Columbia, SCCybersecurity for small businesses
EmberGuard Security Small businesses are prime targets. Find your weak spots first, free.
EmberGuard Security gives Columbia-area offices a free vulnerability assessment: a plain-English scorecard of your biggest risks, before they cost you money or your clients’ trust.
- Written authorization before any work
- No obligation
- Local to Columbia, SC
Why it matters
Every 31 seconds, someone reports a cybercrime to the FBI.
“Small businesses are attractive targets because they have information that cybercriminals want, and they typically lack the security infrastructure of larger businesses.”
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$630+
lost to cybercrime reported to the FBI every second in 2025
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$3.05B
lost in 2025 to business email scams, where criminals pose as a boss or vendor to redirect payments
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1,008,597
cybercrime reports to the FBI in 2025
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$264M
lost by South Carolinians in 2025, up from $146M in 2024
Figures: FBI 2025 Internet Crime Report and FBI Columbia. Quote: U.S. Small Business Administration.
The real cost
It costs more than money.
A breach doesn’t stay inside your office. For a small business, the damage to trust can outlast the bill.
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You have to tell your clients.
South Carolina law requires notifying affected residents. Past 1,000 people, the state’s consumer protection office and the credit bureaus must be told too.
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Your email turns on your clients.
A hijacked inbox sends fake invoices and wire instructions from your real address, to people who trust it.
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Some breaches go public.
Medical and dental breaches affecting 500 or more patients are posted on a federal website anyone can search.
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Work stops.
Ransomware can lock your files and systems. Clients notice the missed closings, filings, and appointments.
Find your weak spots before someone else does.
Request your free assessmentSources: S.C. Code § 39-1-90; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Your free assessment
Five numbers that show where you stand
Every assessment measures the same five things, plus your top three risks ranked by severity. We start with remote checks and visit your office when your setup needs it. Your scorecard arrives within a week.
We also check that your email and files are backed up. Microsoft doesn’t back up your data the way most owners assume.
Security scorecard
- Critical and high-risk flaws on the network
- 14
- Recommended account settings in place
- 58%
- Email spoofing protection
- Partial
- Staff email addresses found in data breaches
- 9
- Services anyone on the internet can reach
- 2
Top risks
- Remote access is open to the internetCritical
- Email accounts don’t require two-step sign-inHigh
- Anyone can send email that looks like yoursHigh
- Email has no backup, so a deleted mailbox is gone for goodMedium
What’s working: the office router’s software is up to date.
Illustrative example, not a real client’s results.
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Network flaws
Known weaknesses on your computers, servers, and network equipment. These are the openings ransomware uses.
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Account security
How well your email and user accounts are protected, and whether a stolen password alone would let someone in.
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Email spoofing protection
Whether criminals can send email that looks like it came from your business address. This is how wire-fraud emails get sent.
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Leaked accounts
Staff email addresses found in known data breaches, often alongside passwords criminals already have.
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Internet exposure
Anything on your network that anyone online can reach, like remote access left open.
How it works
Start free. Everything after is your call.
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Free
Assessment
We check your network, email, accounts, and backups, then give you the scorecard and your top three risks.
What’s included -
Quoted per project
Remediation
If you want the risks fixed, you get a flat price in writing. You choose what gets done, and every fix is checked.
How remediation works -
Optional · Monthly
Monitoring
Monthly settings checks, breach alerts, and a one-page report, so new problems get caught early.
What monitoring covers
How we work
A small local team.
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Written authorization first
Nothing is scanned until we’ve both signed a scope that says exactly what’s covered and when.
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Works with your IT provider
If you have an IT person or company, they get the plan in writing before any work starts.
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Confidential by default
Findings are stored encrypted and securely deleted when our work together ends.
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No pressure
The scorecard is yours to keep, whether or not you hire us for anything else.
Who it’s for
Small offices that handle sensitive information
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Real estate & title
Closings and wire instructions make you a target for email fraud. Business email scams cost South Carolinians $64.5M in 2025.
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Law firms
Client files and privileged email have to stay private.
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CPA & accounting
Tax records and Social Security numbers are exactly what identity thieves want.
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Dental & medical
Patient records and practice software you can’t afford to lose to ransomware.
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Property management
Tenant applications, bank details, and a lot of logins across a lot of portals.
Don’t wait to find out the hard way.
The assessment is free, with no obligation. Serving Columbia and the Midlands.
Get started
Request your free assessment
Leave your details and we’ll take it from there. Want to tell us more first? Use the full request form.