Cybersecurity · San Diego

Cybersecurity Services in San Diego, CA

San Diego has had its share of public incidents: ransomware at Scripps Health, a phishing breach at UC San Diego Health, SamSam at the Port. NetSys protects businesses here with managed detection and response on every device, hardened Microsoft 365 identity and email, vulnerability scanning, staff training and backups an attacker cannot erase.

All IT services in California

The short answer

NetSys provides cybersecurity services to San Diego businesses: ThreatDown managed detection and response on every endpoint with analysts acting on alerts, Conditional Access with multifactor sign-in across Microsoft 365, Barracuda filtering in front of email, scheduled Rapid7 scans, KnowBe4 phishing training, and backups with an immutable copy that we restore to prove they work. Protection is delivered remotely and through the cloud from Brooklyn, with no on-site component, and a compromised device can be isolated remotely without anyone traveling. Monitoring and emergency service run 24/7; the help desk is staffed seven days a week from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time. Ongoing service is month to month.

Service information by The NetSys Group. Our editorial standards.

How cybersecurity is delivered for San Diego organizations

Security work is remote by nature, and ours runs entirely from Brooklyn. ThreatDown's agent goes on every Windows PC, Mac and server during onboarding, and its analysts work alerts around the clock with our engineers, who can isolate a machine, kill a process or lock an account in Entra ID without anyone in your building. We take over the Microsoft 365 security settings: Conditional Access, multifactor methods, mailbox auditing, external sharing and admin roles. Barracuda sits in front of email, Rapid7 InsightVM scans internal and external systems on a schedule, and backups keep an immutable copy outside the region. NetSys does not send staff on site in San Diego, so physical controls such as door access and camera systems remain with your facilities team or landlord, and we write that split into the scope. 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 (1 a.m. to 8 p.m. Pacific), seven days a week. The proposal states severe-incident escalation, authorized remediation and any other after-hours work.

Four San Diego incidents and the control each one argues for

Local history makes the case better than statistics. In September 2018, SamSam ransomware hit the Port of San Diego; federal prosecutors later charged two Iranian men with attacks on more than 200 victims, including the cities of Atlanta and Newark. Between December 2020 and April 2021, phishing pages harvested UC San Diego Health staff passwords and exposed data on almost 500,000 people. In May 2021, ransomware pushed Scripps Health onto downtime procedures for more than four weeks, at an estimated cost of $112.7 million. In November 2023, Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside diverted ambulances for a week after an attack. The controls follow directly: exposed remote access closed and scanned, phishing-resistant multifactor sign-in, managed detection that isolates devices quickly, and immutable, tested backups that turn recovery into a schedule rather than a negotiation.

Defense, biotech and healthcare targets in San Diego

Attackers follow the money and the data, and San Diego concentrates both. Defense suppliers around NAVWAR and in Kearny Mesa hold controlled unclassified information that state-sponsored groups pursue, and their contracts require NIST SP 800-171 controls and an SPRS score. Biotech companies in Torrey Pines and Sorrento Valley hold research data, partnership terms and pre-announcement financials, which makes their executives targets for impersonation and business email compromise. Medical practices and clinics hold records that sell well and fall under HIPAA and California's medical privacy law. For each we build a different priority list: an enclave with logging and access reviews for defense work, strict external sharing and executive mailbox protection for biotech, and audit trails, encryption and tested restores for healthcare. The tools overlap; the order and the evidence differ.

The California rules a San Diego security program has to meet

California's requirements tightened this year. Since January 1, 2026, Civil Code 1798.82 generally gives a business 30 calendar days after discovering a breach to notify affected residents, with a sample notice filed with the Attorney General within 15 days of notifying more than 500 people. The California Privacy Protection Agency's cybersecurity audit regulations took effect the same day: businesses over the CCPA revenue threshold that process personal information of 250,000 or more consumers, or sensitive information of 50,000 or more, must file audit certifications beginning April 1, 2028, 2029 or 2030 depending on revenue. Section 1798.81.5 still requires reasonable security for residents' data, and healthcare adds HIPAA and the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act. We map our controls to those requirements and keep the evidence current. This is general information, not legal advice.

