What the standard says
The report follows the same order every time:
A quick note and how the information was gathered.
What’s working well. This comes first, and a clean report is a complete report.
At a glance: every item worth confirming, one card each.
By area: a status tile for each area (Email & domain, Website & hosting, Accounts, Phone & listings, Internet-facing): Looks good, Worth confirming, or Not reviewed.
The detail sections: Email and domain protections, Website and hosting, Phone and business listings, and Internet-facing services when we know your office’s internet address.
What we looked at, and what we did not.
Tools used and sources.
Closing, then the exhibits: copies of the original records.
Each card in At a glance has the same parts:
A title and one sentence on why it matters.
Timing: our suggestion, not a deadline. Soon, Next few weeks, When convenient, or FYI only.
Cost, effort, time to fix and who can do it: the same ratings used on our Learn pages. Cost and effort run 1 (low) to 3 (high).
Confidence: how sure we are of what we observed, not how serious it is. High means official records or several independent sources agree. Medium means a single source, or an inference from what was reported. Low means limited or indirect information.
Source: where the observation came from and when.
Worth confirming: the specific thing to check, with a Learn more link to a page like this one. You don’t need the link to understand the report.
What you’ll hear
“Anything marked Soon means you’re in danger.”
Timing shows priority, not panic. Soon usually means something with a date attached, like a domain renewal or an expiring certificate, a site flagged as unsafe, or something open to the internet that’s worth a look. Confidence works the same way: a Low or Medium item is worth a quick check with your IT resource before anyone changes anything. Things may also have changed since the dates shown.
What the numbers say
This page uses our own rating scales only. There are no outside statistics here.
What we’ve seen
We haven’t run into this yet.
Putting it together
Read what’s working well, then the At a glance cards marked Soon with High confidence. Most items are small fixes. The rest can wait for a planned conversation, and anything you’re unsure about is worth confirming, not ignoring.
What good looks like
You know which two or three items to handle first.
Your IT resource has a copy, can check the exhibits, and agrees with the priorities.
Anything you’re unsure about is marked to confirm.
Questions for your IT resource
Which of these items do you already know about?
Which can you handle this month?
Is anything here a false alarm for our setup?
Related learning
How we put together your Free Security Assessment
The Free Security Assessment is a review of what’s already public about your business: your email setup, domain, website, phone listings and anything left open to the internet. We make one ordinary visit to your home page and never scan, log into or test anything.
What is MFA, and why a password isn’t enough
MFA, short for multi-factor authentication, asks for a second proof after your password, like a prompt on your phone or a security key. A stolen password alone is no longer enough to sign in.
What is DMARC?
DMARC is a DNS record that tells other mail servers what to do with email that claims to come from your domain but can’t prove it.
Sources
None. This page describes our own report format.
How we rate these. Our judgment from real setups, applied the same way on every page. Cost: $ = no new spend or under $25/month · $$ = a modest monthly tool or a short project · $$$ = new hardware, licensing, or a larger project. Effort: Light = one sitting · Moderate = setup plus follow-up over days or weeks · Heavy = planning, testing and staff changes. Outlined marks show how far it can go for some businesses. N/A = doesn’t apply to this topic. Time to fix: how long the first useful step takes, then how long until it’s fully done. Ratings are typical averages, not quotes. Time to fix: the filled dot is when the first useful step lands, the hollow dot is when it’s fully done. Who can do it: highlighted chips are who can reasonably handle it.