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#178: Data Protection for Small Business During Growth
01/26/2026
#178: Data Protection for Small Business During Growth
Growing your business means adding vendors, cloud tools, and systems, but it also means increasing your exposure to data risk. In this episode of Cultivating Business Growth, Jaime Staley sits down with Timothy O’Hara, VP of Data Risk at The Hack Ninja, to break down data protection for small business in a way non-technical owners can actually understand and act on. You’ll learn why small and mid-sized businesses are often more vulnerable than large enterprises, how vendor and third-party risk quietly creates exposure, and what “minimum viable” cybersecurity really looks like for growing companies without internal IT leadership. This conversation reframes cybersecurity as a leadership and growth issue, not just an IT problem, showing how strong data controls can reduce risk, speed up deals, improve valuations, and protect your reputation as you scale. In this episode, we cover: Why growing businesses are prime targets for data breaches The biggest misconceptions about cybersecurity and vendor responsibility How third-party tools and vendors create hidden risk What questions to ask vendors to protect your data Zero Trust explained for small business owners Practical first steps to improve data protection this quarter How strong security controls can actually accelerate growth Resources mentioned: Learn more about Tim’s work at The Hack Ninja: Access a complimentary cybersecurity education session for small business owners through The Hack Ninja website If you’re scaling your business and relying on software, vendors, or cloud tools, this episode will help you understand where your risk lives, and how to address it before it becomes a costly problem.
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