The first 90 days of a security program

Engagements usually begin with the free remote external penetration test, which maps what an attacker can see of your business from the internet, within an agreed scope. From there, the first month deploys ThreatDown and Defender to every device, enforces multifactor authentication with Conditional Access, blocks legacy sign-in and turns on mailbox audit logging. Month two moves backups to immutable storage and documents a restore, fixes the highest Rapid7 findings and sets up DMARC so spoofed mail using your domain is easier for recipients to reject. Month three launches KnowBe4 training with a baseline phishing test, reviews admin roles and vendor access, and writes an incident response plan with phone numbers that work when email does not. You receive a report at each step showing what changed and what risk remains, because no control eliminates every incident.

What is included

Cybersecurity in San Diego: 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

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

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

Published case study

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.

Read the full case study (5-person office)

From our client work

Cybersecurity work for other clients

Insurance
Regional title insurance company
Barracuda email protection for 85 users, phishing simulations, employee security training, and MFA deployment.
Security Awareness & Phishing Training IT for Insurance Agencies and Brokers

Client names are withheld. These examples were chosen for the work involved, not for where the client is, so none is presented as a San Diego client.

What cybersecurity costs in San Diego

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.

How the monthly 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.

Cybersecurity in San Diego: FAQs

How does cybersecurity work for San Diego organizations?

All of it is delivered remotely: agents on each device report to ThreatDown's analysts and our engineers, Microsoft 365 security is administered in the cloud, and scanning and backups run on schedules we manage. When a device is compromised, it can be isolated and the user's sessions revoked from Brooklyn with no travel involved, and there is no on-site element in the agreement. The help desk is staffed 1 a.m. to 8 p.m. Pacific every day, while monitoring and emergency response continue around the clock.

What is in a San Diego cybersecurity service, and how is it priced?

Every device gets ThreatDown MDR and Microsoft Defender for Business. Identities get multifactor sign-in under Conditional Access. Email passes through Barracuda, systems are scanned with Rapid7 InsightVM, staff train with KnowBe4, passwords live in Keeper and backups are immutable and restore-tested. The ongoing service is priced per user per month, with assessments and remediation projects quoted separately. Device and identity counts, the compliance evidence you need, such as NIST SP 800-171 or HIPAA, and whether your Microsoft 365 licenses include Business Premium set the figure. The external penetration test costs nothing.

What does the free remote penetration test cover?

We probe, from outside, the services your business presents to the internet: firewalls, VPN portals, remote desktop gateways, web servers and email settings. The test runs within a scope agreed in writing and is limited to the information available to us. You get findings ranked by risk, with the scope and limits stated plainly. It does not examine your Microsoft 365 configuration, internal network, devices or backups; those need a separate, quoted assessment. For many firms it is the quickest way to find a forgotten open port or an unpatched VPN appliance.

We are a defense subcontractor. What changed with CMMC this year?

Phase 2 of CMMC, the step that was to require third-party Level 2 certification before award from November 10, 2026, was suspended by the Department of War on July 13, 2026. Phases 3 and 4 are paused while a reform task force reviews the program, and its report has not been published. What has not changed: Level 1 and Level 2 self-assessments, a current SPRS score and affirmation, DFARS 252.204-7012 and NIST SP 800-171 Revision 2. We keep your enclave, controls and evidence ready for whichever certification path returns.

Do we need a full assessment before the security service starts?

Not necessarily. The free external test is the usual starting point, and onboarding itself closes the most common gaps. If you need a deeper view first, for example before a client audit or a cyber insurance renewal, we scope an assessment of the tenant, devices, network and backups. It produces a prioritized list of fixes that becomes the plan for your first 90 days, and the price is fixed before work starts.

Start with the free test

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.

Explore Cybersecurity Scope 845-203-3914