Cybersecurity has become one of those topics that most SME owners know they should care about, but rarely have the time to get into; it's not their core business, after all. It often feels abstract, overly technical, or framed in worst-case scenarios that do not translate well to day-to-day business reality.
At Linck IT, we sit exactly at that intersection between theory and reality. We see what actually happens inside small and medium businesses when something goes wrong. That perspective is what led us to partner with Huntress. They are not a marketing checkbox, but a practical security decision.
The reality your company faces
Small and medium businesses are no longer “too small to target.” In fact, they are often ideal targets.
Attackers today do not need custom exploits or advanced malware to be successful. They rely on scale, automation, and human behavior. Phishing campaigns, credential theft, and abuse of Microsoft 365 are cheap, effective, and difficult to spot without the proper visibility.
Most SMEs operate with:
- A limited or non-existent internal security team
- Heavy reliance on cloud services like Microsoft 365
- Users who need to work efficiently, not suspiciously
The above combination creates a gap between having security tools and actually being secure.
Why Traditional Security Falls Short
Classic security tools are still valuable, but they were designed for a different threat model. Antivirus, spam filters, and firewalls focus primarily on identifying known bad things: malicious files, blacklisted domains, and suspicious attachments.
Modern attacks often do not trigger any of those signals.
An attacker who logs in using valid credentials obtained through phishing is not “hacking” in the traditional sense. From the system’s point of view, everything is working as expected.
The Gap Traditional Tools Do Not Cover
This is where many breaches live today.
Consider what actually happens in real incidents:
- A user enters credentials on a convincing phishing page
- A successful Microsoft 365 login occurs from a plausible location
- A mailbox rule is created to forward emails silently
- An OAuth application is granted access to read mail
None of these actions involves malware. None of them are technically illegal. They use legitimate features of modern platforms.
Traditional tools answer the question:
“Is this file or connection known to be malicious?”
Modern attacks require answering a different question:
“Does this behavior make sense for this user, at this moment, in this environment?”
Without context and correlation, that question cannot be answered reliably.
Why We Chose Huntress
Detection That Matches Real Attacks
Huntress focuses on behavior, patterns, and sequences of actions, not just signatures. Instead of flooding dashboards with alerts, it investigates what is actually happening and escalates only when something crosses from “unusual” into “dangerous.”
Crucially, this is not done purely by automation.
Behind the platform is a team of human threat hunters who validate detections, analyze intent, and provide clear guidance. That human layer is what turns raw data into actionable security.
Identity Is the New Perimeter
For most SMEs, Microsoft 365 is business-critical. Email, documents, invoices, and internal communication all flow through it. That also makes it the primary attack surface.
Huntress’ identity-focused detection highlights things that should never happen quietly, such as:
- Suspicious mailbox rules
- Unauthorized privilege changes
- OAuth abuse
- Credential misuse that bypasses traditional MFA logic
Instead of raw logs, you see what changed, why it matters, and what to do next.
Technology alone is not enough
Even the best detection will not prevent every mistake. Attackers design phishing messages to look routine, urgent, and familiar. Expecting users to be perfect is unrealistic.
That is why our security approach combines detection with continuous security awareness and phishing simulations. The goal is not to blame, but to build resilience.
Over time, users:
- Recognize suspicious patterns faster
- Report incidents earlier
- Reduce the blast radius of inevitable mistakes
This layered approach aligns with well-established SME security fundamentals, clearly summarized in Huntress’ practical guidance.
What this means for you as an SME owner
Partnering with Linck IT and Huntress does not mean turning your business into a security laboratory. It means adopting security that fits how SMEs actually operate.
In practice, that means:
- Continuous monitoring without hiring a SOC
- Clear incidents instead of vague alerts
- Faster containment when something goes wrong
- Reduced impact from phishing and identity abuse
Security becomes a managed capability, not a constant source of stress.
My closing thoughts
Good security should feel calm, boring, and under control. It should enable you to focus on running a business without having to worry about 'doing something wrong'.
We partnered with Huntress because it consistently brings clarity where confusion is usually the biggest risk. It helps SMEs move from hoping nothing happens to knowing when something does and acting before it escalates.
For small and medium businesses, that difference matters.