Cybersecurity is no longer the exclusive concern of large corporations. In fact, the opposite is becoming true. In 2025, nearly half of all cyberattacks were directed at small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
One of the most striking incidents this year was the cyberattack on Co-Op in April, which disrupted services nationwide and exposed sensitive customer data. The Chief Executive admitting that data of all 6.5 million members had been stolen in the attack. For an organisation with a long-standing reputation for trust, the damage was not only financial but reputational and regulatory. And worse, they're not alone in being the victims of such acts this year.
For SMBs, the message should be loud and clear: no one is off the radar.
Smaller businesses are increasingly attractive targets to cybersecurity threat. This is due to a perceived lack of investment in appropriate security, lean IT teams, and inconsistent controls. But this doesn’t have to be the case. With the right tools and approach, SMBs can build robust, proactive defences that rival those of much larger organisations.
At Intec, we’re partnered with industry leaders—Ubiquiti, Zyxel, and NetAlly—to help SMBs and their IT providers deploy advanced, cost-effective, manageable, and intelligent security solutions. These tools are not just about building higher walls; they’re about gaining full visibility, control, and resilience across the entire IT estate—from cloud to core to edge.
The New Threat Landscape for Small Businesses
The digital threats facing SMBs are not hypothetical they’re very real, and increasingly sophisticated. In today’s environment, a small firm might be targeted simply because it provides services to a larger organisation, or because it’s more likely to have vulnerable, unpatched systems. While cybercriminals once focused their efforts on banks and multinational corporations, they now look for soft targets often finding them in local retailers, logistics firms, medical clinics, and professional services.
These attacks are rarely random. Tactics such as ransomware, phishing, and social engineering are tailored to exploit human error and outdated infrastructure. At the same time, insider threats whether through carelessness or malice can lead to damaging data leaks or compliance failures. Most SMBs don’t have the luxury of a full-time security team, and the consequences of even a short disruption can be devastating. Business downtime, regulatory fines, legal costs, and loss of client trust can all follow a breach.
The Co-Op breach earlier this year underscored just how quickly such incidents can unfold. In that case, attackers reportedly used stolen credentials to bypass legacy systems, gaining access to customer data and causing weeks of disruption. For smaller organisations, this kind of event can be existential.
A Smarter Approach: Intec Micros’ Multi-Layered Security Model
Recognising that no single product can prevent every attack, Intec Micros champions a layered defence strategy. This combines cloud-managed networking solutions with advanced diagnostic and monitoring tools to deliver a complete picture of the network—and the ability to act on it.
Ubiquiti and Zyxel offer cloud-native platforms that simplify and centralise network control, while NetAlly’s tools provide deep visibility into network health, configuration, and unusual behaviour at a physical level. When combined, they create a layered approach to network defence. One that doesn’t just respond to threats but actively helps prevent them and spot issues early.
What’s especially powerful about Intec’s setup is its flexibility. It can be rolled out as a permanent solution or used on a more temporary, pay-as-you-go basis ideal for supporting pop-up locations, short-term events, or remote branches that still need robust protection. In practice, it’s like having a security expert on site whenever and wherever they’re needed, without the overhead of building out a full team.
The Power of Cloud Networking Platforms: Proactive Risk Mitigation
Cloud-managed networking is transforming how SMBs secure and manage their infrastructure. Rather than relying on manual updates or fragmented systems, businesses can now administer their entire network from wireless access points to security gateways through a central cloud dashboard.
Platforms such as Ubiquiti UniFi and Zyxel Nebula provide real-time visibility into devices, traffic, and user behaviour. This holistic view means that unusual activity, such as an unauthorised device connecting to the network or a spike in traffic to a suspicious IP, can be detected and investigated immediately and locked down in real time.
Security policies can also be applied consistently across all sites and devices. Whether an SMB has one location or several, firewall rules, VLAN configurations, and access controls can be deployed from a single interface. This consistency is crucial in preventing misconfigurations, which remain one of the most common causes of security incidents.
Another key advantage of cloud networking is the automation of critical maintenance tasks. Firmware updates, security patches, and device monitoring no longer rely on manual intervention. With automated scheduling and deployment, vulnerabilities are addressed quickly and uniformly—something that’s often overlooked in traditional, on-premise networks.
