Cybersecurity Services for Texas Businesses
Texas organizations have learned about security the hard way, from the 22 local governments hit by coordinated ransomware in August 2019 to the City of Dallas outage of 2023. NetSys puts the controls that stop those attacks in place for Texas businesses: endpoint detection, protected identities, filtered email and backups an attacker cannot delete, all run remotely from Brooklyn.
The short answer
NetSys provides cybersecurity services to Texas businesses: ThreatDown endpoint detection and managed response, Barracuda email protection, Microsoft Defender for Business, multifactor authentication backed by Entra ID Conditional Access, Rapid7 InsightVM vulnerability scanning, KnowBe4 phishing training and immutable backups. Everything is delivered remotely and through the cloud from our Brooklyn office. Alerts are watched and emergencies answered 24/7; the help desk itself is open 3 a.m. to 10 p.m. Central, or 2 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mountain for El Paso. Continuing protection carries a per-user monthly fee based on an assessment, and one-time projects are quoted once scoped.
Service information by The NetSys Group. Our editorial standards.
How cybersecurity is delivered in Texas
Security for a Texas office is run from our Brooklyn office through the same agents and consoles that manage the environment. ThreatDown and Defender sit on every computer and server, and when ThreatDown confirms a threat it can cut that machine off from the network remotely, whether it sits in a Houston tower or on an employee's kitchen table in Lubbock. Identity policy lives in Entra ID, email filtering in Barracuda and scan results in Rapid7 InsightVM, so an engineer can act on an alert without anyone going to the building. There is no on-site component to the service in Texas. If a compromised laptop has to be pulled from service, a clean replacement ships enrolled through Windows Autopilot and the old one comes back for examination. Incident response, from containment to restoring data, is carried out remotely. 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 (3 a.m. to 10 p.m. Central), seven days a week. The proposal states severe-incident escalation, authorized remediation and any other after-hours work.
Three Texas incidents and the control behind each
In August 2019, 22 Texas local governments were hit with ransomware in one coordinated attack after the attackers abused the remote-management software of an outside IT provider. The lesson for any business is to ask how a provider protects its own tools: multifactor sign-in, limited administrator access and alerts when scripts run across many clients at once. In May 2023, Royal ransomware encrypted City of Dallas servers after entering through a stolen domain service account in early April and staying until early May; the city said personal data of 30,253 people was potentially exposed. Service accounts with standing administrator rights and passwords that never change are exactly what attackers hunt for. In May 2025, the Texas Department of Transportation found that a compromised account had been used to download nearly 300,000 crash reports. Watching for unusual volumes of activity from a legitimate login catches what passwords alone cannot.
Email, identity and payment fraud
Most attacks on Texas companies still start in a mailbox. A spoofed supplier invoice, a message that looks like a title company's wiring instructions or a fake Microsoft sign-in page can cost more than ransomware, and none of them needs malware. The controls are specific. Barracuda Email Protection filters inbound mail and flags impersonation; SPF, DKIM and DMARC records reduce spoofing of your own domain; multifactor authentication with number matching and Entra ID Conditional Access keep stolen passwords from working on unfamiliar devices or from other countries; and Keeper takes shared passwords out of spreadsheets. We also help you write a payment rule that does not depend on technology at all: any change to bank details is confirmed by calling a number already on file, never the one in the email. KnowBe4 simulations then show which staff need more practice.
Endpoint detection, patching and the 2027 server deadline
Prevention fails sometimes, so detection matters. ThreatDown watches behavior on each device, and its managed detection and response service investigates alerts at all hours, escalating to your dedicated engineer when something is real. NinjaOne patches Windows, macOS and common applications on a schedule you approve, and Rapid7 InsightVM scans for what patching missed, including firewalls and printers. Old systems are where attackers find room. Windows 10 support ended October 14, 2025, and Windows Server 2016 reaches the end of extended support on January 12, 2027, after which security updates stop. Our first scan lists every machine on either system and what it costs to retire. For the outside view, NetSys offers one free service: a remote external penetration test within an agreed scope, showing what an attacker on the internet can see of your network.
