Protecting Your Business from Cyber Attacks Six Attacks. Six Defenses.
One Managed Security Program.

The six most common cyber attacks targeting NJ, NY & CT businesses are: phishing and social engineering — deceptive emails that deliver malware or harvest credentials, responsible for over 90% of successful attacks as the initial entry point; ransomware — malware that encrypts files and demands payment, increasingly targeting businesses of all sizes; business email compromise (BEC) — impersonation attacks that trick employees into wiring money or changing payment information, the highest-dollar cybercrime category; credential theft and account compromise — stolen passwords used to access email, cloud applications, and business systems; vulnerability exploitation — automated attacks against unpatched software and systems; and data exfiltration — unauthorized transfer of sensitive business data, often going undetected until the data appears where it shouldn't. Each attack has specific defenses — and gaps in any defense create exposure to the corresponding attack.

The answer depends on your industry, your size, and your current security posture. Phishing is essentially universal — every business with email receives phishing attempts, and the frequency and sophistication increase with the perceived value of the target. BEC is most concentrated in industries with high-value wire transactions: legal, real estate, financial services, and construction. Ransomware targets all industries but with elevated frequency in healthcare, professional services, and manufacturing where operational disruption creates maximum pressure to pay. Credential theft and vulnerability exploitation are opportunistic and affect every organization with internet-connected systems. Data exfiltration tends to follow successful initial access through phishing or credential theft. The most useful framing isn't "which attack will hit us" — it's "which defenses are we missing that would stop the attacks most likely to succeed against our current posture." A free assessment answers that question specifically for your organization.

No — and businesses that have experienced an attack often have stronger motivation and clearer understanding of what protection actually requires. The priority after an attack is closing the specific vulnerabilities the attacker used (the same attack vector is often tried again) and implementing the defenses that would have prevented or limited the damage. If you've experienced a phishing attack that compromised credentials, implementing MFA immediately closes the most critical gap. If ransomware hit and you had no immutable backup, implementing immutable backup before the next incident makes recovery possible without payment. Post-incident security improvements are some of the most effective, because the specific gaps are known rather than theoretical. Gradius works with businesses that have experienced attacks to implement the post-incident hardening that addresses the known vulnerabilities and builds the full six-defense program.

The cost of a cyber attack varies significantly by type and severity, but the components are consistent: direct financial loss (ransomware payment, BEC wire transfer, fraudulent charges), recovery costs (IT labor to rebuild systems, data recovery, forensic investigation), downtime costs (employee productivity loss, revenue lost during operational disruption), regulatory costs (breach notification compliance, potential fines if regulated data was involved, legal fees), reputational costs (client notification, public disclosure in some cases, trust damage that affects future business). IBM's annual Cost of a Data Breach report consistently shows average costs in the millions for significant breaches. For small and mid-sized businesses, a serious ransomware incident typically costs $50,000 to $500,000 when all factors are included — often more than the business anticipated. CISA data shows that 60% of small businesses that suffer a significant cyberattack close within six months. The investment in prevention is a fraction of the cost of recovery.

Most of the six defenses are operational within 1–2 weeks. EDR agents deploy remotely without disrupting operations. Email security — DMARC configuration, advanced filtering, BEC detection — is fully configured within 1–2 weeks. MFA and Entra ID conditional access policies are in place within the first week. Vulnerability scanning begins within the first week and patch management follows. DLP and access controls are configured within 1–2 weeks. Security awareness training and the first simulated phishing campaign run within the first month. The complete six-defense program is operationally active within 30 days for most NJ, NY & CT businesses. The SOC begins monitoring from the moment the first defense is deployed — so protection begins immediately and improves as each layer is added.

No long-term lock-ins. We offer month-to-month and annual agreements. Businesses stay with Gradius because all six defenses are active, the SOC is monitoring, and cyber attacks that would have succeeded before are being stopped. The security program is continuous and visible — quarterly reviews show what was detected, what was blocked, and how the threat landscape is evolving. We earn the renewal every month through performance.