Cybersecurity Services

Cybersecurity Consulting Risk, Compliance & Security Solutions

Edwards helps government and commercial organizations identify cybersecurity risk, strengthen security programs, and meet complex compliance requirements.

Our experienced professionals provide cybersecurity assessments, compliance guidance, penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, and practical security plans built around your organization.

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Our Cybersecurity Services

Know where you stand, and what to do next.

Edwards combines cybersecurity assessments, security testing, and compliance consulting to help organizations understand their exposure, prioritize improvements, and build stronger security programs.

Discuss Your Cybersecurity Needs
Cybersecurity Assessments Review systems, policies, controls, and operating practices to identify risk and establish clear priorities. Penetration Testing Use realistic scenarios to uncover exploitable weaknesses across systems, networks, facilities, and people. Vulnerability Scanning Identify and track technical weaknesses across your environment using proven tools and experienced analysis. Cybersecurity Compliance Support Align documentation, policies, processes, and controls with CMMC, NIST, HIPAA, ISO, and other requirements. Cybersecurity Program Development Turn findings into a prioritized roadmap, repeatable processes, stronger controls, and practical next steps.

Security Testing

See What an Attacker Sees

Edwards helps organizations uncover exploitable weaknesses, understand real-world exposure, and prioritize improvements before vulnerabilities become incidents.

Penetration Testing Vulnerability Scanning Remediation Planning

Exploitation Timeline

Threat actors move quickly.

Known Exploited Vulnerabilities

CISA data illustrates how rapidly vulnerabilities selected by threat actors can move from public disclosure to active exploitation.

42% Day 0 On disclosure day Forty-two percent of the known exploited vulnerabilities studied were already being used when they were disclosed.
50% Within 2 days Within two days Half of the known exploited vulnerabilities studied were being used within two days of disclosure.
75% Within 28 days Within four weeks Three quarters of the known exploited vulnerabilities studied were being used within 28 days.

The Validation Gap

Technology changes faster than many organizations test it.

Change IT environments quarterly 73%
Nearly three quarters of surveyed enterprises reported changes to their IT environments at least quarterly.
Penetration test quarterly 40%
Only 40 percent reported conducting penetration testing at the same frequency.

The takeaway: meaningful security testing should keep pace with changes to systems, applications, infrastructure, and business operations.

Next Penetration Testing

Test your defenses against realistic attack scenarios and turn technical findings into prioritized action.

Explore Penetration Testing

Cyber Risk in Context

The risk is measurable. The response should be practical.

Current breach data reinforces the need to identify vulnerabilities, understand exposure, and prioritize security improvements before an incident forces the issue.

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31%

Initial Access

Breaches beginning with software vulnerabilities

Exploiting software weaknesses has overtaken stolen passwords as a leading way attackers gain access.

Verizon 2026 DBIR
48%

Breach Activity

Breaches involving ransomware

Ransomware remains a significant component of reported breaches, even as organizations increasingly resist paying attackers.

Verizon 2026 DBIR
US$ 4.4M

Financial Impact

Global average cost of a data breach

Faster identification and containment helped reduce the global average, but the financial impact remains substantial.

IBM 2025 Report

What this means for your organization: cybersecurity assessments, vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, and remediation planning work best as connected parts of a practical risk-management program.

Discuss Your Cybersecurity Priorities

Find Your Starting Point

Choose where to start with cybersecurity services.

Select the challenge that best matches your organization. The Edwards team can help confirm the right scope and recommend a practical path forward.

Still Not Sure? Start with a conversation.

An Edwards cybersecurity professional can help define your immediate priorities and determine which service best fits your environment.

Talk With the Edwards Team

Penetration Testing

Test your defenses before an attacker does.

Edwards uses controlled, realistic attack techniques to identify exploitable weaknesses and show how those weaknesses could affect your organization.

Discuss a Penetration Assessment Compare with vulnerability scanning

Engagement Framework

From defined scope to prioritized action.

Edwards Cybersecurity

Establish

Define the scope

Testing begins with context. Edwards works with your team to define systems, environments, rules of engagement, testing boundaries, and operational constraints.

