How To Get Enterprise Security On A Small Budget

Most small and midsize businesses know they should “do more” about security.

The hard part is knowing what actually helps and what you can afford.

In 2026, phishing is still one of the biggest risks for small organizations.

CISA explains that phishing is the most common type of cybercrime and that many attacks against small and medium businesses begin with one person clicking a link or opening an attachment they should have ignored. (cisa.gov)

The good news is that you can cut a lot of this risk with free, manual steps.

This guide walks through practical moves any small or midsize business can make in the next 30 days using tools you already own.

At the end, we will show how an automated browser security platform like RedPhish can sit on top of these basics and give you enterprise style protection starting at $12 per user each month.

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Table of contents

• Step 1: Pick a phishing owner and write one simple rule
• Step 2: Turn on multi factor authentication everywhere you can
• Step 3: Lock down email with simple, free settings
• Step 4: Teach people what phishing looks like using real examples
• Step 5: Make reporting suspicious messages incredibly easy
• Step 6: Protect your browser the manual way
• Step 7: Run a simple incident drill so people know what to do
• Where automation fits: using RedPhish to take work off your plate

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Step 1: Pick a phishing owner and write one simple rule

Every security effort needs an owner.

That does not mean you need a full time security hire.

It does mean that one person should be responsible for phishing risk.

CISA encourages small and medium businesses to assign clear responsibility for cybersecurity and to set basic policies that all employees can follow. (cisa.gov)

Start with one short rule that covers every employee.

Example:

Write this rule down.

Share it in your chat tool.

Print it and post it in the break room.

If you do only this, you will already stop some of the easiest phishing attempts.

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Step 2: Turn on multi factor authentication everywhere you can

You cannot stop every bad click.

You can still keep attackers out of accounts even if they steal a password.

CISA recommends that small businesses require multi factor authentication (MFA) on important accounts like email, banking, and cloud services. (cisa.gov)

The good news is that MFA is usually free.

Most cloud email and business tools include it.

You only need to turn it on.

Create a simple checklist:

• Company email accounts
• Accounting and billing systems
• Cloud storage and collaboration tools
• Remote access tools or VPNs

Turn on MFA for each one.

Prefer app based codes or hardware keys where possible.

Avoid text message codes when you can, since they can be intercepted.

Make this a requirement for new employees.

No account should be considered “set up” until MFA is working.

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Step 3: Lock down email with simple, free settings

Most phishing still arrives through email.

You likely already use a cloud email provider like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.

Both have built in controls that help you filter malicious messages.

You do not need extra products to use them.

CISA tells small and medium businesses to use reputable email providers, keep spam filters enabled, and block or quarantine suspicious attachments. (cisa.gov)

Work with whoever manages your email to:

• Ensure spam and phishing filters are on and set to recommended or higher
• Block high risk attachment types like executable files or scripts
• Add warnings on messages that come from outside the organization
• Disable automatic loading of remote images in email clients

These are free configuration changes.

They simply use features you are already paying for through your email subscription.

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Step 4: Teach people what phishing looks like using real examples

Technology helps, but people are still your last line of defense.

Many small businesses skip training because they think it has to be expensive.

It does not.

CISA publishes free materials that you can reuse to teach employees basic phishing awareness. These include tip sheets, posters, and short guides that explain what to look for in suspicious messages. (cisa.gov)

Set up a simple one hour session.

You do not need slides.

You only need three things.

1. A few screenshots of recent phishing emails you have seen or that CISA has shared in examples.
2. A list of common red flags such as urgent language, unexpected attachments, and mismatched sender addresses.
3. Time for people to ask questions about strange messages they have seen.

Record the session if you can.

New hires can watch it during onboarding.

Repeat this training every six or twelve months.

Attackers change their tricks.

Your staff needs regular refreshers.

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Step 5: Make reporting suspicious messages incredibly easy

Many employees are not sure what to do when they see something odd.

They worry about bothering IT.

They are afraid of “crying wolf.”

