For a long time, the usual answer to "are we protected?" was: let's do an audit. After years of working with SMBs, our view is more nuanced.
The problem with 300-page reports
Automated audit tools produce massive reports. They flag hundreds of items, many requiring further technical validation without demonstrating an exploitable vulnerability. For a business leader, the result is often the same: an impressive document, hard to interpret, and few concrete decisions.
SMBs mostly need to know what to do, in what order and with what resources.
Three complementary approaches
A technical audit measures vulnerabilities with tools. It makes sense for complex infrastructure, contractual requirements or after major changes.
A penetration test simulates an attack by an authorized specialist. It suits more mature or highly exposed organizations.
A guided review of essential safeguards checks, with leadership and the IT provider, whether basic protections are really in place, with evidence. It produces a prioritized action plan leadership can understand.
Our recommendation
For most SMBs with 10 to 100 employees, starting with a guided review offers the best value for effort. It fixes the most common gaps (authentication, backups, access rights, employee departures) and determines whether a technical audit is truly needed, and for what scope.
That is the approach behind the Cyber & AI Assessment and the Cyberallié Shield. When a technical test is warranted, we help you define the need and hand it to a specialist. See our approach.