Santa Fe Network Penetration Testing for Franchise Organizations

 

Franchise companies in Santa Fe and across New Mexico are frequent targets for cybercriminals. Attackers know that many franchise brands share the same systems, logins, and vendors across multiple locations. A single weakness in one store, regional office, or Wi‑Fi network can give them a path into the broader franchise environment.

Common attacks in the region include ransomware, phishing, malware, password attacks, and SQL injection targeting point-of-sale systems, franchise management portals, and cloud applications. The average reported cost of a data breach reached $4.24M in 2021, and that figure does not include many unreported incidents—especially smaller franchise locations that quietly pay ransoms or absorb losses.

To stay ahead of these threats, franchise owners and brand leadership need regular, independent network penetration testing (net‑pen testing). This is a controlled, ethical hacking exercise where security professionals simulate real-world attacks against your IT infrastructure—headquarters, regional offices, and franchise locations—to identify vulnerabilities before criminals do. The results help leadership:

• Understand real business risk instead of relying on assumptions or vendor promises.

• Validate existing security controls, including firewalls, VPNs, Wi‑Fi, and remote access into franchise sites.

• Meet regulatory and contractual obligations (PCI DSS, data privacy requirements, cyber insurance conditions, and franchisor security standards).

 

Santa Fe Franchise Network Penetration Testing Experience

 

OCD Tech provides network penetration testing services for franchise systems in Santa Fe and throughout New Mexico, including restaurant, retail, hospitality, and service-based franchise brands. We work with both franchisors and multi-unit franchisees to test:

• Corporate and regional networks that connect to local franchise locations

• VPNs and remote access used by franchisees, vendors, and support teams

• Guest and employee Wi‑Fi networks in stores and offices

• Cloud-based franchise management platforms and back-office systems

Our team combines technical expertise with practical business knowledge. The outcome is not just a list of vulnerabilities; you receive clear, prioritized recommendations focused on what matters most to your franchise operations—payroll, POS, customer data, brand reputation, and uptime.

 

Network Penetration Testing Methodology

 

OCD Tech follows a structured, repeatable methodology modeled on real attacker behavior. For franchise environments, we pay particular attention to how a compromise in one location could spread across the network or into shared systems.

Our typical network penetration test includes:

• Passive Reconnaissance – Quietly collecting information about your public-facing systems, exposed services, and franchise infrastructure without active interaction.

• Active Reconnaissance – Scanning and probing systems to identify open ports, services, and misconfigurations across headquarters and franchise locations.

• Social Engineering – When in scope, testing phishing and other human-focused attacks often used against franchise staff and store-level employees.

• Exploitation – Attempting to use identified weaknesses to gain unauthorized access, similar to what a real attacker would do.

• Post-Exploitation – Assessing what an attacker could do after initial access: view data, pivot to other systems, or disrupt operations.

• Privilege Escalation – Testing whether limited access (e.g., a compromised franchise workstation) can be turned into administrator or corporate-level access.

• Lateral Movement – Evaluating how easily an attacker can move between locations, segments, or cloud services once inside the network.

• Maintaining Access – Demonstrating how an attacker might create persistent backdoors to return later.

• Covering Tracks – Reviewing logging and monitoring to determine how easily malicious activity could go undetected.

• Reporting – Delivering a clear, non-technical executive summary and a detailed technical report with prioritized, practical remediation steps tailored for franchise environments.

 

National Reach

 

Although we maintain a strong presence in New Mexico, OCD Tech provides network penetration testing and security assessments to franchise systems and other organizations across the U.S., including Boston (MA), New York City (NY), Washington DC, Philadelphia (PA), Dallas (TX), Los Angeles (CA), Chicago (IL), and Baltimore (MD).

 

Contact Our Santa Fe Network Penetration Testing Consultants

 

OCD Tech provides network penetration testing and cybersecurity consulting to franchise businesses and other organizations in Santa Fe and across New Mexico. If you would like to discuss a penetration test for your franchise brand or local locations, complete the form below and a team member will contact you shortly.