You bought the expensive firewall. You paid for the certifications. You still wake up wondering if one phishing email could wipe you out.
Most founders throw money at cybersecurity like it's insurance against catastrophe. They stack tools, chase compliance badges, and assume more spending equals more protection. Meanwhile, the three attack vectors responsible for 82% of breaches sit wide open because they're boring to fix and nobody sells a flashy product for them.
Seventy-four percent of breaches happen because someone clicked a phishing link, reused a weak password, or skipped a software update. The pattern is clear from Troy Hunt's analysis of twelve billion breached accounts. Companies with elaborate security infrastructure fell to simple credential stuffing because they ignored password hygiene at the employee level. The sophisticated monitoring caught nothing. One reused password gave attackers everything.
Security spending follows a predictable pattern. Early-stage founders ignore it until something scares them. Then they panic-buy whatever vendor promises the most protection. The result is a stack of tools nobody understands, certifications that prove paperwork compliance but not actual security, and budgets drained by subscriptions that don't address the real vulnerabilities.
Your cheapest employee with email access is your biggest threat. Not your infrastructure. Not your code. The person who clicks links without thinking, uses weak passwords, and ignores updates. Training costs less than any security tool on the market. A monthly phishing simulation takes an hour to set up. A password manager costs twenty dollars per employee per year. Multi-factor authentication is free. But these solutions are boring, so vendors don't push them and founders skip them.
Certifications create another trap. They prove you followed a process, not that you're secure. Passing an audit and surviving an attack measure completely different things. One tests your documentation. The other tests whether someone can actually breach your systems. Founders need compliance to close enterprise deals, but compliance work is separate from security work. Compliance gets you in the door. Security keeps you from getting breached.
The solution isn't complicated. Address the three vulnerabilities behind most breaches first. Train employees to recognize phishing. Enforce password managers and multi-factor authentication. Keep software updated. These boring fundamentals stop more attacks than expensive monitoring systems. After handling the basics, then spend on tools that protect your specific assets.
Chris Franks and Stephanie Hays break down the difference between security theater and actual protection, revealing where founders waste money and what actually stops breaches. They explore the balance between regulatory compliance and real security, when to read regulations yourself versus hiring consultants, and how AI introduces new vulnerabilities most founders haven't considered.
Watch the Full Episode on cybersecurity and risk mitigation below:
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