Why Business Owners Need to Think Beyond Firewalls

 

Most business owners think of cybersecurity as something you install—firewalls, antivirus software, maybe a password manager. But here’s a reality check: none of those tools can stop someone from walking into your office, plugging in a rogue device and accessing your network.

Cybersecurity isn’t just about what’s online. It starts at the front door.

If your physical and digital security aren’t working together, your business is vulnerable. And in industries like healthcare, finance, manufacturing and government, that gap is becoming increasingly risky and increasingly common.

Cyber & Physical Threats Are Merging

Today’s attackers don’t draw a line between digital and physical. They exploit both.

  • A hacker might send a phishing email to trick an employee into giving up login credentials.
  • The next day, they tailgate into the server room using a cloned badge.
  • Or they find a weak spot in your smart camera system and use it to jump into your network.

According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach report, nearly 10% of breaches involve some form of physical compromise. That’s not a coincidence. As more physical systems connect to your network—smart locks, security cameras, badge readers—they become both a convenience and a potential backdoor.

And it’s not just criminals. Compliance bodies like HIPAA, NIST and PCI-DSS now expect physical security controls alongside digital ones. If your facility is secure but your systems are exposed, or vice versa, you’re not meeting the standard.

The Risks of Treating Physical & Cybersecurity Separately

Here’s the problem: many organizations still treat these areas as two different departments with two different budgets. Facilities manages the locks and doors. IT handles the network. And in between? Gaps that no one’s watching.

Let’s break down where the biggest risks tend to live:

  • Unsecured Server Rooms

Locked doors aren’t enough if you don’t monitor access. If there’s no camera, no access logs and no audit trail, how will you know if someone gets in?

  • Smart Badges and Access Systems

Badge readers are often managed separately from the IT environment, even though they run on the same network. If they aren’t properly configured, they can give attackers a way in.

  • Surveillance Systems

Modern camera systems are typically IP-based. That means they’re part of your IT infrastructure and they need the same care and protection as your servers and workstations.

  • Compliance Oversights

When your security measures live in silos, compliance suffers. Regulatory frameworks are clear – you need physical and digital controls that work in tandem. Falling short on either side can result in penalties or worse, breaches.

Sound Familiar? Common Pain Points for Business Owners

Most business owners know security matters. But with limited time and resources, it’s hard to know where to start or what’s being missed.

Here are some of the most common questions we hear:

  • “Am I doing enough to protect physical access to our data?”
  • “Could our badge system or cameras be putting us at risk?”
  • “If we’re attacked digitally and physically at the same time, how would we respond?”
  • “Are we missing compliance steps by focusing too much on cybersecurity alone?”

These concerns are valid. Fortunately, there are smart, practical steps you can take to reduce your risk.

3 Practical Ways to Integrate Physical & Cybersecurity

  1. Conduct a Unified Security Audit

Start with a full picture of your environment—not just digital, not just physical, but both.

Walk through your facility with a cybersecurity lens. Are your server rooms locked and monitored? Are access logs reviewed regularly? Is every device that touches your network accounted for and protected?

If you’re not sure where to begin, bring in experts who specialize in hybrid assessments. Adams Brown Technology Specialists can identify vulnerabilities across both environments and help you prioritize what to fix first.

  1. Implement Integrated Access Controls

Badge logs and login records shouldn’t live in separate systems. If someone uses their badge to enter the building, that should sync with your cybersecurity tools.

Let’s say a badge is used after hours, and at the same time, there’s an unusual data transfer happening. If those events are viewed together, you’ve got a red flag. If they’re siloed, you might miss the breach entirely.

Modern platforms let you combine physical access logs with digital activity, giving your team faster insight into suspicious behavior.

  1. Invest in Tools that Work Together

You don’t need to rip and replace what you have. But you should evaluate how well your systems talk to each other.

If you use Verkada for surveillance and Microsoft Defender for endpoint protection, ask: can these tools feed into the same dashboard? Can they share data with a central SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) tool?

When you can see camera footage, access logs and cyber alerts in one place, your response time shrinks and your confidence grows.

Security Has Changed. Has your Strategy?

Today’s attackers don’t think in silos and neither should you. Whether it’s a phishing email or a badge system vulnerability, your risk is interconnected. And protecting your business means rethinking what cybersecurity really means.

Because a door left open, digitally or physically, is still a door. Contact Adams Brown Technology Specialists to start a discussing about your cybersecurity.