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Zero Trust – Stealth. Defend. Recover.

Managed IT

The Power of ONE

The only way to minimize attacks and breaches is to be an expert in security tools. Beyond that, your IT team needs the investigative cybersecurity experience to meet the 1-10-60 standard.

Tampa managed security services provider
Tampa IT services mobile management interface
15
minute response time

Rapid response.

Our Core Values

'Best of the Best'

Ridge IT helps clients implement proven cybersecurity solutions that meet today’s cyber threat landscape.

Curated

  • Validated best in class solutions
  • Natively integrated and partnered

Brilliant Minds

  • Certified engineers
  • Cognitive and ability standards

Fully Managed

  • Continuous validation
  • Continuous monitoring

Complete Architecture

  • Identification and mitigation of threats
  • Containment of impact and recovery
What We Do

The Power of ONE

We understand that every client’s needs are unique. Ridge IT is a fully managed Cyber Security (CS) Firm, so whether you’re needing a single SKU or a comprehensive Managed Service Provider, we have a team of brilliant technical minds to meet each client’s needs. As solutions experts, we can conduct threat searches, environment updates, and cyber security SIEM integration, so no matter what you have a curated solution to your problem.

Partners & Recognition

As a Zscaler Service Partner of the Year recipient, Ridge IT is one of only a few select authorized Managed Service Partners (MSP) of Zscaler and is one of the first 50 named Okta Partners in the U.S. In addition, we are a certified Microsoft Direct Gold Partner as well as an MSP for Microsoft. For Crowdstrike, we’re a seller of CS and an Authorized FEDRAMP MSP.

Ridge IT Cyber specializes in the architecture of solutions that meet the challenges our customers face, whether related to compliance with legal policies or reaching operational goals within a budget. In other words, we excel in prioritizing your IT needs to improve operations while meeting your objectives.

Managed IT

Slash IT costs. Stop threats.

Just imagine, Microsoft running at peak performance with less tickets and rapid support.

CMMC Compliance

Secure the supply chain.

Security controls and CMMC compliance from an RPO before the 2025 DoD deadline.

Zero Trust

Trust nothing. Verify everything.

Practical, simple, best-in class cybersecurity, with rapid response—right here in Tampa.

Cloud Infrastructure

Work anywhere, without limits.

Resiliently scale workloads on demand in an uninterrupted cloud-first infrastructure.

IT managed service provider Tampa support
#1
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Frequently Asked Questions

How can organizations tune M365 Copilot to reduce security risks while maintaining functionality?

Emerging threats include sophisticated prompt injection attacks designed to extract sensitive data, AI model poisoning attempts through malicious training data, and social engineering attacks specifically targeting AI interactions. Threat actors are developing Microsoft AI-specific attack techniques including conversation hijacking, context manipulation, and automated data exfiltration through AI responses. We detect and prevent these sophisticated AI-targeted attacks.

How can organizations tune M365 Copilot to reduce security risks while maintaining functionality?

Effective M365 Copilot tuning involves configuring content filters, implementing context-aware security policies, and establishing user-specific permission boundaries. Organizations should customize agent responses to avoid sensitive information exposure, implement prompt injection detection, and create secure interaction patterns. We tune Copilot securely and optimize ongoing protection.

How should organizations govern and secure agents from the Agent Store?

Agent Store deployments require careful vetting of third-party agents, implementing strict permission controls, and continuous monitoring of agent behavior. Organizations must establish approval workflows, conduct security assessments of agent capabilities, and maintain audit trails of all agent installations and interactions. We secure agent deployments and manage all permissions.

What compliance challenges do Microsoft AI Agents create for regulated industries?

AI Agents introduce compliance complexities around data residency, audit trail requirements, and regulatory approval processes. The M365 Copilot API can create data flows that violate industry regulations if not properly configured. Healthcare, financial, and defense organizations face particular compliance challenges with agent-generated content and automated decision-making processes. We address regulatory requirements for AI implementations.

What security risks do Microsoft 365 Copilot and AI Agents introduce?

Microsoft 365 Copilot and AI Agents create new security risks. The attack vectors include data leakage through prompt injection, oversharing of sensitive information in AI responses, and unauthorized access to organizational data through compromised AI interactions. The Researcher and Analyst agents can inadvertently expose confidential business intelligence if not properly secured. We secure Copilot and identify these vulnerabilities before they become breaches.

How can organizations secure Copilot Studio deployments and custom agents?

