The Small Business Cyber Survival Guide
A plain-English cyber survival guide for independent restaurants and retailers — sixteen chapters and eight editable appendices covering protection, response, and remediation. Built to be actioned this week, not admired on a shelf.
Includes 12 months of updates — the guide is refreshed every 6 months. A modest annual renewal keeps you current after year 1.
All sales are final. This is a digital download — once payment is received, no refunds are given.
Already own the guide? Renew your license for another year of updates.
- Instant download
- 8 editable appendices
- All sales final
- Actionable this week
Details
- Format
- Digital download (PDF)
- Length
- 16 chapters + 8 appendices
- Updates
- 12 months included; modest annual renewal thereafter
- Standards
- PCI DSS v4.0.1 aligned
What's inside
A complete playbook, not a pamphlet.
Sixteen chapters across protection, response, and remediation — plus a toolkit of eight editable appendices you can fill in and use the same day.
Protection
8 chapters
Response
4 chapters
Remediation
4 chapters
Protection
Multi-Factor Authentication, Everywhere That Matters
The single fix that shuts more doors than anything else — and where PCI DSS v4.0.1 actually requires it, scoped to your cardholder data environment and applicable remote access.
Passwords That Actually Hold Up
Why reuse is the real danger, the shared-login habits specific to restaurants and retail, and a password standard your team will actually follow.
Teaching Your Team to Spot Phishing and Spear Phishing
Stop training for bad grammar. Train for bad requests — across email, text, phone calls, and QR codes.
Recognizing Business Email Compromise Before You Wire the Money
The scam that averages over $100,000 per incident — and the one rule that stops nearly all of it.
Keeping Software Patched Without a Full-Time IT Person
Exploiting unpatched software is now the leading initial access vector overall. A realistic monthly rhythm with no IT staff.
Backups and Network Separation — Limiting the Damage
Backups decide whether you reopen tomorrow or lose your records. Network separation decides whether a problem stays in one corner or spreads to your POS.
Vendor & Third-Party Access — Who Has a Key to Your Systems?
Third-party involvement in roughly 48% of breaches in the 2026 DBIR dataset — and why you almost certainly have more vendor access than you'd list off the top of your head.
Your POS System & PCI DSS v4.0.1, in Plain English
What the card networks actually require of a business your size, how to confirm your exact scope, and how to protect against physical skimmers and tampered terminals.
Response
How to Tell Something's Actually Happened
Most small businesses find out weeks late, from a customer. The signs worth taking seriously — before someone else does.
Your First 60 Minutes
Who to call, in what order, depends on what's happening — five call tracks written down ahead of time so a shift manager can follow them on a busy Friday night.
Containing a Compromised Account or Device
'Disconnect it' means something different for email, a POS terminal, an employee device, a vendor, or ransomware. Here's exactly what.
The One-Page Emergency Card
Everything above, compressed to one printable page. Laminate it. Tape it up. That's the page that actually gets used.
Remediation
Notifying Customers and Meeting Your Legal Obligations
Notification runs on its own clock — all 50 states plus D.C. have their own laws, and they don't match each other. What a notice needs to cover.
Filing a Cyber Insurance Claim Without Surprises
Most coverage disputes come from gaps decided months earlier. The checklist that keeps your policy actually payable.
Post-Incident Hardening
Find the real root cause, not the symptom — and fix the right thing without overcorrecting into rules no one follows.
Rebuilding Customer Trust After a Breach
How a breach is handled — not the breach itself — is usually what determines whether a small business survives it.
Included toolkit
No guide can guarantee you'll never be breached.
The Small Business Cyber Survival Guide is practical guidance, not a guarantee. Following it does not ensure against a breach, incident, or financial loss — no security program can. It is not legal advice. Use it to reduce risk and improve your response, and consult qualified IT, legal, or insurance professionals for your specific situation.
Read the full terms →FAQ
Before you buy
Is this written for someone with no IT background?+
Yes. It's built for owners and managers of independent restaurants and retail shops who don't have an IT department. Every chapter is in plain language, with checklists you can hand straight to a shift manager.
What format do I receive?+
A digital download (PDF) you can read on any device, print, and share within your licensed locations. The toolkit appendices are editable templates you fill in with your own contacts and details.
How is this different from generic cybersecurity advice?+
It's written specifically for food service and retail — covering POS systems, PCI DSS v4.0.1, QR-code scams at tables, shared cashier logins, backups, network separation, and vendor access the way your business actually runs them.
Which license do I need?+
Single Location covers one storefront. The Multi-Location licenses let you share the guide and templates across every location in your operation — up to 5, or up to 20.
How quickly can I put it to use?+
Immediately. Chapter 1's MFA checklist and the one-page emergency card can be actioned the same day you download it.
What is your refund policy?+
All sales are final. Because this is a digital download that can't be returned once you've received it, no refunds are given after purchase. If a file is damaged or a download fails, contact Support and we'll make it right.
Ready to close the doors?
Start with Chapter 1 today. The MFA checklist and emergency card can be in place by tonight.
Also from Resilient Edge Group
The Safety Record
One test that works on any call, email or text that reaches you — and a record of what you have already done about scams, accounts and identity theft.
