Welcome to Security & Compliance for the SMB...

Thanks for stopping by! This blog will be the home for advice, commentary and discussion regarding the information security and compliance landscape as it pertains to America's small and medium size businesses. I intend to discuss a wide variety of topics and hope that you will also contribute to the discussion.

Before we get started, a little about me...

I am a partner in the firm, Pervasive Solutions, LLC. Located in Rochester, NY, Pervasive Solutions provides information security and compliance services and solutions to the SMB world - particularly in the Healthcare, Banking/Financial Services, Legal and Government/Non-Profit industries. We are passionate about protecting our customers from the increasing threats that SMBs face and helping them find reasonable solutions to the mountain of legislation and regulation that seems to continue to proliferate.

Prior to joining Pervasive Solutions, I led several other organizations including a 300-person e-learning company and the strategic consulting division of an $800M publicly-traded enterprise. I also started a software company in 1999, but it wasn't exactly successful. :)

Over the last twelve years, my clients have included the largest of the large and the smallest of the small. But in the last few years, I continued to notice that while large companies were investing in protecting their businesses, systems and data, their smaller counterparts seemed oblivious to the very real threats to their businesses. As I would speak with these business leaders, it was clear - they ALWAYS fell into one of two camps:

1. They didn't know that they needed protection and didn't understand the regulatory requirements facing them OR
2. They didn't believe they were big enough to be a victim

Unfortunately, I also ran into business owner after business owner that had been burned by employee theft, data leakage and other such problems. Some lost their business. Some survived but experienced significant pain.

And thus, I jumped into security and compliance with two feet - my ultimate goal being to educate and protect as many small businesses as I can. I am a firm believer that the future of America is dependent upon a strong, innovative, growth-enabled SMB environment. But if they are going to succeed, they need to be protected and compliant. I hope this blog will help.

Josh