Evaluate

Simulate realistic attacks

Controlled methods reveal real exposure. The assessment team tests realistic attack paths and validates whether identified weaknesses can actually be exploited.

Interpret

Analyze the findings

Technical evidence is placed in context. Edwards distinguishes meaningful risk from technical noise and connects each validated finding to its potential business impact.

Prioritize

Plan the response

Recommendations become a practical roadmap. Findings are organized by severity, likelihood, business impact, and remediation priority so your team knows what to address first.

Assessment Deliverables

Clear evidence. Actionable direction.
  • Validated findings
  • Supporting evidence
  • Risk ratings
  • Prioritized remediation plan

Hover or focus on each stage to review the engagement process.

The Edwards Difference

Cybersecurity expertise is only useful when people can act on it.

Edwards connects technical cybersecurity findings with the people, priorities, and business decisions behind them.

We work directly with technical teams, organizational leaders, and existing service providers to make risk understandable, recommendations practical, and security improvements sustainable.

Listen Translate Strengthen
Meet the people behind the work
Business professionals collaborating around a laptop Clear conversations We translate technical findings into meaningful business-risk discussions for leaders and technical teams. Explore compliance support Experienced practitioners Clients work directly with professionals who understand assessments, security testing, compliance, and real operating environments. Review penetration testing Built to scale We develop documented, repeatable security practices that can grow alongside your organization. Explore cybersecurity services

People are our power. You work directly with professionals who listen, explain findings clearly, and help move the work forward.

Maryland Cybersecurity Incentive

Maryland businesses may qualify for help covering cybersecurity costs.

Edwards is a Qualified Maryland Cybersecurity Seller. Eligible Maryland companies purchasing qualifying cybersecurity services may apply for the Buy Maryland Cybersecurity Tax Credit.

50%

Potential Tax Credit

Qualified companies may claim 50% of the net purchase price.
$50K

Annual Maximum

Up to $50,000 in tax credits may be claimed in one tax year.
<50

Maryland Employees

Buyer eligibility requires fewer than 50 employees in Maryland.
Review Official Program Details Discuss Qualifying Cybersecurity Services

Tax credits are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis and are subject to available funding, seller limits, buyer eligibility, and approval by the Maryland Department of Commerce.

Vulnerability Scanning Services

Vulnerability Scanning Services Across Internal, External, Cloud, and Hybrid Environments

Which vulnerabilities are creating risk right now?

Edwards provides scheduled vulnerability scanning with human review, remediation guidance, and follow-up validation to help organizations identify weaknesses and reduce cybersecurity risk.

Internal External Cloud Hybrid

Vulnerability Management in Practice

From technical discovery to informed action.

Cybersecurity professionals reviewing system information in a data center
Current-State Cyber Risk Visibility
Hover or focus on each point to explore the scanning process.
Analyst presenting cybersecurity findings to organizational leaders Leadership Executive Reporting Technical professionals collaborating on vulnerability remediation Technical Teams Remediation Guidance Business professionals reviewing cybersecurity risk data Risk Management Progress and Trends

Scanning Coverage

Multiple views of your cybersecurity attack surface.

Vulnerability scanning can evaluate weaknesses inside the organization, across public-facing systems, and throughout cloud or hybrid infrastructure.

Internal Vulnerability Scanning

What could an attacker encounter after gaining access?

Review internal servers, workstations, applications, network devices, and business-critical systems.
Internal scanning may identify: Missing patches, vulnerable file or domain services, weak internal protocols, excessive privileges, and potential lateral-movement opportunities.

External Vulnerability Scanning

What does your organization expose to the internet?

Evaluate public systems, VPN appliances, remote-access services, portals, open ports, and external network infrastructure.
External scanning may identify: Exposed administrative services, vulnerable appliances, weak SSL/TLS configurations, unnecessary open ports, and outdated internet-facing software.

Cloud and Hybrid Vulnerability Scanning

Where has changing infrastructure created new exposure?

Extend visibility across cloud workloads, remote offices, hosted resources, and distributed environments.
Cloud and hybrid scanning may identify: Publicly exposed resources, outdated workloads, insecure configurations, excessive permissions, and assets beyond the traditional office network.

