Security Assessments/Audits in Pasadena, California

Security Assessments/Audits means evaluating your security posture with comprehensive security assessments and audits. It includes firewall and perimeter review with outdated firmware, misconfigured rules, exposed services, dangerous "any/any" rules, weak VPN settings, missing IPS/IDS, and logging gaps, cloud security review with Microsoft 365, Azure, Google Workspace, SharePoint, OneDrive — checking MFA enforcement, Conditional Access, OAuth app permissions, inbox rules, account compromise indicators, external sharing, and admin roles, endpoint and server security with antivirus vs. EDR, patch posture, local admin rights, legacy apps, startup services, and malware indicators, logging and monitoring with are logs enabled, are they centrally collected, can you detect attacks, and are alerts configured, identity and access review with password hygiene, privileged accounts, shadow IT, forgotten accounts, and vendor accounts, backup and recovery audit with encryption, frequency, retention, off-site copies, and restore testing, policies and documentation with missing policies, inconsistent policies, outdated procedures, and compliance gaps. Think of it like having an expert give you a clear, honest, evidence-based understanding of your security — not assumptions, not guesses, not surface-level reassurance. Instead of misconfigurations that open the door to attackers, outdated systems that become vulnerable, logging gaps that hide intrusions, over-permissioned accounts, vendor access that goes unreviewed, backups that fail during emergencies, firewalls that block nothing, cloud apps that leak information, and malware that hides in the noise, you get you know exactly where you stand, you understand your biggest risks, you receive clear prioritized recommendations, leadership gains clarity, you eliminate blind spots, you gain control of your environment, you become dramatically harder to compromise, IT becomes proactive not reactive, your business becomes more resilient, and you gain visibility confidence and direction. For Pasadena businesses with security concerns, Security Assessments/Audits gives you the clarity needed to understand what's really happening inside your environment — and what to do about it.

You probably need Security Assessments/Audits if you want a second opinion you can trust, your current IT provider keeps saying "everything is fine" without proof, you need clarity before renewing cyber insurance, a partner asks for documentation you don't have, you discover your firewall or cloud settings have never been audited, you want a real expert to tell you the truth, you suspect risks but don't know where to begin, or you need a security assessment that goes deeper than a vulnerability scan. Many Pasadena businesses don't realize they need Security Assessments/Audits until they face a security incident. A Pasadena professional services firm reached out asking for something simple: "Can you give us a quote for basic IT support?" They weren't unhappy with their current provider. They just wanted to compare pricing. During the initial conversation, the CEO said: "We're not looking for anything major. We just want to make sure we're not overpaying." He believed everything was stable: no recent outages, no major complaints, no known breaches, and no strange behavior on the network. Everything seemed fine. But when we asked: "When was your last security assessment or audit?" He paused. Then said: "I'm not sure we've ever had one. Our IT guy said we're secure, though." That answer — vague, casual, unverified — was the moment the CEO realized he didn't actually know anything for certain. He asked: "Can you review our environment before giving us a quote?" We scheduled an on-site visit. When we arrived, the CEO assumed the assessment would take an hour. It didn't. Within the first ten minutes, we found the first red flag: their firewall hadn't been updated in over 800 days. Not 8 days. Not 80 days. Eight hundred. The CEO was surprised. He said: "Our IT provider told us everything updates automatically." It didn't. That was just the beginning. Next, we reviewed their cloud settings. Microsoft 365 showed no logging, no conditional access rules, only partial MFA, several mailboxes without security policies, no alerting, and an OAuth app with excessive permissions. Then we checked endpoint protection. Half the devices were missing security agents. A few had old software that no longer received updates. One workstation had malware detected — but not removed — because alerts weren't monitored. Then came the moment that changed everything. We found a log entry showing repeated failed login attempts to a privileged account from an overseas IP address. Not once. Not twice. 137 times. The attempts stopped only because the attacker moved on — not because they were blocked. If your business has never had a real security assessment or you've only received vague answers, that's a sign you need Security Assessments/Audits. We help you understand what's really happening inside your environment — and what to do about it.

