I am going to start with something very scary: you are breaking the law right now.
Did you know you were? Probably not. No, you didn’t miss the memo. There just wasn’t one.
No flashing red alert. No call from your insurance carrier. No certified letter from the government.
But you’ve been out of compliance for a while now.
And if you don’t fix it, the next time you have a breach, it won’t just cost you downtime. It will cost you the business.
Let me explain.
Most business owners think compliance means protecting credit card numbers. Or checking the box for HIPAA. Or avoiding fines from some regulator they barely understand.
That’s part of it.
But there’s another kind of compliance. One that’s bigger. One that’s already sitting in your inbox disguised as risk you’ve decided to deal with later.
It’s called the Federal Trade Commission Act.
And yes, it applies to you.
The FTCA was written to prevent unfair business practices. It’s the law that stops companies from running scams or misleading the public.
Sounds fair, right?
But here’s the catch: the FTC now considers weak cybersecurity to be an unfair business practice.
Not following basic security practices? Not encrypting personal data? Not using MFA?
That’s not just risky. It’s illegal.
Let that sink in.
Having outdated policies. Skipping security training. Ignoring vulnerability scans.
It’s not just a bad IT decision. It’s a violation of federal law.
And if you’re thinking the FTC is going to show up like the cybersecurity police, knocking on your door and demanding an audit, you’re wrong.
That’s not how this goes down.
Here’s what actually happens. Your company gets breached.
Data is exposed. Your clients are affected. And then the lawsuits start.
You are not the victim. You are the defendant.
And it won’t be the government you’re answering to first. It’ll be the attorneys representing a class of angry customers and former employees.
They won’t ask what software you were using. They’ll ask what policies you had. What training you provided. What controls were in place.
And you’ll need evidence. Real evidence.
Because if you can’t prove that you were taking steps to protect your business, it’s open hunting season.
Maybe you’re thinking cyber insurance will protect you.
It won’t.
Most policies have exceptions for breaking federal law. And you just found out you’re breaking one. Think about it. Your policy probably doesn’t cover fraud. Or negligence. Or violations of the FTCA.
And yes, this is a federal regulation. You are expected to comply.
This isn’t a speeding ticket. It’s not a slap on the wrist. This is about civil liability. Class action. Reputational loss.
This is about whether your business survives a breach. Or folds under the weight of it.
So what can you do?
Start.
Start small. Start smart. But start now.
You don’t need 40 policies and a CISO to get moving.
You need a penetration test. A risk assessment. Something you can point to and say, “We took action.”
You need documentation that shows you’re on the path. Because once the breach happens, it’s too late to start protecting yourself.
This is about more than protecting data.
It’s about protecting your name. Your future. Your life’s work.
So take the first step.
Don’t wait until you’re explaining your failure to a jury. Get ahead of it. Document your decisions. And put a real plan in place.
We’ve made it simple.
We call it Cyber Liability Essentials.
You don’t need to figure it out alone. We’ll walk you through it. We’ll help you get the evidence. And we’ll give you a clear path forward.
Schedule your Cyber Liability Essentials assessment today.
Fifteen minutes is all it takes to start protecting everything you’ve built.
Because if you wait until after the breach, you’re not planning. You’re defending.
And that’s not a position you want to be in.
