“We’re Too Small to Hack”… Said Every Breached Business, Ever
- Quenten Grasso
- Jun 15
- 3 min read
By Quenten Grasso — 15th June 2025,
A Quick Story from the Trenches
At a recent Townsville networking event, I listened as the team from a local veterinary clinic in Townsville recounted their nightmare.
“We only store vaccination records and owners’ phone numbers,” the practice manager said. “Who’d bother targeting us?”
Yet one phishing email did precisely that—shutting down their booking system, locking every invoice, and flashing a demand for $40,000 in cryptocurrency. After two days of cancelled consults, they surrendered half the ransom to get back online. If you’ve ever muttered “I’ve got nothing to hide” or “Hackers chase the big guys,” pull up a chair.
Why the Little Fish Taste Sweetest
Low Defenses, Quick Pay-Day – Criminals automate scans for poorly patched software and wide-open RDP ports. Small firms often tick both boxes.
Data = Leverage – Client lists, tax IDs, even draft contracts can all be sold or ransomed. It’s not the secret that matters; it’s the pressure you’ll feel when it vanishes.
Regulators Don’t Size-Filter – The Privacy Act’s updated penalties (up to $50 million) apply whether you’re a solo bookkeeper or a public company.
Think you’re a tiny target? In 2024, the Australian Cyber Security Centre logged an average one incident every six minutes, and almost half involved businesses with fewer than 20 staff.
Real-World Hits That Hurt More Than Headlines
Coffee Roaster, Sunshine Coast – POS malware skimmed 18,000 card numbers. The bank’s charge-back bill topped $72k.
Boutique Law Firm, Sydney CBD – Ransomware leaked confidential briefs; five clients walked within a fortnight.
Dental Practice, Toowoomba – A rogue browser plugin copied Medicare numbers, triggering an OAIC investigation and a six-month audit headache.
None of these outfits store national defense secrets. All bled cash, trust, or both.
The Hidden Price Tags People Forget
Downtime: If your average invoice run is $8k a day, a week offline costs far more than new firewalls ever will.
Insurance Premiums: One claim and your cyber-policy excess rockets, assuming renewal is offered at all.
Mental Bandwidth: Staff can’t serve customers while learning Incident Response 101 on the fly.
Why a Cyber-Focused IT Partner Beats the Break-Fix Crowd
Break-Fix Support (“Call us when it breaks”) | Cyber-Centric Partner (Proactive) |
Patches when someone remembers | Zero-day alerts & automatic patch roll-outs |
Generic backups | Immutable, off-site backups tested monthly |
No threat hunting | 24 × 7 Security Operations Centre watching your network |
Little user training | Ongoing phishing drills & lunch-and-learns |
Project ends at go-live | Continuous compliance & incident-response rehearsals |
First Steps You Can Take This Week
Book a cyber health check against the ACSC Essential Eight.
Enable MFA on every account—even the boring ones.
Schedule monthly micro-trainings (10 minutes, coffee in hand) to cut click-happy habits.
Draft a one-page crisis plan: who calls whom, where backups live, how to reach clients if email dies.
Still Think “No Secrets” Equals “No Risk”?
Neither did the vets—until a $40,000 pop-up proved otherwise. Investing in security isn’t paranoia; it’s plain-English risk management for the digital age.
Ready to lock the doors before the wolf arrives? Let’s chat. One short call could save weeks of chaos.
About the Author
Quenten Grasso is the founder of Q10 Systems, a Townsville-based team that drinks too much coffee and spends its spare time breaking (and then hardening) small-business networks so crooks can’t. Weekend surfer, weekday cyber-tragic.
