Milestone Achieved:TIES Communications Reaches CMMC Level 1 on the Path to Level 2 At TIES Communications, we believe that cybersecurity isn’t a destination—it’s a continuous process of improvement. Today, we are proud to share a major milestone in our 2026 security roadmap: TIES Communications has officially completed our self-assessment for CMMC Level 1 Compliance. 🔍 … Read more
Stop Maintaining, Start Optimizing: The Q1 Mindset As you close the books on 2025, your focus should shift from simply maintaining a working network to strategically optimizing it for the growth and security challenges of 2026. Upgrading your network infrastructure is not just an expense; it’s an investment that directly enhances employee productivity, facilitates the … Read more
The Starting Line: Defining Your RTO and RPO Before implementing any backup system, a small business must define its tolerance for downtime and data loss. These are your recovery objectives: RTO (Recovery Time Objective): The maximum amount of time your business can be down following a failure. A higher RTO (e.g., 24 hours) may save … Read more
Why the Home Office is the New Security Perimeter The days of a single, secure office network are gone. Every employee working from a laptop in a coffee shop, a home office, or a co-working space is now an access point to your business data. For small businesses, this dispersed environment significantly increases the risk … Read more
What is CMMC 2.0? (The 30-Second Refresher) CMMC, or the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, is the Department of Defense (DoD)’s new security standard. Its purpose is to protect sensitive government information—known as CUI (Controlled Unclassified Information)—that is shared with its 300,000+ private contractors. Most of the CMMC discussion focuses on policies, access control, and endpoint … Read more
Both hardware and software firewalls are designed to protect a network from unauthorized access, but they operate at different levels and provide distinct types of protection. Understanding these differences is key to building a secure network. Hardware Firewalls A hardware firewall is a physical appliance that sits between your internal network (your office or home … Read more
In breaking news today (October 30, 2025), The Washington Post reported that the U.S. Commerce Department has proposed a ban on TP-Link, one of the world’s largest suppliers of networking equipment. (see the Washington Post article here) This is not a minor development. This is a massive, security-driven move by the U.S. government, following in … Read more
Introduction Traditional network security, relying solely on firewalls and VPNs, often falls short of protecting against modern cyber threats, such as sophisticated ransomware attacks. As businesses adopt remote work and cloud applications, the traditional security perimeter has dissolved, necessitating a fundamentally different and more secure approach. This new approach is called Zero Trust. This article … Read more
Diagram showing a secure, segmented business and guest WiFi network
Introduction In simple terms, a VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) is a technology that allows a single physical network to be split into multiple, separate, and isolated virtual networks. It’s one of the most fundamental tools for building a secure and efficient business network, yet it’s a concept that is often misunderstood. This guide explains … Read more