The Three Biggest Cyber Mistakes Fast-Growing Companies Make (And How to Avoid Them)
Why growth exposes you... and how to stay protected without slowing down.
Fast-growing companies move fast: new hires, new tools, new locations, new clients.
But speed has a hidden cost.
Your cybersecurity risk grows faster than your revenue.
Most leaders don’t see the danger until something breaks:
• A new employee reuses an old password
• A contractor still has access months after the project ended
• A team adopts a new tool without notifying IT
These are not “hacker problems.”
They are growth problems, and they are completely preventable.
Here are the three biggest mistakes I see growing companies make, along with the simple steps to avoid them before they turn into major emergencies.
1. Security falls behind hiring speed
Growth creates constant onboarding.
Onboarding creates new accounts.
Accounts are the number one attack surface in fast-changing companies.
Here is what usually happens:
“We’ll secure everything once we’re done hiring.”
By the time you are “done hiring,” you have already added ten more people.
Where this shows up:
• New hires without MFA
• Small teams sharing passwords
• Accounts created by non-technical staff
• Contractors with far more access than needed
Why it matters:
Attackers rarely go after a CEO. They go after the newest and least protected login.
Fast fix:
Create a standard security checklist for every new hire. Apply it without exception.
Turn on MFA
Install a password manager
Enroll the device in monitoring
Limit access to only what the role requires
Five minutes per user prevents five-figure problems.
2. Shadow IT spreads quietly across the company
As teams grow, the number of tools grows too.
Marketing signs up for one platform.
Sales adopts another.
HR finds something that “just works.”
Eventually the company is paying for dozens of tools and securing almost none of them.
Where this shows up:
• Employees using personal Gmail for client messages
• Shared Dropbox links containing sensitive information
• Free SaaS tools holding confidential data
• Departments adopting software no one else knows about
Why it matters:
A hidden tool is an unmonitored door into your business.
Fast fix:
Create one simple rule:
If a tool touches customer data, IT must approve it.
The goal is not to slow things down.
The goal is to protect what matters.
Centralize tools.
Consolidate logins.
Gain visibility.
Your budget and your security benefit immediately.
3. No clear disaster plan when something goes wrong
Fast-growing companies feel resilient until they hit their first real outage or security scare.
All it takes is one ransomware attempt or one employee who clicks the wrong link, and leadership is suddenly asking:
“Who do we call? What do we do next? Who is responsible?”
That is the worst time to figure out a plan.
Where this shows up:
• Each department assuming someone else is handling the crisis
• Backups that were never tested
• Delayed responses that increase the damage
• Insurance claims denied because procedures were not followed
Why it matters:
A crisis grows much larger when no one knows what to do.
Downtime grows.
Costs grow.
Reputational damage grows.
Fast fix:
Create a one-page incident response plan.
Who to call (names and numbers)
Who owns each role during an incident
Immediate steps to contain damage
Who communicates with clients
Who communicates with insurance
Print it.
Share it.
Review it twice a year.
A plan turns panic into control.
Growth Security Score
Grade your company:
Three mistakes means you are scaling with risk.
One or two mistakes means your security has not kept up with your growth.
Zero mistakes means you are operating like a mature organization, which is rare for companies under 500 employees.
The goal is not perfection.
The goal is alignment.
Your security strategy must grow at the same pace as your business.
Final Thought
Growth is exciting.
Cyber risk should not steal that momentum.
Avoid these three mistakes and your business will scale safer, faster, and with fewer interruptions.
Strong security does not get in the way.
It clears the runway.
Written by Hunter Hampton
The Cybersecurity Fly Guy, providing real-world insights for business leaders who want to stay protected, productive, and profitable.
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Next Week’s Topic:
”Do You Have Cyber Insurance? If So, Are You Actually Covered?”