A History Of Stopping Security Breaches And IT Problems BEFORE They Happen For SMBs

Paul Tracey was infuriated that lazy, unresponsive and inept IT personnel and companies were leaving small businesses vulnerable to cyber-attacks that would cost them everything.

In 2012, he founded HIPAA-verified Innovative Technologies as a full-service managed security services provider to help small and medium-sized businesses mitigate cyber security risks and establish a company culture that supports secure and efficient IT

Prior to starting Innovative Technologies almost 10 years ago Paul talked to local business owners to gauge their IT and cyber security awareness. What he heard shocked him. There was an attitude that security hacks and data breaches only happened to larger, high-profile companies. The business owners were not aware of the risks and responsibilities that exist around their data. The threat did not seem real to them; they did not anticipate that an employee clicking on the wrong link could shut down their company.

Owner Paul Tracey had experienced at a prior employer the consequences of ignoring security practices when the IT director infected the entire organization with malware. At a major hospital, where he was operations supervisor, he noticed a cavalier attitude toward cyber security and compliance, and a willingness to simply pay assessed fines. For Paul, this was untenable, and he dedicated himself to starting his own company that took a holistic approach to technology and the business, focusing not only on cyber security, but also on how businesses utilize their resources to their fullest potential.

Innovative Technologies takes a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to cyber security.

Innovative Technologies takes a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to cyber security. Better to learn that IT is not being run properly before it causes expensive downtime where remediation plans can be implemented strategically.

One client that is representative of the type of business Paul started Innovative Technologies to help was a residential treatment facility whose internal IT person assured them that their operations were “compliant-plus.” Instead, it was an absolute disaster, which required the complete rebuilding of the infrastructure from the ground up. Through Innovative Technologies’ programs, the agency received its HIPAA Seal of Compliance in under one year while managing operations during a pandemic.

Innovative Technologies believes in transparent, flat-fee pricing, delivering all aspects of IT infrastructure support, including hardware and software management, vendor relationships, maintenance renewals and all cyber security and compliance-related needs. Paul and his team, each with up to 10 years’ experience, have seen technology – as well as efforts to subvert it – evolve. They pride themselves on being able to devise a customized, leading-edge solution that will meet a business’s needs while maintaining secure and compliant systems.

Paul is a recognized industry cyber security expert. He is the author of Delete The Hacker Playbook, a comprehensive look at the fundamentals of cyber security that all business owners need to know. He is also the author of Cyber Storm, due out in early 2022. In this multi-perspective look at cyber security, Paul focuses on HIPAA compliance.

In the decade that Innovative Technologies has been in business, annual ransomware payouts have ballooned from $2.2 million to $7.5 million. Defying conventional wisdom, it has not been large companies, but small businesses with little or no protection, that have borne the brunt of these cyber-attacks. Not one Innovative Technologies client has ever paid ransomware.