In Ottawa’s competitive SMB ecosystem, robust Ottawa small business IT support is the foundation of operational resilience. From PCI-DSS compliance in retail to PIPEDA alignment in healthcare, proactive IT management mitigates risks and maximizes ROI. Bedrock IT delivers enterprise-grade solutions calibrated for small-business budgets.
1. Deploy Next-Generation Firewalls with UTM Stacks
Legacy packet filters are obsolete. Implement NGFW appliances with UTM (Unified Threat Management) modules—IPS, AV, content filtering, and application-layer visibility. Segment VLANs to isolate POS terminals from guest Wi-Fi, reducing lateral movement in ransomware attacks. For Ottawa small business IT support, Bedrock IT configures pfSense or FortiGate clusters with HA failover under 50 ms.
2. Enforce Zero-Trust Network Access via SDP
Replace perimeter-based VPNs with Software-Defined Perimeter architectures. Authenticate every device with 802.1X and MFA before granting micro-segmented access. Bedrock IT’s ZTNA deployment leverages Cloudflare Access or Microsoft Azure AD Conditional Access, ensuring Ottawa small business IT support meets CSE Top-10 mitigation strategies.
3. Automate Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
Static AV signatures fail against fileless malware. Roll out EDR agents (CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne, or Microsoft Defender for Endpoint) with behavioral analytics and automated containment. Bedrock IT centralizes logs into a SIEM—Splunk or Elastic—correlating events across Ottawa SMB endpoints in real time.
4. Implement Immutable Backups with 3-2-1-1-0 Rule
Ransomware encrypts air-gapped tapes too. Follow the 3-2-1-1-0 paradigm: three copies, two local media types, one off-site immutable (Wasabi or Veeam on Linux hardened repository), one offline, zero errors on recovery tests. Bedrock IT scripts daily synthetic fulls and quarterly fire-drills for Ottawa small business IT support clients.
5. Harden Microsoft 365 with Intune and Defender ATP
Most Ottawa SMBs run M365 Business Premium. Enable Intune MAM/MDM policies: require BitLocker, block legacy authentication, and enforce CIS Level 1 benchmarks. Bedrock IT automates conditional access policies—block logins from non-compliant devices or anomalous geolocations.
6. Outsource NOC/SOC for 24/7 Coverage
In-house monitoring scales poorly. Partner with a Managed NOC/SOC using RMM tools (ConnectWise, N-central) and SOAR playbooks. Bedrock IT’s Ottawa-based NOC achieves MTTD under 5 minutes and MTTR under 30 minutes for P1 incidents, aligning with ITIL v4 best practices.
7. Conduct Quarterly Third-Party Penetration Tests
Annual audits miss evolving TTPs. Schedule black-box, grey-box, and red-team exercises per OWASP and MITRE ATT&CK frameworks. Bedrock IT’s CREST-certified pentesters deliver executive summaries and remediation roadmaps, keeping Ottawa small business IT support ahead of threat actors.
Ready to fortify your infrastructure? Contact Bedrock IT today for a complimentary security posture evaluation.
Phone: 613.702.5505
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://ottawa-it-services.ca/