Securing Copilot Studio requires implementing proper authentication controls, restricting agent permissions through the M365 Agent SDK, and monitoring all agent interactions for suspicious activity. Organizations must configure secure agent flows, implement deep reasoning prompt validation, and establish governance frameworks for custom agent development. We protect Copilot Studio environments with comprehensive security controls.

What are the biggest data leakage risks with Microsoft Copilot interactions?

The primary data leakage risks include employees accidentally sharing sensitive information in prompts, Copilot responses containing confidential data from connected systems, and unauthorized data access through poorly configured agent permissions. Code Interpreter functions can expose proprietary algorithms, while CUA (Conversational User Authentication) bypasses may grant excessive access. We prevent data loss across all AI interactions.

What’s the best Microsoft 365 roadmap for a growing business?

Implementing everything at once overwhelms users and IT resources. Our strategic implementation roadmap follows our proven four-phase framework: foundation (core email, document storage, identity), collaboration (Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive), automation (Power Platform, workflow optimization), and advanced security (Defender suite, compliance tools). This phased approach typically spans 6-12 months based on organization size and complexity, with each phase building on previous success. Our methodology includes user adoption metrics, security validation, and ROI analysis at each phase to ensure measurable business outcomes. This structured approach has successfully guided over 700 organizations through Microsoft 365 transformations with a 96% satisfaction rate.

What are the most common causes of Microsoft 365 performance issues?

While most providers blame Microsoft's cloud for performance problems, our diagnostic data shows that 82% of Microsoft 365 performance issues stem from local configuration or network problems. Our performance optimization service uses our comprehensive assessment framework to identify the real culprits, from suboptimal DNS configurations and proxy interference to network congestion and client-side resource limitations. We then implement our military-grade optimization protocol that includes targeted network configuration changes, TCP optimization, and our proprietary caching framework – delivering consistent performance improvements of 30-50% for applications like Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive. This systematic approach has resolved performance issues for organizations ranging from 20 to 5,000 users.

What’s the true cost difference between Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Enterprise E3/E5?

The sticker price is just the beginning. Business Premium ($22/user/month) appears cheaper than E3 ($36/user/month) or E5 ($57/user/month), but the security limitations can cost you more long-term. Most Tampa businesses we audit are either overpaying for Enterprise licenses they don't fully utilize or facing security gaps with Business plans that lack critical protections. Our Microsoft 365 license optimization identifies the perfect mix for your specific needs, sometimes implementing hybrid licensing models that deliver Enterprise-grade security without the enterprise price tag.

How can we reduce our Microsoft licensing costs without sacrificing security?

Most organizations waste 15-30% of their Microsoft budget on unused licenses, redundant services, or over-licensed users. Our license optimization process first identifies these waste areas through our comprehensive audit, then implements our proven three-tier optimization framework: user-role alignment (matching license types to actual usage patterns), security-feature isolation (moving advanced security to where it's needed most), and automated license management (preventing license sprawl). This approach typically saves our clients $120-$300 per user annually while actually strengthening their security posture.

What Microsoft compliance tools should we be using for CMMC 2.0 requirements?

Microsoft's compliance tools are powerful but often misconfigured. For CMMC Level 2, our Microsoft compliance implementation leverages Purview Information Protection for CUI management, Defender for Endpoint for threat detection, and Intune for device compliance – all critical components for meeting NIST 800-171 requirements. However, out-of-box configurations won't satisfy auditors. Our military-grade implementation includes custom compliance policies, automated documentation workflows, and specialized CUI handling procedures that provide the evidence package needed for successful certification. This approach has helped defense contractors reduce compliance preparation time by up to 40%.

How can we fully utilize Microsoft Intune for zero-trust security?

Most organizations use less than 30% of Intune's security capabilities, missing critical protections. Our zero-trust Intune implementation activates these overlooked features, including application-level conditional access policies, custom compliance scripts, and automated remediation actions. We configure security baselines aligned with frameworks like CMMC and NIST, then implement our proprietary compliance verification system to provide continuous documentation. Most importantly, we integrate Intune with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint to enable automatic isolation of compromised devices – a critical capability that 78% of organizations miss in their configuration.

How do we implement Azure Virtual Desktop for our hybrid workforce?

Azure Virtual Desktop implementations often fail due to poor architecture decisions that lead to performance issues or excessive costs. Our military-grade AVD implementation starts with our workload assessment framework to determine the optimal configuration for your specific applications. We then implement our three-tier architecture with dedicated management, user session, and application host pools to optimize both performance and cost. Our auto-scaling framework automatically adjusts resources based on actual usage patterns, typically reducing Azure compute costs by 30-40% compared to static deployments while maintaining enterprise-grade performance and security.