Texas rules that set the security bar
Section 521.052 of the Business and Commerce Code makes reasonable safeguards for sensitive personal information a legal duty, and section 521.053 requires notice to affected people within 60 days of determining that a breach occurred, plus an electronic report to the Attorney General within 30 days when 250 or more Texans are affected. Chapter 542, effective September 1, 2025, rewards preparation: if a company under 250 employees had a qualifying program running when the breach occurred, it cannot be hit with exemplary damages, with password policies and staff training for firms under 20 employees, CIS Controls Implementation Group 1 from 20 to 99, and a full recognized framework from 100 to 249. Healthcare organizations add HIPAA and Health and Safety Code chapter 181, and defense suppliers keep NIST SP 800-171 controls in force despite the July 2026 suspension of CMMC Phase 2. This is general information, not legal advice.
Cybersecurity in Texas: what NetSys delivers
Watch and respond
- ThreatDown MDR and EDR on every device, with a 24/7 team that isolates and investigates rather than emails
- Rapid7 InsightIDR or Microsoft Sentinel collecting identity, email, endpoint and firewall logs so an intrusion is visible in one place
Harden the tenant and the people
- Microsoft Defender for Business, Entra ID Conditional Access and phishing-resistant sign-in for finance staff
- Legacy authentication off, dormant accounts closed, forwarding rules and consent grants reviewed monthly
Measure and recover
- Rapid7 InsightVM scans of the internal and external footprint, with a monthly fix list
- Managed firewall with intrusion prevention, segmentation and vendor access that is logged and switched off when the work ends
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
- Insurance
Regional title insurance company
Barracuda email protection for 85 users, phishing simulations, employee security training, and MFA deployment.
Security Awareness & Phishing TrainingIT 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 Texas client.
What cybersecurity costs in Texas
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.
Read next
Industry pages: IT for Manufacturing · 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 everything NetSys delivers in Texas.
Also in Texas: Managed IT Services · IT Consulting
Cybersecurity elsewhere: Houston · Dallas · Austin · San Antonio · El Paso · Fort Worth
Related services: Penetration Testing · Cyber Insurance Readiness · Security Assessments · Managed Detection & Response (MDR)
Cybersecurity in Texas: FAQs
How does cybersecurity work for Texas organizations?
Entirely remotely, through the cloud. NetSys deploys ThreatDown, Microsoft Defender, Barracuda and Entra ID policies over the network, watches alerts at every hour and responds from Brooklyn, including isolating a computer and resetting accounts. People can call the help desk between 3 a.m. and 10 p.m. Central, which is 2 a.m. to 9 p.m. for El Paso offices on Mountain time. Since our engineers never come on site in Texas, replacement hardware ships ready for sign-in. Onboarding takes a few weeks: an assessment, a written plan, then a staged rollout that starts with the accounts attackers want most.
What do cybersecurity services cost a Texas business?
Security on an ongoing basis carries a monthly per-user fee worked out in an assessment, sold on its own or inside a managed IT agreement, and projects such as a Conditional Access rollout or a HIPAA risk analysis are quoted after scoping. The price moves with the number of devices and servers, how many locations and firewalls you have, the compliance evidence you owe an insurer, customer or regulator, and whether an internal IT team handles part of the response. NetSys does not publish prices, and agreements run month to month.
Which cybersecurity requirements apply to businesses in Texas?
It depends on your size and your data. The Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, in force since July 1, 2024, applies to companies that do business in Texas, process or sell personal data and are not small businesses under the SBA definition, with exemptions such as HIPAA-covered entities, Gramm-Leach-Bliley financial institutions and nonprofits. It requires reasonable data security practices and data protection assessments for higher-risk processing, including sensitive data. Medical data adds HIPAA and Texas Health and Safety Code chapter 181, whose HB 300 provisions require employee privacy training within 90 days of hire.
What does the free external penetration test cover?
It is the one free offer NetSys makes. With your written authorization and an agreed scope, an engineer tests your internet-facing systems remotely: the firewall, the VPN, remote-access portals, exposed services and anything else on your public IP addresses. You get a report of what an attacker could see and reach from outside, ranked by severity, with the fixes explained in plain language. Your internal network and your staff are outside its scope, and it is not a compliance audit; that work is scoped and quoted separately.
What should a Texas business do in the first hour of ransomware?
Call the emergency line, which is answered at any hour, and your dedicated engineer takes the case. Affected computers are isolated through ThreatDown, compromised accounts are disabled and their sessions revoked, and backups are checked so the attacker cannot reach them. Evidence is preserved for your insurer and counsel before anything is wiped, and then systems are restored in the order your recovery plan sets. NetSys has handled more than 30 ransomware incidents over three years, all of them fully recovered; where a disaster recovery plan already existed, the client was running again within 24 hours.
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.