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Showing 121–132 of 396 articles
The Texas DIR Cybersecurity Star Program creates a tiered cybersecurity certification for vendors selling to Texas state agencies. For Texas IT firms competing for state and DIR Co-op contracts, certification is rapidly becoming a procurement requirement.
Microsoft Sentinel is now within reach for Texas SMBs in the 100-500 employee range — particularly those on M365 E5. This is the practitioner reference for what to ingest, how to budget, and what value to expect.
Protective DNS is one of the lowest-cost, highest-leverage security controls available to Texas SMBs — and one of the least deployed. It stops threats before a connection is ever made. Here is what it catches.
The average Texas SMB Microsoft 365 tenant has 50-200 OAuth-connected third-party apps, most consented by individual users without IT review. Each is a persistent backdoor into your data. Here is the governance approach.
Intune is bundled in Business Premium and E3/E5 but rarely configured beyond basic enrollment. Device compliance policies are the connective tissue that makes Conditional Access actually enforce. Here is the practitioner setup.
A real tabletop exercise costs 3-4 hours of leadership time and prevents 6-12 months of post-incident regret. Most Texas SMB tabletops are theater. Here is how to run one that actually works.
Microsoft's tiered administration model is the single highest-leverage AD security control most Texas SMBs haven't deployed. A 90-day rollout closes the most-exploited lateral movement path used in modern ransomware.
BEC is the highest-dollar-loss cyber crime affecting Texas businesses — far exceeding ransomware in aggregate FBI IC3 losses. This is the layered defense playbook for finance teams that actually move money.
Secure Access Service Edge consolidates SD-WAN, ZTNA, SWG, CASB, and FWaaS into a unified cloud-delivered network security stack. For Texas SMBs with hybrid workforces, SASE is the architecture that finally fits 2026 work patterns.
DMARC enforcement is a 2026 baseline, not the finish line. Texas SMBs that stop at p=reject are missing DKIM key rotation, ARC for forwarders, and BIMI for inbox brand trust.
Microsoft sells five different products with "Defender" in the name and they are not interchangeable. This is the practitioner decision guide for Texas SMBs choosing between Defender for Business, Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Cloud, Defender for Identity, and Defender XDR.
A test restore confirms the backup file opens. It does not confirm the application starts, the database is consistent, the integrations work, or the RTO will be met. Modern recovery validation is broader and more honest.