Cybersecurity Services in Massachusetts
NetSys provides cybersecurity services to businesses in Massachusetts: 24/7 managed detection and response on every device, identity and email protection across Microsoft 365, vulnerability scanning, staff training and immutable backups, with an engineer acting on alerts rather than forwarding them.
The short answer
NetSys provides cybersecurity to businesses in Massachusetts: ThreatDown managed detection and response on every device, multifactor authentication and Conditional Access across Microsoft 365, Barracuda email protection, Rapid7 vulnerability scanning, security awareness training and immutable backups with tested restores. Delivery is remote-first from Brooklyn, with the help desk staffed seven days a week from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time and emergency service 24/7. On-site commitments are arranged in advance and sized to the engagement, including a nearby dedicated engineer where regular presence and availability have been confirmed. Ongoing agreements run month to month.
Service information by The NetSys Group. Our editorial standards.
How cybersecurity is delivered in Massachusetts
Boston is about four hours from Brooklyn, so day-to-day work in Massachusetts is remote and on-site visits are planned rather than dispatched same-day. Monitoring runs 24/7 from Brooklyn, and so does emergency service. Our staffed help-desk hours are 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time, seven days a week. The proposal states severe-incident escalation, authorized remediation and any other after-hours work. On-site commitments outside our on-site coverage (New York City, Long Island, Westchester, the Hudson Valley, North Jersey and Fairfield County, CT) are arranged in advance and sized to the engagement: a mostly remote engagement needs no dedicated on-site engineer, while an engagement that calls for regular presence, such as vCISO work with someone on site two days a week, can include a dedicated engineer with a drive time generally under an hour once availability, location and the visit schedule are confirmed in the proposal. Hardware can ship pre-configured where the project permits remote setup. Confirm landlord access, circuit diversity, cabling and equipment space before approving a network change. Carrier options to check in Massachusetts include Comcast Business, Verizon Business and Spectrum Business; availability, routing and installation dates must be verified at your address before a failover design is approved.
Who cybersecurity in Massachusetts is built for
Businesses we can support in and around Boston, Cambridge, Worcester, Springfield and Burlington include biotech and life-sciences companies on Benchling, medical practices on Epic, asset managers and financial firms on Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, law firms on NetDocuments, manufacturers on Epicor, and nonprofits on Blackbaud Raiser's Edge. These are examples of business and application needs, not a list of local clients. We coordinate infrastructure, identity and integration with the application vendor, and identify any compliance requirements during discovery. Companies with an internal IT person can agree a split of responsibilities, systems and coverage hours before work begins.
Continuity planning for your Massachusetts business
Start with the systems your team cannot work without. Record the impact of a building power outage, a failed internet circuit, a compromised account and an unavailable application vendor. Then agree recovery priorities, an independent access path, protected backup copies and a test for each critical workflow. Controls reduce particular risks; they do not guarantee that an incident cannot happen.
Cybersecurity in Massachusetts: what NetSys delivers
Detection and response
- ThreatDown managed detection and response with EDR agents on every workstation, laptop and server, monitored 24/7
- Microsoft Defender for Business and Rapid7 InsightIDR telemetry from identities, email and endpoints, with a person acting on alerts
- Isolation of a compromised device in real time, with an engineer on the case rather than a ticket in a queue
- Incident investigation and a written timeline for leadership, counsel and your insurer
Identity and email
- Entra ID Conditional Access and multifactor authentication across Microsoft 365, with legacy authentication switched off
- Privileged access and privileged identity management so admin rights are granted just in time and removed afterwards
- Barracuda Email Protection in front of every mailbox, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC enforced
- KnowBe4 security awareness training with simulated phishing built from the lures your industry receives
Exposure and recovery
- Rapid7 InsightVM vulnerability scanning on a schedule, with findings fixed rather than filed
- Cisco Meraki or Fortinet firewall management, segmentation and DNS filtering on office and remote devices
- Immutable backups through Datto SIRIS or Veeam, with restores tested and documented
- The free remote external penetration test, limited to available information and the external scope agreed with you
A 52-person financial services firm in Cambridge
This planning example shows how we could scope the work. It is not a claim about a customer in this market or a measured result. For published customer work, see our case studies.
A 52-seat financial services firm in Cambridge that handles regulated data in Salesforce Financial Services Cloud across the office and remote staff on home Wi-Fi. An auditor asked for a written incident response plan and there is not one. Email protection is whatever Microsoft ships by default, DMARC was never set up, the Verizon Business firewall is a consumer router, and the last security training anyone remembers was a poster.
- Rapid7 InsightIDR collecting identity, email, endpoint and firewall logs so an intrusion is visible in one console
- Monthly review of dormant accounts, forwarding rules, consent grants and administrator assignments, reported in writing
- Free remote external penetration test limited to information available to NetSys and the external scope agreed with the business; internal review and remediation scoped separately
- ThreatDown MDR and EDR deployed to every workstation, laptop and server, including the ones partners use from home, with the console monitored 24/7
- Rapid7 InsightVM deployed for scheduled vulnerability scanning, with the first month's findings prioritized and closed
- Cisco Meraki firewall installed with intrusion prevention, geo-blocking, segmentation between finance, servers, printers and guests, and DNS filtering on every device
The exposure is measured monthly and closed, the people are trained against the lures they actually receive, and an incident has a plan with names on it. Leadership sees a written report every month. Terms stay month to month.