The Human Advantage

Tools find vulnerabilities. People determine what matters next.

Automated scanners can produce extensive technical output. The Edwards team reviews the findings, reduces unnecessary noise, explains potential business impact, and helps establish practical remediation priorities.

Risk Context Remediation Priorities Executive Reporting Validation Rescans

Cybersecurity Compliance Consulting

Cybersecurity compliance consulting risk assessments and gap analysis

Edwards helps government and commercial organizations interpret cybersecurity requirements, evaluate current controls, identify compliance gaps, and plan practical remediation for NIST SP 800-171, CMMC, and other contractual or regulatory obligations.

Whether the requirement came from a customer, prime contractor, contract clause, internal review, or recent assessment, the first challenge is understanding what applies and what should happen next.

NIST SP 800-171 Readiness CMMC Readiness Support Cybersecurity Risk Assessments Compliance Gap Analysis

When the Requirement Lands on Your Desk

You need more than a report telling you what is wrong

Maybe a customer introduced a new security requirement. Maybe an assessment uncovered gaps. Maybe controls exist, but the documentation and evidence are scattered across internal teams, systems, an MSP, and outside vendors.

The person leading this work may be a compliance manager, IT director, security lead, contracts leader, or executive who now needs to connect all those pieces and move the organization forward.

Discuss your cybersecurity compliance needs

A customer, prime, or contract introduced a new requirement

Requirements and Scope

Determine what applies and where the compliance boundary begins

Identify the affected requirements, systems, information, users, facilities, cloud services, vendors, and operational dependencies before evaluating compliance.
Why scope matters An unclear boundary can lead to missed dependencies, unnecessary compliance costs, unreliable findings, or an assessment that does not reflect the actual environment.

Controls exist, but no one has validated how they operate

Cybersecurity Risk Assessment

See whether security controls work in practice and can be demonstrated

Review technical safeguards, policies, procedures, workforce practices, governance, configurations, recurring activities, and the evidence supporting them.
A written policy is only one piece Compliance may also require technical configurations, operational records, assigned responsibility, recurring reviews, and evidence that the control is used consistently.

You need to know what is missing and what matters most

Compliance Gap Analysis

Turn findings into clear priorities instead of a flat checklist

Identify where current practices do not align with requirements, then consider each finding by risk, business impact, urgency, ownership, dependencies, and implementation effort.
Not every gap carries equal risk Prioritization helps leadership distinguish immediate exposure from longer-term improvement and direct time and funding where they will have the greatest effect.

You already have findings, but turning them into progress is difficult

Remediation and Assessment Readiness

Build a workable remediation, ownership, and evidence plan

Translate findings into sequenced actions, accountable owners, documentation needs, implementation milestones, evidence requirements, and preparation for future reviews or assessments.
Readiness is both technical and operational The plan may involve technical changes, policy updates, POA&M management, SSP revisions, assigned ownership, personnel preparation, and collection of supporting evidence.

Cybersecurity Compliance Services

Explore the support that may fit your environment

These services are often combined within one engagement. Open a topic to see when it may be useful and what the work can include.

The right starting point depends on your contracts, frameworks, information, technologies, deadlines, and current level of cybersecurity maturity.

Defense Contractor Compliance NIST SP 800-171 and CMMC Readiness Prepare scope, documentation, evidence, personnel, and security practices for contract and assessment requirements.

Often useful when DFARS requirements, prime contractor flow-downs, customer expectations, or planned CMMC activity require a clearer view of the organization’s current readiness.

Support may include NIST SP 800-171 implementation reviews, CMMC readiness support, assessment scope validation, SSP and POA&M review, evidence mapping, personnel preparation, and remediation planning.

Current Environment Review Security Controls and System Scope Clarify what is in scope and determine whether controls are properly designed, implemented, and operating.

Often useful when system boundaries are unclear, cloud services or vendors affect the environment, data flows are not fully documented, or leadership needs independent validation of current controls.

Support may include asset and user identification, data-flow review, external service provider analysis, system boundary support, technical control review, configuration analysis, and operational testing.

