Black BeltCyber Security
Book an assessment

The assessment

One visit. One report. Nothing left running.

A single, thorough look at the computers in your home — what’s out of date, what’s switched off, and who still has access. Then a written report you can actually read, and a conversation about it.

Book an assessment What’s in scope

Scope

What this covers — and what it doesn’t.

We’d rather be boringly clear about this up front than have you discover it later.

In scope

  • The computers in your home that you choose to include
  • Missing security updates and end-of-life software on those machines
  • Security settings on those machines, including what’s been switched off or left open
  • Administrator access and what’s running on those machines

Not in scope

  • Phones and tablets
  • Your home network, router, and Wi-Fi
  • Smart home devices and cameras
  • Online accounts, email, and social media
  • Fixing what we find (available separately)

Before you commit to anything, we’ll confirm exactly which computers are included and walk you through this list out loud. If what you actually need is something we don’t do, we’ll tell you.

What we examine

Three questions, asked properly.

01

What’s out of date

Every piece of software on the machine has a version, and most of them have known security holes that were fixed in a later one. We find what hasn’t been updated — and, more seriously, what has passed the end of its supported life and will never be fixed at all.

For scaleA single macOS update closed 116 known vulnerabilities at once. A computer a year behind isn’t one update behind — it’s carrying hundreds of published, already-solved weaknesses, each one documented in public.

02

What’s switched off or open

Modern computers ship with real protection built in. It can be turned off, and often has been. We check whether the firewall is on, whether remote access or screen sharing was left enabled, and whether the machine is accepting connections it has no reason to accept.

Why it happensAlmost never on purpose. Someone enabled remote access so a technician could help in 2021, the problem got solved, and nobody ever turned it back off.

03

Who holds the keys

Administrator access is the ability to change anything on the machine. We look at who has it, whether those accounts should still exist, and what software is running that nobody remembers installing or approving.

The questionNot “has something already gone wrong?” but “who could still walk in, and would anyone notice?”

The deliverable

A report written for you, not for an engineer.

Security tools are very good at producing thousands of findings and no clarity. That is not what you’re paying for.

  • Ranked, not dumped

    Findings are ordered by what actually puts your household at risk. The handful of things that matter appear first, and the rest is there for completeness, clearly marked as such.

  • Plain language throughout

    Every finding says what it is, why it matters to you specifically, and what putting it right would involve. No jargon left unexplained, and nothing written to sound alarming.

  • A walkthrough, in person or by phone

    We go through the report with you and answer whatever you want to ask, including the questions people are sometimes embarrassed to ask a technical person. There’s no upsell in this conversation.

  • Yours, and only yours

    The report goes to you. It doesn’t go to a partner, a platform, a marketing team, or a case study. If you want it shared with your own IT person or family office, you send it to them.

Afterwards

What happens next is up to you.

  1. Do nothing

    Entirely reasonable. You now know what’s there, which is more than you knew last week. The engagement is complete and you owe us nothing further.

  2. Hand it to your own people

    The report is written so that whoever handles your technology — an IT firm, a family office, a capable relative — can act on it without needing us to translate.

  3. Ask us to fix it

    Repair work is available as separate, optional work. It is not part of the assessment and it isn’t included in the price. We quote it only after you’ve read the report, so you can see exactly what you’d be paying to fix.

Practicalities

The questions people actually ask.

What does it cost?

Pricing is on request. It depends mainly on how many computers you want included, and we quote it before any work begins — never after. Ask us and we’ll tell you plainly on the first call.

How long does the visit take?

It depends on how many machines are included. We’ll give you a realistic window when we schedule, and we won’t need the run of the house — just access to the computers themselves.

Do I need to understand any of this?

No. That’s rather the point. You don’t need to prepare anything, and nothing in the report assumes technical knowledge.

Does your software stay on my computers?

No. The assessment software is installed for the assessment and removed at the end. We schedule the removal with you and one of us takes it off with your permission, so you see it happen. It is not monitoring software, it does not run after we’re gone, and nothing of ours stays behind.

Who else sees the findings?

Nobody. The findings go to you and no one else. We don’t publish case studies about clients, we don’t list client names, and we don’t pass anything to a third party.

Do you monitor us afterwards?

No. We don’t offer monitoring, incident response, or any ongoing subscription. This is a one-time assessment, and when it’s finished, it’s finished.

Do you work outside the Westside?

We’re based on the Los Angeles Westside and that’s where we work today. If you’re elsewhere, ask — we’ll give you a straight answer about whether we can help.

Start with a conversation.

No obligation, and nothing installed until you say so. Tell us a little about your household and we’ll explain exactly what an assessment would cover.

Book an assessment hello@blackbeltcybersecurity.com

Prefer to talk? Call 310-438-8073.