Firewall, antivirus and maintenance for a five-person office
A five-person office needed the basics done properly rather than an enterprise stack. NetSys replaced the internet provider's router with a business-grade firewall configured with sensible rules, secure remote access and logging, deployed managed antivirus on every machine with updates and alerts handled centrally, and put patching, backup checks and health reviews on a schedule. The agreement covers what the office needs and nothing it does not, month to month. No outcome figures were measured for publication.
Cybersecurity work for other clients
- Healthcare
Outpatient mental health practice
Support for 32 clinician workstations, secure telehealth access, patient record backups, and phishing protection.
- Real estate
Residential real estate brokerage with four offices
Email protection for 64 agents, secure transaction document sharing, mobile access, and Microsoft 365 administration.
Microsoft 365 Security HardeningIT for Real Estate and Property Management
- Manufacturing
Large manufacturing plant in Virginia
Password management for 125 employees, management of 160 computers, and managed EDR antivirus across production and office devices.
Client names are withheld. These examples were chosen for the work involved, not for where the client is, so none is presented as a Massachusetts client.
Compliance in Massachusetts: 201 CMR 17.00 and what sits on top of it
Massachusetts 201 CMR 17.00 requires covered holders of Massachusetts residents’ personal information to maintain a written information security program. Safeguards must reflect the organization’s size, resources and information; computer-security requirements include technical-feasibility qualifications. The service scope should identify the records, access controls, retention settings and incident evidence your business needs; your legal or compliance adviser determines which requirements apply. The security service is built to produce the evidence those rules ask for: multifactor authentication and Conditional Access reports, endpoint detection coverage, vulnerability scan results, backup restore records and a tested incident response plan. Discovery identifies missing records and assigns the documentation work. Applicable duties depend on the business, data, exemptions and contracts; your legal or compliance adviser determines which requirements apply.
Primary sources
What cybersecurity costs in Massachusetts
Cybersecurity is priced per user per month when it runs as an ongoing service, and per project for an assessment or a remediation. What moves the number: how many devices and identities are in scope, how much incident remediation and recovery is needed beyond the monitoring and authorized MDR actions in scope, which compliance standard the evidence has to satisfy, and whether the Microsoft 365 tenant is already on Business Premium or the security tooling comes from us. The free external penetration test costs nothing and runs remotely before any of that. Our managed IT pricing page explains how the fee is built.
Who this fits, and who it does not
Best fit: businesses with enough people, money movement or regulated data that a breach would hurt, and no security team of their own: professional practices, healthcare groups, importers, financial firms, nonprofits and agencies holding client credentials. Companies with an internal IT person fit as a co-managed arrangement.
Not a fit: organizations that want a security product installed and left alone. The service is monitored, reviewed and reported monthly, and it changes the way administrators, finance staff and vendors work. If that is not wanted, a tool purchase serves better than an engagement.
Read next
Industry pages: IT for Life Sciences & Biotech · IT for Healthcare
Terms used on this page: Managed Detection and Response (MDR) · Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) · Conditional Access
Guides: MDR versus antivirus for a small business · the Conditional Access policies to turn on first
Related pages
Read the full Cyber Security service page. See all locations and service areas.
Also in Massachusetts: Managed IT Services
Cybersecurity elsewhere: Boston · New York City · Brooklyn, NY · Nassau County, NY · Suffolk County, NY · Westchester County, NY
Related services: Penetration Testing · Cyber Insurance Readiness · Security Assessments · Managed Detection & Response (MDR)
Cybersecurity in Massachusetts: FAQs
Can you work alongside our internal IT person?
Yes. In a co-managed arrangement your person keeps the day-to-day and we run monitoring, the security stack, vulnerability management and after-hours response, with the split written into the agreement.
Do we need a security assessment before signing up?
The free external test is where most engagements start. A fuller assessment of the tenant, devices, network and backups is scoped separately and produces a prioritized fix list that becomes the first ninety days of the service.
What does the free external penetration test include?
The free offer is a remote external penetration test, limited to the information available to NetSys and the external scope agreed with you. It examines what your business shows the internet and reports the findings with their scope and limitations stated. Reviews of tenant settings, devices, internal networks or backups need a separate scope.
Do you have an office in Massachusetts?
Our office is in Brooklyn, NY. Boston is about four hours from Brooklyn, so day-to-day work in Massachusetts is remote and on-site visits are planned rather than dispatched same-day. Outside our on-site coverage the on-site arrangement is agreed before the engagement starts and sized to what it needs: none for a mostly remote account, or a dedicated engineer where regular presence such as vCISO work with someone on site two days a week is part of the scope. A drive time generally under an hour is an option subject to confirming engineer availability and your address. The help desk is staffed seven days a week from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time, with emergency service 24/7. The proposal states the on-site arrangement and any travel in writing, and the agreement runs month to month.
How can IT support help with Massachusetts data-security requirements?
Massachusetts 201 CMR 17.00 requires covered holders of Massachusetts residents’ personal information to maintain a written information security program. Safeguards must reflect the organization’s size, resources and information; computer-security requirements include technical-feasibility qualifications. NetSys can help document the relevant systems, controls and incident evidence within an agreed scope; legal notification decisions remain with your authorized business and legal team.
See what an attacker sees before they do.
The free assessment is a remote external penetration test, limited to the information available to NetSys and the external scope we agree with you. Internal reviews and ongoing security management are scoped separately.