IT & CYBERSECURITY FOR CO-OPS & EMCS

Keep members informed and operations running, even when the weather isn’t.

NTS helps cooperatives secure Microsoft 365, control contractor and vendor access, monitor firewalls and endpoints, and prove recoverability, whether we operate as your IT team or reinforce the one you already have. The mission is simple: protect member trust, keep billing and outage communication online, and give leadership and the board confidence that you can recover after storms and incidents.

Protect member data and payment flows from inbox compromise and misuse of access. Clarify which staff, contractors, and vendors can reach critical internal systems. Ensure systems you manage can be restored in time to serve members during events.

Schedule an IT Risk Assessment Talk with an Engineer

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Your guide for EMC IT & continuity

One partner focused on the systems that keep you serving members.

We don’t replace your OMS, GIS, or billing vendors. Instead, we secure the surrounding environment (email, identities, endpoints, and networks) so it’s far harder for attackers or mistakes to turn a compromised account or server into widespread outages and reputational damage.

Outages aren’t just caused by weather anymore. They’re driven by security breaches and communication failures.

Cooperatives rely on email, billing, mapping, and member communication tools to coordinate crews, manage service calls, and keep members informed. If a compromised account changes vendor wiring instructions or takes billing offline during a storm, that’s not just “an IT issue”, it’s a board-level problem.

Co-op and EMC leaders shouldn’t be guessing whether old VPN accounts are still active, if contractors still have access, or if a backup will actually restore billing and outage communication in time. You should be able to say, “We’ve secured the environment around our critical systems, and here’s the evidence our leadership, board, and insurers have seen.”

NTS helps co-ops turn vague IT risk into a concrete, storm-ready plan.

We work with Electric Membership Cooperatives that carry real accountability for outage response, billing continuity, and protection of member data. Your line crews keep the lights on. Your application vendors support OMS, GIS, and billing platforms. NTS focuses on the users, devices, and networks you control that connect it all. Our role is to translate technical controls into clear operating procedures and evidence that make sense to general managers, operations leaders, IT, and the board, so everyone can see that your environment is being actively managed and improved.

Why organizations choose NTS:

Security-first managed and co-managed IT with a focus on storm and outage operations.
Optional in-house SOC for 24/7 monitoring, triage, and escalation during and after events.
Playbooks for inbox takeover, payment reroute attempts, ransomware, and contractor misuse.
Quarterly access and continuity checks for systems your organization manages.
Board-ready documentation for leadership, regulators, and insurers.

About Us

A simple plan you can explain in a board packet.

You don’t have to overhaul everything at once. We start where you are, stabilize your environment around critical co-op operations, and then build a program you can stand behind.

1.
Assess where IT risk meets member impact

We review Microsoft 365 posture, inbox compromise and payment reroute risk, who and what can reach systems you manage that support billing and outage communications, backup and recovery posture, after-hours monitoring, and ownership during storms.

2.
Stabilize & strengthen

We implement (or co-implement) the highestvalue protections: Conditional Access and MFA for operations, billing, and contractors; email security tuning; access cleanup; endpoint and firewall improvements; and restore testing for internal systems your member service depends on.

3.
Operate & prove

We continue to run, monitor, and refine those controls with you, providing ongoing monitoring, optional SOC coverage, regular access and continuity reviews, and documentation you can hand to leadership, the board, regulators, and insurers.

Start with a Co-Op IT Risk & Compliance Assessment

What NTS secures around your co-op systems.

Your OMS, GIS, and billing platforms are supported by specialized vendors. NTS focuses on the environment you manage (email, identities, endpoints, networks, and supporting services) where most security incidents start.

Microsoft 365 & Crew / Member Communications

Secure Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint so operations, billing, and member service can work quickly without opening easy paths for inbox takeover or payment reroutes.

MFA and Conditional Access tuned for staff, contractors, and after-hours duty crews.
Safe Links / Safe Attachments and phishing defenses aligned with storm workflows.
Shared mailbox and delegated access cleanup for outage and billing communications.
Retention and audit logging that support investigations and board questions.

Endpoints, Operations Sites & Network Perimeter

Keep office, operations center, and field laptops hardened, monitored, and patched, along with the firewalls and VPNs that protect access into internal systems.

Endpoint protection and EDR for office and field devices.
Patch and firmware management with clear schedules and reporting.
Firewall and VPN management for safe access into systems you control.
Segmentation and secure remote access supporting storm and outage workflows.

Backup, Continuity & Recovery Evidence

Ensure the systems your organization manages (file servers, authentication, internal tools) can be recovered reliably and within timeframes that matter to members and leadership.

Backup design and monitoring for internal systems you own.
Timed restore tests that operations and leadership can see and understand.
Runbooks for outage and compromise scenarios focused on billing and communications.
Evidence packets for the board, regulators, and insurers.

Logging, Monitoring & Optional SOC

Turn logs and alerts into something someone actually owns, with options for 24/7 SOC coverage, especially during storm seasons.

Centralized collection of firewall, endpoint, and identity logs.
Alert tuning around risky sign-ins and access to sensitive internal systems.
Optional NTS SOC for correlation, triage, and escalation.
Regular review of notable events with IT, operations, and leadership.

What life looks like with — and without — a clear co-op IT partner.

With NTS as your guide

You reduce the odds that a single compromised inbox or device leads to major loss or outage chaos.
Leadership and the board can see that access and continuity for systems you manage are under control.
Regulators and insurers receive clear, organized evidence of readiness and response.
Your team has playbooks for inbox compromise, payment reroute attempts, and ransomware.
You spend more time preparing for storms and less time scrambling during them.

If nothing changes

Payment instructions or contractor details can be changed quietly from compromised accounts.
Former users and vendors may retain access longer than anyone realizes.
Backups for systems you own may fail when you finally need them during a storm.
Each board meeting, exam, or renewal turns into a scramble for documentation.
A single incident can damage member trust and confidence in leadership.

Prefer a quick call?

Talk directly with an engineer about your environment, clinical systems, and what absolutely cannot go down.

Main Office

229-226-2110

What you’ll walk away with

A plain-language view of current security and continuity risk.
A prioritized list of improvements with realistic timelines.
Guidance you can share with leadership, compliance, or insurance.
Next steps your team can actually execute.
Options for ongoing support — managed, co-managed, or project-based.

We’d love the chance to speak with you to show you how we can drastically relieve the stress that stems form your network’s security and streamline your processes to be ready for anything.