Zyxel has further enhanced this model with its “Secure by Design” approach. This includes features such as unique default credentials on all devices, enforced multi-factor authentication, and integration with analytics and reporting platforms like SecuReporter. These capabilities ensure that businesses not only detect threats but also understand and document them for compliance and audit readiness.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) plays a particularly important role in this ecosystem. With cloud platforms, MFA can be enforced for VPN access, administrative logins, and even Wi-Fi connections reducing the risk of credential-based attacks, which remain a leading cause of data breaches. Zyxel’s Secure WiFi makes this functionality seamless for both users and administrators.
Network segmentation is another critical function that cloud networking makes more accessible. Creating virtual LANs (VLANs) to isolate finance systems, guest networks, or IoT devices helps prevent attackers from moving laterally through the network once inside. This kind of micro-segmentation is a best practice that’s now within reach for even small businesses.
Finally, cloud networking provides the remote monitoring capabilities that modern businesses increasingly require. Whether working with a managed service provider or an internal resource, administrators can respond to incidents, analyse performance, and apply fixes without needing to be physically present at a location.
Advanced Network Analysis & Protection with NetAlly
While cloud-managed platforms provide strong top-down visibility and control, many threats originate from the ground level. Misconfigured ports, rogue devices, or vulnerabilities in edge equipment often go undetected especially in environments where rapid change, expansion, or decentralised IT support is the norm.
NetAlly’s diagnostic tools help to close this gap. They provide frontline IT staff with the means to quickly discover, validate, and secure all parts of the network.
The NetAlly LinkRunner, for instance, enables real-time discovery of devices and network topology. It can identify which switch port a device is connected to, detect VLAN mismatches, and test the quality of PoE delivery—all within minutes. This helps IT teams not only detect potential threats, such as unauthorised devices or configuration errors, but also reduce mean time to resolution during outages or performance issues.
For deeper analysis, NetAlly Cyberscope offers a powerful suite of capabilities. It can perform comprehensive vulnerability scans, detect rogue access points, and identify all connected edge devices, including IoT and operational technology assets that are often unmanaged. With an intuitive interface and built-in Nmap functionality, even less experienced technicians can run thorough scans to find open ports, unsecured services, or outdated firmware.
Cyberscope also plays a critical role in wireless security, validating Wi-Fi encryption, identifying overlapping SSIDs, and flagging weak configurations across all standard frequency bands, including WiFi 6 and Bluetooth Low Energy. This level of scrutiny is essential in modern hybrid and BYOD environments.
With Link-Live, NetAlly’s cloud-based platform, all test results, logs, and reports are automatically uploaded and stored. This not only supports auditing and compliance but also provides valuable insight for ongoing network optimisation and security improvement.
A Complete Defence Strategy for SMBs
Individually, these solutions are powerful. Together, they provide a truly comprehensive, layered security architecture designed specifically for the needs and realities of SMBs.
Cloud networking platforms from Ubiquiti and Zyxel ensure that security policies are enforced consistently, firmware is always up to date, and administrators can respond quickly to issues from any location. Meanwhile, NetAlly tools enable precise troubleshooting, thorough network discovery, and proactive vulnerability detection—particularly in areas that cloud platforms can’t fully see.
This approach offers more than just protection. It delivers peace of mind, operational continuity, and strategic advantage. It shifts security from a reactive task to a proactive discipline—one that supports rather than hinders business growth.
Intec - Your Partner in Proactive Protection
At Intec Micros, we work closely with IT resellers and SMBs to make this model a reality. Our team offers pre-sales advice, solution design, training, and post-deployment support. We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all packages; we help you tailor a solution that fits your budget, your team, and your business goals.
Through our partnerships with Ubiquiti, Zyxel, and NetAlly, we provide access to the very best tools in the market tools that are affordable, effective, and scalable. And with our expertise and distribution support, you can focus on running your business with confidence, knowing your network is secure.
Cyber Resilience Starts Now
The 2025 Co-Op breach proved that even trusted, established organisations are vulnerable to disruption and data loss. For smaller businesses, the stakes are no less significant. But with the right strategy and the right partners, these risks can be controlled—and even turned into strengths.
Cybersecurity isn’t just about preventing attacks; it’s about building resilience, gaining visibility, and being able to act when the unexpected happens. With Intec Micros by your side, and the powerful capabilities of Ubiquiti, Zyxel, and NetAlly at your fingertips, you can move forward with clarity, control, and confidence.
To learn how you can protect your network from the inside out, contact Intec Micros today.