A case study on how SMBs can afford systemic cybersecurity without the expense of building their own security team. The example of our partnership with Magistr.
About the Case
Client: Magistr — the leader in academic consulting in Ukraine.
Challenge: Assess the current cybersecurity posture of the company's services and implement a systemic approach to vulnerability detection and customer data protection.
Solution: A comprehensive vulnerability assessment, deployment of a Web Application Firewall (WAF) and connection of the company's services to the A42 platform.
Result: The number of critical vulnerabilities was reduced to zero, and the security monitoring process became regular and automated.
About the Company
Magistr is one of the oldest Ukrainian companies in the educational consulting sector. Operating for 18 years, the company has evolved from a local student paper service into a large-scale academic consulting platform.
Today, Magistr collaborates with 320 professional authors and its order database exceeds 80,000 entries. For a business of this scale and domain, user data confidentiality and the stability of online services are critical to maintaining reputation and trust.
The Challenge: From a "White Hat" Email to a Systemic Approach
The catalyst for overhauling the company's cybersecurity strategy was an email from an unknown individual claiming to be a "white hat hacker." The message alleged that critical vulnerabilities had been found within the service and demanded payment for non-disclosure.
Initially, the company considered fixing the potential issues locally: updating the CMS, patching specific weaknesses, and tightening basic security settings. However, the owner quickly realized that ad hoc actions would not solve the problem systematically. For a company handling tens of thousands of clients, even a single unsecured entry point posed severe risks: personal data leaks, compromised web resources, reputational damage, and service downtime.
This prompted Magistr to shift from a reactive "firefighting" model to a systemic cyber risk management approach.
Looking for Solutions, Finding A42
While researching potential solutions, the founder of Magistr came across an article about A42 in a Ukrainian media outlet and submitted a consultation request. The turning point for launching the collaboration was an online meeting with Serhiy Saraichykov, Co-Founder and CTO of A42.
"I saw how deeply the team lives and breathes cybersecurity, and I knew I could trust them with my business," the founder of Magistr recalls.
The A42 Approach
For a small Ukrainian online business, Magistr's situation is quite common. Owners understand the risks of data leaks and the importance of reputation — yet companies like this rarely have the resources to maintain a full-time, in-house cybersecurity team.
In these circumstances, bringing in an external partner is the optimal solution. This approach lets a company design and deploy a flexible service tailored to its specific business needs, without overpaying for expensive specialists, who, it should be noted, are increasingly hard to find in a market where demand is outpacing supply.
When security processes are well-structured, risks are minimized, and threat hunting is automated, maintaining in-house expertise for a smaller IT infrastructure doesn't make sense. An external partner can cover it all. The Magistr case is a prime example.
What We Offered the Client
The essential first step was to assess the actual security posture of the client's infrastructure and prioritize threats, then propose comprehensive measures for proactive threat monitoring.
Stage 1. Vulnerability Assessment
The collaboration began with a comprehensive vulnerability assessment of the company's web resources, which identified the most critical technical flaws.
As a result, Magistr received:
- A prioritized list of vulnerabilities
- A risk level assessment
- Step-by-step remediation guidelines
- A plan to harden the security of the entire web ecosystem
This allowed the team to move away from assumptions and gain a clear, factual picture of their actual security status.
Stage 2. Web Application Firewall Implementation
The next step was deploying a Web Application Firewall to raise the level of protection against common attacks and exploit attempts.
This solution protects the application from the most prevalent web attacks (SQL injection, XSS, CSRF, and others), blocks malicious traffic, protects against brute-force attacks and credential stuffing, and mitigates application-layer DDoS attacks.
Despite the complexity of the deployment, the solution delivered:
- Reduced risk of attacks on web resources
- Patched critical entry points
- Enhanced protection of customer data
- Minimized risk of repeated extortion or compromise attempts
Stage 3. Scaling and Centralized Monitoring
It was vital for the company to prevent even a minor or secondary resource from becoming an entry point for an attack on the entire infrastructure. Following the successful implementation of baseline measures, Magistr connected its ecosystem to the A42 Recon + Exposure platform. This platform enables continuous monitoring of the external attack surface and prompt detection of new risks before attackers can exploit them.
As a result, the company gained:
- Regular, automated monitoring of external perimeter threats
- Risk prioritization
- Real-time alerts on new vulnerabilities
Results
Automating routine cyber-defense tasks, along with an external partner's deep expertise, fully met the company's cybersecurity needs. This eliminated the need for the small business to hire a costly — and, at their scale, redundant — in-house security team.
Today, interaction with the A42 platform is fully integrated into Magistr's internal workflows. The team regularly receives automated reports with risk assessments categorized as Critical / High / Medium / Low, and technical tasks are promptly handed over to developers for remediation.
"Security is like a traffic light. If you don't cross on red, you can't know for sure whether a car would have hit you. But you stand and wait, because it's safe, you do it to prevent an accident. The A42 platform is our prevention," says the founder of Magistr.
Conclusion
The Magistr case study demonstrates that systemic cybersecurity is not just for large enterprises. Even a small business can build an effective vulnerability management process and continuous monitoring without establishing a large internal security team.
For companies that handle customer personal data and scale online services, a preventative approach to cybersecurity is no longer a technical bonus — it is a cornerstone of business stability. If you're still hesitating about when to address your cybersecurity, answer one question honestly:
How much does a single day of downtime cost your business? What about a week? A month?
Want to find out whether your web resources have critical vulnerabilities?
Book a discovery call with A42 to learn how to build a systemic cybersecurity process without overloading your in-house team.
