My IT guy swore I didn't need 2FA, said it was overkill for a small operation

Back in March my friend's brother who does IT on the side told me a simple password was enough for my 5 person business. He said two-factor authentication just slows things down and nobody would bother hacking a tiny plumbing company. Fast forward to last week and someone got into my email through a phishing link and sent fake invoices to 12 customers. Lost about $800 in wire transfers before I caught it and now I'm dealing with angry clients. How do you even explain that kind of oversight to someone who trusted you?

2 comments

2 Comments

lily9711d ago

12 customers got fake invoices because of that terrible advice. $800 is a lot of money to lose for a small business, that really stinks. Your IT guy was completely wrong, 2FA isn't overkill for ANY business that handles money or customer info. I hope you fired him and set up 2FA on everything you can. Phishing links are so common now, you basically NEED that extra layer of protection.

the_william11d ago

Your IT guy gave you bad advice plain and simple. Even a tiny plumbing company has customer names, emails, and payment info which is exactly what scammers want. Maybe it feels like overkill until you get burned like this. Most 2FA these days is pretty easy to set up too like just getting a code on your phone takes 10 seconds extra. Sorry you had to learn the hard way but hopefully this wakes some other small business owners up.