For SMBs, a meaningful cybersecurity stack typically runs $35-$120 per user per month on top of managed IT. A 30-user company should budget $1,000-$3,500/month for security tools and services beyond basic IT support.
Cybersecurity costs scale with the threat surface and the maturity of the protection. Here's what to budget at different levels:
$15-$30 per user/month
$45-$80 per user/month
$95-$160 per user/month
One-time incident response if something does happen, cyber insurance premiums, regulatory fines, and the cost of a breach itself (averaging $200K+ for an SMB). The point of security spending is to prevent those events, so the right comparison is "small recurring cost vs. catastrophic one-time cost."
A typical Tennessee SMB spending nothing on dedicated cybersecurity is one phishing click away from a $50K-$500K incident. The breakeven on a basic security stack is preventing one event over several years.
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