The one security question that reveals more than any tool

When I meet a new business owner, they often believe security issues come from complicated hacking attempts. In reality, most risks start with basic things that get ignored over time. A few old laptops still in circulation, staff using personal phones for work, files spread across different places, or backups that no one has tested in months. These are the small cracks that later turn into bigger problems.

There is one question I ask almost every business during an assessment: Do you know exactly where your data lives?

On the surface, it feels like a simple question. But once people start answering, they realize how many places are involved. Laptops, email accounts, old desktops lying in a corner, personal devices, cloud apps they signed up for years ago, shared drives, and even old USB sticks that no one remembers. If even one of these locations is not protected, that becomes the weak spot an attacker can exploit.

This is why visibility matters more than any shiny tool. You cannot protect what you cannot see. Passwords, encryption, backups, everything depends on knowing the full picture first. Without that, your security plan becomes guesswork.

The good news is that getting clarity is not complicated. Start by listing every place where business data might be stored. You do not need technical terms. Just write the locations. Laptops, phones, cloud platforms, shared folders, old systems, anything that people use for work. Then check which of these are updated, backed up, and monitored.

Almost every business finds something surprising on that list. That surprise is usually the real risk.

Security becomes much easier once you know what you are actually protecting.

Takeaway: Spend a few minutes this week listing every location where your data exists. If you cannot confidently explain how each one is protected, that is your first fix.