Top 10 Basic Must-Have Security Controls for Startups

The first ten security decisions decide whether your company survives its first real incident. These are not best practices; they are survival requirements.

1. Multi-factor authentication everywhere. Assume every password will leak. MFA is the wall that helps stop most real intrusions. No exceptions for founders, devs, or “temporary” accounts.

2. Centralized password management and real secrets handling. If credentials live in chat, docs, or code, you are already compromised. Use a password manager. Use proper secret storage. Make access revocable.

3. Least privilege from day one. Default access is nothing. Every permission expands blast radius. Most breaches succeed because someone had power they never needed.

4. Asset inventory and attack surface control. If you do not know it exists, you are not defending it. Track everything. Kill what you do not use. Forgotten systems become easy doors.

5. Endpoint hardening is production security. Early companies run on laptops. Encrypt them. Lock them. Patch them. Protect them. One lost or infected device can become total compromise.

6. Patch fast or bleed slowly. Unpatched systems are known weapons. Automate updates. Fix high-risk issues immediately. Delay is a decision to accept damage.

7. Encrypt data and make recovery real. Encrypt sensitive data everywhere. Back it up. Encrypt backups. Prove you can restore. If you cannot recover, you do not control your business.

8. Centralized logging and real monitoring. If nobody is watching, the attacker has time. Centralize identity and infrastructure logs. Alert on abnormal behavior. Visibility limits destruction.

9. A written and practiced incident response plan. Incidents do not wait for planning. Define authority, containment, investigation, and recovery now. Practice before stress removes clarity.

10. Train humans to stop being the easiest entry point. Phishing works because teams are unprepared. Teach recognition. Normalize reporting. Early warnings prevent catastrophic loss.

Security is not comfort. It is restraint, visibility, and recovery. Build it before growth makes it impossible.

Why These Are Non-Negotiable?

These controls align with the core Security Brutalism laws of security for a minimal, honest security program:

• Know what you have (inventory and logging)
• Make it hard to break (MFA, least privilege, patching, and encryption)
• See trouble fast (monitoring and alerts)
• Limit & recover (backups and practiced response)

This list deliberately avoids security theater and focuses on controls that protect real risk vectors immediately like credential compromise, unprotected assets, unpatched systems, and lack of visibility, especially common in early-stage environments.

Originally posted on Black Arrows Blog.