Demonstrating Implementation Policies, Documentation, and Evidence Readiness Align written requirements with actual practice and organize the records needed to demonstrate compliance.

Often useful when policies are outdated, procedures do not reflect current technology, evidence is distributed across teams, or staff cannot quickly demonstrate how a requirement is being met.

Support may include policy and procedure assessments, documentation development, evidence inventories, artifact mapping, review records, screenshots, logs, approvals, training records, and recurring activity documentation.

Moving Findings Toward Closure Remediation, POA&M, and Cybersecurity Governance Convert findings into owned, prioritized, and measurable work that leadership can monitor.

Often useful when a gap assessment has produced a long findings list, ownership is unclear, deadlines are approaching, or remediation work is stalled across internal teams and outside providers.

Support may include POA&M development and management, risk prioritization, ownership assignment, milestone planning, progress tracking, executive reporting, stakeholder coordination, and ongoing cybersecurity governance.

Not sure where the work belongs?

Start with the requirement or cybersecurity concern in front of you

The Edwards team can help determine whether the next step is a risk assessment, compliance gap analysis, readiness review, remediation effort, or another form of cybersecurity support.
Discuss Cybersecurity Compliance

Cybersecurity Leadership & Governance

Fractional CISO Services

Senior cybersecurity leadership without adding a full-time CISO

Fractional and virtual CISO services help organizations establish priorities, clarify responsibility, coordinate delivery, and give executives a clearer view of cybersecurity risk and progress.

Business and technology leaders collaborating on cybersecurity strategy

One accountable leader

A connected cybersecurity program Strategy, governance, reporting, and coordination brought together around the organization’s priorities.
Strategy Governance Risk Reporting Coordination

Strategy and Roadmap

Set clear cybersecurity priorities

Organize requirements, findings, operational needs, and security initiatives into a practical roadmap.

Governance and Ownership

Define who decides and who delivers

Establish responsibility across executives, internal teams, MSPs, vendors, assessors, and system owners.

Executive Risk Reporting

Make risk and progress easier to understand

Translate technical activity into useful reporting on security posture, open findings, decisions, and investment needs.

Program Coordination

Keep teams and providers moving together

Connect internal staff, outside partners, and leadership around shared priorities and measurable progress.

Fractional CISO support may be useful when

No one owns the complete cybersecurity program Security work is distributed across several providers Leadership needs clearer risk reporting A full-time CISO is not currently practical
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CMMC Compliance Case Study

How Harkins Builders found a clearer path to CMMC compliance

Harkins Builders needed a more practical way to prepare for CMMC. Edwards helped the team understand its environment and turn the remaining work into a usable plan.

The challenge

A document-heavy process made it difficult to see what mattered or where the team should begin.

The result

Clearer scoping gave Harkins a reliable foundation for its cybersecurity work and assessment preparation.

Read the CMMC Case Study

Published in the ABC 2023 Tech Report

Published Case Study ABC 2023 Tech Report featuring the Harkins Builders CMMC case study Harkins Builders and Edwards

CMMC Cybersecurity Services

CMMC compliance consulting, training, and authorized assessment services.

Edwards helps organizations understand CMMC requirements, prepare their cybersecurity program, train professionals, and pursue the appropriate assessment path.

Explore CMMC Services View CMMC Training

Not sure which CMMC path fits your organization?

Start with your current challenge. The Edwards team can help identify the most practical next step.
Talk With a CMMC Professional

Cybersecurity Consulting

Talk with a cybersecurity professional about your next step.

Share the challenge, requirement, or risk creating pressure for your organization. The Edwards team will help define the right scope and a practical path forward.

Risk assessments Security testing Vulnerability scanning Compliance advisory Cybersecurity leadership CMMC support

Start with the challenge.

Tell us what has changed, what requirement applies, or where your team needs greater visibility.

Define the right starting point.

The Edwards team will help distinguish immediate priorities from work that can be planned over time.

Leave with clearer next steps.

Receive practical direction based on your environment, goals, timeline, and cybersecurity responsibilities.

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What cybersecurity challenge are you trying to solve?

Select the options closest to your situation. Choosing “Not sure yet” is completely fine.