Domain Digital

The Call That Came Too Late
8:35 PM.
That's when the phone rang last Thursday.
Not a client. Someone I'd never spoken to before.
A managing director of a manufacturing company in Queensland. 47 employees. Family business. Third generation.
Crying.
Not emotional. Crying.
Their systems were locked. Ransomware. The attackers wanted $280,000 AUD. Payroll was due in 10 hours. Production had been down for two days. Their insurance wouldn't cover it because they hadn't completed the security assessment they'd been sent four months ago.

"Can you help us?"

I've been running managed services for over 20 years.
I don’t recall the number of out of hours calls I’ve taken.
But this one was different.
Because the answer was no.
Not "maybe." Not "let me see what I can do."
Straight up... “Nah mate. We’re a little late to the party”
You can't click a seatbelt in after the crash.

Here's what I didn't say on that call:
→ That 88% of small business breaches now involve ransomware — more than double the rate at enterprise companies → That 61% of SMBs had some level of breach in the past year → That the average cost of a breach for a business their size is $3.31 million → That they probably thought they were "too small to be a target"
I didn't say any of that because it doesn't matter once you're already burning.

What I did say:
"I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do that will change what's already happened."

They hung up.
And that was a pretty crap nights sleep for me.
Because I know the truth that no one in cybersecurity wants to admit:
After-the-fact security is theatre.
It's optics. It's paperwork. It's something you do to make the insurance company feel better.
But it doesn't undo ransomware. It doesn't restore trust. It doesn't bring back the contracts you lost when your clients found out their data was exposed.
And it sure as hell doesn't stop you from lying awake wondering if your business will survive.

If you're running a business with 20-150 employees, you are not too small.
You are not flying under the radar.
You are a target. Right now. Today.
The only question that matters:
Are you protected before the call?
Or will you be the one making it?
More tomorrow.