A few months ago you started working in the IT department for a small manufacturing company located in a rural area. Many of the employees live in the area and have worked for this company their entire careers. The local community views the company favorably, and it has a reputation among its customers as a reputable business.

Because of an email virus, the company recently suffered a ransomware attack that locked down their billing system and caused some significant delays in collecting payments from customers. The breach made the local news, and was written about in an industry blog. As a result, the corporate office decided it was time to invest in modernizing their security systems.

Emmett, the VP of Operations has asked you to assess the company's current security processes, recommend improvements, and implement new security measures. During the initial risk assessment, you identified the IT systems most relevant to the company's billing processes and found several areas with significant security gaps and room for improvement and upgrades.