This slows down your response.

Dark Reading reporting on midsize organizations notes that small IT teams are often overwhelmed and lack clear processes for staff to report incidents, which delays investigation and containment. (Dark Reading)

You can fix this with one simple change.

Create a single reporting channel.

Options include:

• A dedicated email address like [email protected]
• A private Slack or Teams channel where people can drop screenshots
• A form on your intranet that forwards to the right person

Teach employees to do two things when they suspect phishing.

1. Do not click links or open attachments.
2. Forward the message to the reporting channel or upload a screenshot.

Make it clear that you want false alarms.

It is always better for someone to ask than to click.

Respond with quick, friendly feedback.

That reinforces the habit.

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Step 6: Protect your browser the manual way

Even with better email filters, some phishing links will slip through.

They may appear in chat apps, text messages, social media, or old bookmarks.

Your browser is the last stop before an attack.

There are several free, manual steps you can take today.

Keep browsers and plugins up to date

Most browsers update themselves.

Make sure that automatic updates are enabled and that employees know not to ignore update prompts.

Encourage people to remove extensions they do not use.

Security researchers and news outlets have documented cases where popular extensions were later sold and updated with tracking or malicious code. (Dark Reading)

Fewer extensions mean fewer paths for attackers.

Use standard browser profiles for work

Ask employees to keep a separate browser profile or account for work.

That profile should only log in to business tools.

No personal email, gaming sites, or random downloads.

This simple separation reduces the chance that a phishing link from a personal account will lead directly into work systems.

Teach people to read the address bar

Modern phishing pages look perfect.

Logos and layouts are easy to copy.

The one thing that is harder to fake is the real web address.

During your training, show examples of:

• Slight misspellings of real company names
• Extra words such as -secure-login added to domains
• Links that go to completely unrelated websites

Teach employees to slow down and read the address bar before they type passwords.

This is free and manual.

It only takes practice.

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Step 7: Run a simple incident drill so people know what to do

When something does go wrong, people should not guess.

They should follow a plan.

CISA and other agencies encourage small businesses to prepare basic incident response steps, even if they do not have a full security team. (cisa.gov)

You can build a lightweight plan in one afternoon.

Write down answers to three questions.

1. Who declares that something is a security incident.
2. Who is allowed to contact outside partners such as banks, vendors, or law enforcement.
3. Who is responsible for technical steps like resetting passwords or isolating devices.

Then run a 30 minute drill.

Pick a simple scenario.

For example, “An employee clicked on a fake Microsoft 365 login page and entered their password.”

Walk through what should happen next.

• How fast can you reset that account.
• Who needs to know.
• How would you check whether someone already used that password elsewhere.

You do not need fancy software for this.

You only need a short document and a calendar invite.

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Where automation fits: using RedPhish to take work off your plate

All of the steps above are free.

They rely on manual habits and settings you already have.

You should do them no matter what security tools you buy.

At the same time, they all depend on people making the right choice every day.

No amount of training will stop every rushed click.

That is where automation helps.

A browser security platform like RedPhish sits where attacks actually happen.

Inside Chrome, Edge, and Firefox while your staff works.

RedPhish analyzes links and pages in real time.

If a site looks like phishing, a card skimmer, a fake login, or a malicious download, RedPhish blocks it before your employee can enter a password.

From your side, you get an enterprise style dashboard.

You can see which categories of threats RedPhish blocks across the organization and which browsers are protected, without collecting detailed browsing histories.

Deployment is straightforward.

You can push the RedPhish extension through tools you already use, like Chrome Enterprise or Microsoft Intune, so it appears for every managed user without manual installs.

Pricing starts at $12 per user each month.

That means even a team of ten people can get enterprise level browser protection for less than many personal software subscriptions.

The right way to think about this is simple.

Use free, manual steps to raise the floor for your security.

Then add a tool like RedPhish to build a stronger ceiling, so one rushed click in 2026 does not turn into your next big incident.