How does Ridge IT simplify Microsoft 365 licensing for businesses?

Most IT providers make licensing unnecessarily complex, leading to overspending on unused features or risking compliance issues. Our military-grade managed IT approach starts with a comprehensive license audit to identify waste, then implements our proven license optimization framework. By right-sizing your subscriptions and consolidating duplicate licenses, we typically reduce Microsoft 365 costs by 20-30% while enhancing security. Our Microsoft licensing specialists continually monitor usage patterns to ensure you're only paying for what you need.

How does Ridge IT leverage Microsoft Defender for comprehensive protection?

Unlike basic Microsoft 365 setups that leave security gaps, our military-grade implementation of Microsoft Defender provides unified protection across endpoints, email, identity, and cloud apps. We configure Defender using our zero-trust architecture framework, activating often-missed features like attack surface reduction rules, tamper protection, and network protection. Most importantly, our 24/7 security operations center monitors your Defender alerts with 15-minute response times – turning Microsoft's tools from passive alerting into active protection. This comprehensive approach has helped our clients achieve a 98.7% threat prevention rate.

What’s the fastest way to migrate from on-premise Exchange to Microsoft 365?

Traditional migrations that take weeks or cause downtime are outdated. Our accelerated migration methodology leverages military-grade project management and our proprietary hybrid Exchange approach to complete migrations with zero downtime, typically 40-60% faster than standard methods. Our process begins with our comprehensive pre-migration assessment that identifies potential issues before they cause delays, then implements parallel synchronization with our specialized cutover framework. This methodology has successfully migrated over 500,000 mailboxes with an average client satisfaction score of 97%.

What’s the best approach for deploying Microsoft Teams across our organization?

Simply turning on Teams leads to chaotic deployments, redundant team creation, and security gaps. Our strategic Teams deployment begins with our governance framework that establishes clear naming conventions, retention policies, and security parameters before deployment. We then implement our phased adoption strategy with department champions, targeted training modules, and usage analytics to drive proper adoption. This structured approach prevents the "Teams sprawl" that plagues most organizations while ensuring proper security configurations for external sharing, guest access, and data protection – critical areas where default settings create significant security risks.

What Microsoft 365 features are most businesses missing that could improve productivity?

Most businesses use less than 40% of the Microsoft 365 capabilities they're already paying for. Our feature optimization process identifies these missed opportunities through our comprehensive workplace analytics assessment. Common overlooked features include Power Automate for workflow automation (saving an average of 5-7 hours per employee monthly), SharePoint document workflows with automated approval routing, and Microsoft Planner for cross-team project management. Our Microsoft specialists configure these tools based on your specific business processes, then provide targeted training through our microlearning platform to ensure successful adoption and measurable productivity gains.

How should we integrate Microsoft 365 with our legacy systems?

Most integration attempts create fragmented experiences that frustrate users and create security gaps. Our strategic integration approach begins with our comprehensive systems assessment to map data flows and user journeys across platforms. We then implement our three-phase integration methodology: authentication unification through our advanced identity federation framework, data synchronization using our customized API integration approach, and workflow orchestration through our proprietary process automation framework. This structured approach creates seamless user experiences while maintaining security boundaries and compliance requirements – eliminating the common pitfall of creating new security vulnerabilities during integration.

Cyber Readiness

The Power of ONE

At Ridge IT Cyber, we have developed a methodology for responding to breaches designed to attack, measure, and improve our clients' cyber posture. To be effective, today's cyber security strategies must move from a defensive-centric posture to an offensive-centric stance. The best way to do this is to attack continuously. We aim to detect in 1 minute, investigate in 10 minutes, and act in 60 minutes.

The only way to minimize attacks and breaches is to be an expert in your security tools. Beyond expertise in a tool, you must also possess investigative cybersecurity experience to meet the 1-10-60 standard. Ridge IT Cyber specializes in best-in-class solutions with the knowledge required to leverage their capabilities to the maximum effect. We represent the finest solutions on the market today. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you improve your cyber posture.

Inc. Magazine's fastest growing leader in Managed IT—2 years in a row.

Uncover threats.

Rapid response times, with around the clock IT support, from Inc. Magazine’s #1 MSSP.

Cloud-first protection in one slim bill.

Rapid response times, with around the clock IT support, from Inc. Magazine’s #1 MSSP.

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CMMC Compliance

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