The cost of data breaches is climbing fast. In 2024, the global average reached $4.88 million per incident, up more than 10% year over year1, largely by business disruption and post-breach response. At the same time, attackers are becoming more aggressive, and human error remains a major factor, responsible for roughly 68% of breaches.2
For Connecticut businesses, the stakes rise even higher in 2026. Amendments to the Connecticut Data Privacy Act (CTDPA) take effect July 1, 2026, expanding the law’s scope and tightening requirements around sensitive data and transparency.3 Combined with the state’s 60-day breach notification mandate, these laws make one thing clear: compliance and proactive security are no longer optional.
Here are five practical cybersecurity resolutions every Connecticut business should consider in 2026 and how Systems Integration can help.
1. Turn on Phishing Resistant Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) throughout the Business
MFA is an effective control to stop or reduce the possibility of a business’s email account takeover. “A study by Microsoft shows that implementing MFA across a business’s email accounts and systems can reduce the risk of being compromised by 99.22%.”4 Businesses should consider phishing-resistant options like passkeys across all access points, including email, cloud consoles, VPNs, and more.
SII can help a Connecticut business correctly implement MFA by:
- Identifying potential phishing access points.
- Migrating users to utilize passkeys aligned with NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework 2.0
- Training on enforcing access policies
2. Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability scans
“Vulnerability exploitation increased by nearly 180% from 2023 to 2024, making it one of the top initial access paths for attackers, and was responsible for 14% of breaches in 2024. Yet, despite these statistics, most organizations take an average of 55 days to remediate just half of critical vulnerabilities after patches are released, while mass exploitation can begin within five days.”5 This gap clearly presents why accelerating patching and proactive scanning is essential for 2026.
Conducting regular security audits helps businesses establish a baseline for controls, while vulnerability scans identify potential IT weaknesses that can be exploited by cyberattacks.
SII can help businesses by
- Conducting regular scans
- Create risk and remediation reports
- Implement corrective actions.
3. Train employees to recognize phishing attempts and test them in the process
Phishing emails continue to become more sophisticated in tricking employees into believing they are legitimate. Companies need to ensure their employees stay up to date on the latest scams. This can only happen through continuous security awareness training.
SII can help businesses by:
- Providing comprehensive employee awareness training
- Implementing robust data security processes and procedures
- Deploying advanced protective technology tools, such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems, to monitor the network.
4. Implement Patches faster
Being disciplined about patch management across all devices, applications, and collaboration tools is critical, as attackers are always looking for the easiest, most vulnerable access points, which are often found at the edge. Setting up patch schedules and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to monitor and manage patches is critical.
SII can help businesses by:
- Monitoring asset inventory and tracking SLA compliance
- Automating patch updates with staged rollouts
5. Build and Test a Disaster Recovery Plan
Breaches cause material disruption to businesses. “In 2024, 70% of businesses reported significant to moderate operational disruption, with multi-environment breaches averaging more than $5M and taking 283 days to identify and contain.”6 However, having documented, role-based response plans including communication protocols and escalation clauses reduces downtime, costs, and regulatory exposure.
SII can help businesses by:
- Developing Disaster Recovery Plans tailored to your environment and regulatory obligations.
- Conduct staff training to ensure they are prepared in the event of a disaster.
- Keep plans up to date as your IT stack and privacy obligations change.
If you’re ready to improve cybersecurity but unsure where to begin, Systems Integration Inc. removes the guesswork. We guide you through every step to ensure you build long-term resilience for your business and IT operations. Contact us at (860) 513 0100 or info@sys-int.com
References:
1Surging data breach disruption drives costs to record highs: IBM Cost of a Data Breach 2024 Report: https://www.ibm.com/think/insights/whats-new-2024-cost-of-a-data-breach-report
2 2024Data Breach Investigations Report: Vulnerability exploitation boom threatens cybersecurity: https://www.verizon.com/about/news/2024-data-breach-investigations-report-vulnerability-exploitation-boom
3 https://portal.ct.gov/ag/sections/privacy/reporting-a-data-breach
4 How effective is multifactor authentication at deterring cyberattacks?: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/how-effective-is-multifactor-authentication-at-deterring-cyberattacks/
5 2024Data Breach Investigations Report: Vulnerability exploitation boom threatens cybersecurity: https://www.verizon.com/about/news/2024-data-breach-investigations-report-vulnerability-exploitation-boom
6Surging data breach disruption drives costs to record highs: IBM Cost of a Data Breach 2024 Report: https://www.ibm.com/think/insights/whats-new-2024-cost-of-a-data-breach-report