What happened, and why it matters here

In November 2026 the French press reported cyberattacks on the refrigeration systems of supermarkets and on pharmacies — businesses whose day depends on a network nobody thinks about until it stops. A cold room that no longer reports its temperature, a point of sale that no longer connects: the damage is physical and immediate.

Nothing about those targets is specific to France. A shop in Orlando runs on the same kind of equipment: a router from the provider, a firewall set up once, a Wi-Fi network shared with customers, a few people who connect from home. That is the network we review, and the three checks below are where most of the problems are found.

Check one: who can get in from outside

Remote access is the front door of the network, and it is often the door left open: a VPN set up years ago with accounts nobody has closed, a remote desktop reachable from the internet, a password reused from an e-mail account.

  • Every remote connection goes through a VPN on the firewall, never through a port opened straight to a computer.
  • Every account that connects from outside has a second factor — a code on a phone — in addition to its password.
  • The accounts of people who left are closed the day they leave; shared accounts are replaced by named ones.
  • The list of who can connect is written down and reviewed at least once a year.

A firewall with VPN, set up by us, is $890; the equipment is bought in your name, on our advice.

Check two: the firewall and the router

The box the provider installed is a router first and a firewall second. It works on the day it is plugged in, with factory settings, and nobody opens it again.

  • Firmware updated, and updates applied on a schedule, not when something breaks.
  • The administration password changed from the default, and administration from the internet turned off.
  • Rules written for your business: what goes out, what comes in, and nothing else.
  • Logs kept, so that an incident can be read afterwards.

A business router set up is $490, a firewall with VPN $890. Ongoing firewall and Wi-Fi monitoring is not a one-off job: it is an option of IT support, $49/mo on a support plan.

Check three: the guest Wi-Fi and the systems that matter

Customers, visitors and personal phones belong on a network of their own. The payment terminal, the cameras, the cold room controller and the computers that run the business belong on another, and the two never meet.

  • A separate guest network, with its own password, that reaches the internet and nothing else.
  • Payment terminals and critical equipment on their own segment of the network.
  • Printers, cameras and connected devices updated — or isolated when they cannot be.
  • Backups kept off the network, and restored once a year to prove they work.

Know what to fix first

The point of a review is not a list of everything that is wrong: it is an order. What can stop the business this week is fixed first; what is merely untidy waits. Every network job here starts with a visit or a call and a written plan, from $149: the assessment visit, the plan of the work and the hand-over notes.

A security check-up of what is exposed — accounts, backups, updates, remote access — is $99. A full assessment with a written report is $990. You buy the equipment in your name, on our advice, and the passwords and settings are handed over in writing.

What we need from you

Four things, and the review can be scheduled:

  • The address, and the number of people and devices.
  • Access to the premises and to the current router or provider box.
  • Who connects from outside, and with what.
  • One person who decides and receives the hand-over.