Most Ohio small business owners either spend too little on cybersecurity (believing they are too small to be targeted) or spend inefficiently (layering tools without strategy). This guide provides a framework for thinking about cybersecurity spending — what the actual risk exposure is, what different protection levels cost, and how to make a rational business decision about investment.
The starting point for any cybersecurity budget discussion is the cost of the alternative. For an Ohio SMB, the relevant risks are:
Industry analyst firms recommend cybersecurity spending of 10–15% of total IT budget for most organizations. For Ohio SMBs spending $3,000–$10,000 per month on IT, that translates to $300–$1,500 per month on security — which buys varying levels of protection depending on how it is deployed.
A more useful frame is per-user cost: Securafy's Secure-CARE tier ($155–$185/user/month) includes the full prevention-first security stack — ThreatLocker Zero Trust, 24/7 SOC, SIEM, EDR, dark web monitoring, and compliance documentation. For a 25-person company, that is approximately $4,000–$4,600/month all-inclusive.
Under $50/user/month: Basic antivirus, patch management, and reactive help desk. No proactive security, no compliance, no SOC coverage. This is the "reactive model" — fine until an incident occurs.
$95–$115/user/month (Essential-CARE): Full managed IT foundation — 24/7 NOC, automated patching, M365, EDR, backup, dark web monitoring, and the CSA portal. Solid baseline with some security coverage.
$155–$185/user/month (Secure-CARE): Prevention-First security — ThreatLocker Zero Trust, Cyber Hero MDR, SIEM, 24/7 human SOC, advanced identity protection. This is where the zero-ransomware track record lives.
$210–$260/user/month (Comply-CARE): Full GRC + security — adds vCISO advisory, quarterly pen testing, and complete compliance management for regulated industries.
The ROI calculation is straightforward: Annual breach probability × average breach cost × reduction in probability with Securafy = expected annual value of the program. A 30% annual breach probability × $1.85M average cost = $555,000 in expected annual loss without protection. Secure-CARE for a 25-person company costs approximately $52,000 per year. The expected value of protection far exceeds the cost in virtually every scenario.
No — this is one of the most dangerous myths in cybersecurity. Attackers increasingly target small businesses precisely because they have fewer defenses, less experienced IT support, and often hold valuable data (financial records, client data, healthcare information). Verizon's Data Breach Investigations Report consistently shows that SMBs represent a significant proportion of total breach victims.
At minimum: MFA enforced on all business accounts (free or low-cost), automated patch management for all endpoints, a modern EDR solution (not just antivirus), encrypted cloud backup with tested recovery, dark web monitoring, and basic security awareness training. This baseline is included in Securafy's Essential-CARE tier at $95–$115/user/month.
Cyber insurance is not a substitute for a security program — it is a complement to one. Carriers increasingly require specific technical controls as conditions of coverage. Investing in security controls reduces your premium (demonstrating lower risk) while also reducing the likelihood of filing a claim. The net economics almost always favor investing in prevention over relying on insurance.
For most Ohio SMBs under 200 employees, building an equivalent in-house security program is significantly more expensive than engaging an MSP. A security analyst salary in Ohio averages $85,000–$120,000 — plus benefits, tools, and management overhead. An MSP provides depth of expertise, enterprise-grade tooling, and 24/7 coverage at a fraction of the fully-loaded cost of equivalent internal resources.
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