Businesses that skip assessments live with hidden risk: misconfigurations that open the door to attackers, outdated systems that become vulnerable, logging gaps that hide intrusions, over-permissioned accounts, vendor access that goes unreviewed, backups that fail during emergencies, firewalls that block nothing, cloud apps that leak information, and malware that hides in the noise. The silent truth: Most SMBs are breached long before they realize something is wrong. A security assessment exposes these issues before attackers find them. Most businesses believe "Everything seems fine, so we're probably secure," "Our IT provider would tell us if something was wrong," "We installed antivirus, so we're covered," "We don't have anything hackers want," or "We're too small to be targeted." All of these are myths. Here's the truth: attackers don't target businesses — they target vulnerabilities, most SMBs have never had a real security audit, most IT providers maintain systems but do not evaluate security, firewalls VPNs and cloud systems are often misconfigured, and SMBs have blind spots they never know about until it's too late. Security assessments aren't about fear. They're about facts. The biggest threat to any business is not knowing what they don't know. One Pasadena professional services firm almost lost everything because they thought everything was fine. They had their firewall hadn't been updated in over 800 days, Microsoft 365 showed no logging, no conditional access rules, only partial MFA, several mailboxes without security policies, no alerting, and an OAuth app with excessive permissions, half the devices were missing security agents, a few had old software that no longer received updates, one workstation had malware detected — but not removed — because alerts weren't monitored, and repeated failed login attempts to a privileged account from an overseas IP address — 137 times. Without Security Assessments/Audits, businesses face misconfigurations that open the door to attackers, outdated systems that become vulnerable, logging gaps that hide intrusions, over-permissioned accounts, vendor access that goes unreviewed, backups that fail during emergencies, firewalls that block nothing, cloud apps that leak information, and malware that hides in the noise. A true security assessment exposes what's working — and what's not. Not to shame. Not to blame. But to protect the business.

Security Assessments/Audits prevents problems through comprehensive security evaluation: we learn what you're concerned about what your IT setup looks like and what systems you rely on to understand your situation, we perform a structured on-site and cloud-based assessment to evaluate firewalls, VPNs, cloud configurations, endpoint protection, backups, logging, identity settings, network segmentation, access permissions, patch posture, email security, vendor access, and policy documentation, we deliver a clear actionable report to provide a prioritized list of risks, explanations in plain English, evidence, screenshots, risk ratings, a roadmap, and an honest assessment of your true posture, we review firewall and perimeter to find outdated firmware, misconfigured rules, exposed services, dangerous "any/any" rules, weak VPN settings, missing IPS/IDS, and logging gaps, we review cloud security to find Microsoft 365 Azure Google Workspace SharePoint OneDrive issues with MFA enforcement, Conditional Access, OAuth app permissions, inbox rules, account compromise indicators, external sharing, and admin roles, we review endpoint and server security to find antivirus vs. EDR issues, patch posture problems, local admin rights issues, legacy apps, startup services, and malware indicators, we review logging and monitoring to find if logs are enabled, if they're centrally collected, if you can detect attacks, and if alerts are configured, we review identity and access to find password hygiene issues, privileged accounts, shadow IT, forgotten accounts, and vendor accounts, we review backup and recovery to find encryption issues, frequency problems, retention issues, off-site copy problems, and restore testing issues, we review policies and documentation to find missing policies, inconsistent policies, outdated procedures, and compliance gaps, we provide a prioritized list of risks to show what matters most, we provide explanations in plain English to ensure understanding, we provide evidence to prove findings, we provide screenshots to show issues, we provide risk ratings to show priorities, we provide a roadmap to show how to fix everything, and we provide an honest assessment of your true posture to show reality. Instead of reacting to security incidents after attackers have exploited vulnerabilities, we prevent them before attackers find them. This proactive approach means you avoid misconfigurations that open the door to attackers, outdated systems that become vulnerable, logging gaps that hide intrusions, over-permissioned accounts, vendor access that goes unreviewed, backups that fail during emergencies, firewalls that block nothing, cloud apps that leak information, and malware that hides in the noise. Many Pasadena businesses find that Security Assessments/Audits transforms how they handle security. Instead of assuming everything is fine, you get real facts. Instead of vague answers, you get clarity. Instead of "everything is fine," you get the truth. You gain visibility. You gain confidence. You gain direction.

Our Security Assessments/Audits services include: firewall and perimeter review with outdated firmware, misconfigured rules, exposed services, dangerous "any/any" rules, weak VPN settings, missing IPS/IDS, and logging gaps, cloud security review with Microsoft 365, Azure, Google Workspace, SharePoint, OneDrive — checking MFA enforcement, Conditional Access, OAuth app permissions, inbox rules, account compromise indicators, external sharing, and admin roles, endpoint and server security with antivirus vs. EDR, patch posture, local admin rights, legacy apps, startup services, and malware indicators, logging and monitoring with are logs enabled, are they centrally collected, can you detect attacks, and are alerts configured, identity and access review with password hygiene, privileged accounts, shadow IT, forgotten accounts, and vendor accounts, backup and recovery audit with encryption, frequency, retention, off-site copies, and restore testing, policies and documentation with missing policies, inconsistent policies, outdated procedures, and compliance gaps. A true security assessment exposes what's working — and what's not. For 27 years, Alcala Consulting has helped Pasadena businesses find the truth so they can make informed decisions. A real security assessment includes a full review of your security posture, a dive into your systems settings and controls, a verification of what your IT provider claims, a detailed evaluation of risks gaps and misconfigurations, and a roadmap that shows how to fix everything. We don't guess. We don't sugarcoat. We don't speak in jargon. We show you what's happening — visibly, clearly, and honestly.

