Response Plan

Many scaleups operate under the assumption that breaches happen to other companies. Which is true, until it happens to you. The really scary part is that you may not even know about it. Staggeringly, the average time to identify and contain a breach is 258, as reported in IBM’s Cost of Data Breach Report 2024. For scaleups, where reputation and customer trust are still being established, such prolonged exposure can be existentially threatening.

What you can do:

• Document a clear incident response plan with defined roles and responsibilities
• Include communication templates for customers, partners, and regulatory bodies
• Establish relationships with forensic specialists before you need them
• Run regular tabletop exercises to test your plan (at least quarterly)
• Create a secure backup strategy with offline copies that are regularly tested

3. Invest in security awareness training

Your employees represent both your greatest weakness and your strongest security asset, and recent studies continue to highlight the significant role of human error in cybersecurity breaches. A 2024 report by Mimecast revealed that human mistakes contributed to a staggering 95% of data breaches, surpassing technological flaws as a contributing factor.

As scaleups rapidly hire and onboard new team members, the risk of security mistakes multiplies.

What you can do:

• Implement engaging, ongoing security training (not just annual compliance sessions)
• Conduct regular phishing simulations tailored to your industry and current threats
• Create clear security policies written in plain language
• Establish a security champion program across departments
• Reward and recognise good security behaviours

4. Implement comprehensive Endpoint protection

As your workforce grows and becomes more mobile, your attack surface expands dramatically through a proliferation of devices accessing your systems. Endpoints (laptops, mobile devices, workstations) represent the most common entry point for cyber attacks, and traditional anti-virus solutions simply cannot keep pace with today's advanced threats, especially in dynamic, growing environments.

What you can do:

• Deploy next-generation endpoint protection with AI-powered threat detection
• Implement endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities to identify suspicious behaviours
• Enforce device encryption, patch management, and security baselines
• Create and enforce a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy if applicable
• Establish remote device wiping capabilities for lost or stolen devices

5. Establish Proactive Vulnerability Management

You can't protect what you don't know exists. As scaleups grow, their IT environments become increasingly complex and difficult to track. Unpatched vulnerabilities remain one of the most common attack vectors, as highlighted in a 2024 report from Sophos revealing that 32% of ransomware attacks began with the exploitation of unpatched vulnerabilities. For rapidly growing businesses adding new systems and applications, maintaining visibility and patching vulnerabilities becomes exponentially more challenging.

What you can do:

• Implement automated asset discovery to maintain an up-to-date inventory
• Conduct regular vulnerability scans across your entire environment
• Prioritise remediation based on risk to business-critical systems
• Establish patch management procedures with clear SLAs
• Perform periodic penetration testing to identify vulnerabilities before attackers do

Building security that scales with your business

The most successful scaleups recognise that security isn't just about protection - it's a business enabler. Strong security practices accelerate sales cycles, build customer trust, and prevent the harmful disruptions that can derail growth trajectories.

While implementing these five measures is crucial, many scaleups find that building and maintaining comprehensive security programs diverts valuable resources from their core business. This is where partnering with a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) can provide significant advantages:

• Access to 24/7 security monitoring without building an in-house SOC
• Leverage cutting-edge AI and machine learning security tools without large capital investments
• Tap into expertise across multiple security domains as needed
• Scale security capabilities in line with business growth
• Meet compliance requirements with expert guidance

At Talanos, we specialise in helping scaleups implement these five critical security measures through our managed security services. Our managed security services, provide enterprise-grade protection that evolves with your business, allowing you to focus on what you do best - growing your company.

Ready to build cybersecurity resilience that scales with your business? Contact our team today to learn how our tailored security services can protect your scaleup from evolving cyber threats.