Security Assessments/Audits is fundamentally different from just checking if you have antivirus. Just checking if you have antivirus means looking at one tool. Security Assessments/Audits means evaluating your security posture with comprehensive security assessments and audits — a full review of your security posture, a dive into your systems settings and controls, a verification of what your IT provider claims, a detailed evaluation of risks gaps and misconfigurations, and a roadmap that shows how to fix everything. Security Assessments/Audits goes far beyond just checking if you have antivirus. It includes reviewing firewall and perimeter to find outdated firmware, misconfigured rules, exposed services, dangerous "any/any" rules, weak VPN settings, missing IPS/IDS, and logging gaps, reviewing cloud security to find Microsoft 365 Azure Google Workspace SharePoint OneDrive issues with MFA enforcement, Conditional Access, OAuth app permissions, inbox rules, account compromise indicators, external sharing, and admin roles, reviewing endpoint and server security to find antivirus vs. EDR issues, patch posture problems, local admin rights issues, legacy apps, startup services, and malware indicators, reviewing logging and monitoring to find if logs are enabled, if they're centrally collected, if you can detect attacks, and if alerts are configured, reviewing identity and access to find password hygiene issues, privileged accounts, shadow IT, forgotten accounts, and vendor accounts, reviewing backup and recovery to find encryption issues, frequency problems, retention issues, off-site copy problems, and restore testing issues, reviewing policies and documentation to find missing policies, inconsistent policies, outdated procedures, and compliance gaps, providing a prioritized list of risks to show what matters most, providing explanations in plain English to ensure understanding, providing evidence to prove findings, providing screenshots to show issues, providing risk ratings to show priorities, providing a roadmap to show how to fix everything, and providing an honest assessment of your true posture to show reality. A Pasadena professional services firm learned this the hard way. They thought everything was fine. They had antivirus. But when we performed the assessment, we found their firewall hadn't been updated in over 800 days, Microsoft 365 showed no logging, no conditional access rules, only partial MFA, several mailboxes without security policies, no alerting, and an OAuth app with excessive permissions, half the devices were missing security agents, a few had old software that no longer received updates, one workstation had malware detected — but not removed — because alerts weren't monitored, and repeated failed login attempts to a privileged account from an overseas IP address — 137 times. Just checking if you have antivirus wouldn't have found this. Security Assessments/Audits did. A true security assessment exposes what's working — and what's not. Not to shame. Not to blame. But to protect the business.

Three things set our Security Assessments/Audits apart: First, we provide comprehensive security assessments — a full review of your security posture, a dive into your systems settings and controls, a verification of what your IT provider claims, a detailed evaluation of risks gaps and misconfigurations, and a roadmap that shows how to fix everything. Second, we don't just check tools — we evaluate firewalls, VPNs, cloud configurations, endpoint protection, backups, logging, identity settings, network segmentation, access permissions, patch posture, email security, vendor access, and policy documentation. Third, we communicate in plain English — you'll understand what's happening and what we're doing. Many Security Assessments/Audits providers focus on one aspect (like vulnerability scanning) but don't help with comprehensive security assessment or clear roadmaps. We provide comprehensive Security Assessments/Audits that covers everything from firewall review to policies and documentation. We also understand that security can be overwhelming for business owners. We make Security Assessments/Audits practical and manageable instead of confusing and stressful. For Pasadena businesses with security concerns, this practical, comprehensive approach makes all the difference. We help you understand what's really happening inside your environment — and what to do about it. We have 27 years securing SMBs. We have deep experience across cloud, network, and compliance. We have a reputation for honesty, clarity, and direct communication. We have local engineers who respond quickly. We have 17 five-star Google reviews, a 4.3-star Facebook rating, and four five-star Yelp reviews. We don't guess. We don't sugarcoat. We don't speak in jargon. We show you what's happening — visibly, clearly, and honestly.

Getting started is simple. First, book a 15-minute discovery call where we'll learn what you're concerned about, what your IT setup looks like, and what systems you rely on. We'll ask questions like: When was your last security assessment? What are your security concerns? What does your cyber insurance require? Based on that conversation, we'll perform a structured on-site and cloud-based assessment — evaluating firewalls, VPNs, cloud configurations, endpoint protection, backups, logging, identity settings, network segmentation, access permissions, patch posture, email security, vendor access, and policy documentation. We'll explain what we'll review, how it will help, and what it will cost. Once you approve, we'll deliver a clear actionable report — providing a prioritized list of risks, explanations in plain English, evidence, screenshots, risk ratings, a roadmap, and an honest assessment of your true posture. The process typically takes 1-2 weeks for the assessment, and then we provide clear reporting with no jargon, no guessing, and no sugarcoating. There's no commitment required for the initial consultation — it's just a chance to see if Security Assessments/Audits makes sense for your Pasadena business. If your business has never had a real security assessment — or if you've only received vague answers — it's time to get the truth. Book your 15-minute discovery call today. We'll show you exactly where your risks are and how to fix them.