Cowkeeper SecureStart

Every employee.
Secure from day one.

Our proprietary security onboarding, in two tracks: one for your whole company, one for every person who joins it. Guided steps, real verification, a record you can hand to an insurer or an auditor.

Two tracks. One standard.

SecureStart for Organizations fixes the foundation. SecureStart for Employees keeps it that way every time someone joins, changes roles, or gets a new laptop.

Your IT Reset. Seven stages from "we've never looked at this" to "operational," each with an owner and a visible exit condition. It never ends in a one-click "everything secure" screen, because that screen would be lying.

Stage ADiscovery & authorizationProfile, scope, domains, headcount, consent for each connection. No shared passwords.
Stage BBaseline discoveryUsers, admins, dormant accounts, MFA, devices, mail authentication, forwarding rules: pulled where authorized, Unknown where not.
Stage CSecurity policy profileYou approve the versioned Cowkeeper Baseline, aligned to NIST CSF 2.0 principles, with any exceptions on record.
Stage DRemediation planFailed controls become tasks with risk, owner, dependencies and any license cost shown before you approve.
Stage EControlled implementationAuthorize, execute, verify, record. If a tool can't verify, it says "Manual verification required," not "Protected."
Stage FLaunchEmployees invited, AI and IT Manager introduced, Employee SecureStart triggered, training assigned, reporting live.
Stage GOngoing operationsAccess reviews, endpoint checks, training reminders, exception expiry, quarterly IT Manager review.
You getA versioned Security Baseline ReportEvery control, its evidence, who verified it and when. Reissued every quarter.
Baseline assessment · Northstar CreativeVerified 9 of 21 · Pending 4 · Unknown 6 · Exceptions 2 DEMO
MFA enforced for all usersPending
SPF published and validVerified · DNS
EDR deployed to company devicesUnknown · not connected
Admin accounts reviewedException · 45 days
DMARC policy ≥ quarantineNeeds attention
Required policies publishedVerified · system
Proof, not promises

The Employee SecureStart Record.

Every onboarding ends in a document that says what was verified, by which system or person, and when. It also says what wasn't. Your insurer, your auditor and your future self will thank you.

  • Evidence source on every line: provider API, staff attestation, signed receipt
  • Exceptions with a reason, an owner and an expiry date
  • "Onboarded" and "Fully verified" are different words, on purpose
  • Immutable once issued; re-issued when things change
Employee SecureStart Record
Jordan Reyes · Creative · Northstar Creative
Template: Baseline employee v1 · Started Oct 13, 2026 · Issued Oct 20, 2026
SAMPLE · DEMO DATAOnboarded with 1 exception
ControlStatusEvidenceWhen
Work identity activeVerifiedGoogle Admin SDK · users.getOct 13
MFA enrolledVerifiedGoogle Admin SDK · isEnrolledIn2SvOct 14
Device enrolledVerifiedMDM device record · owner matchOct 15
Disk encryptedVerified · ManualIT Manager attestation · ticket NC-0142Oct 15
Protection agent healthyExceptionVendor outage; expires Nov 14; owner: Ops leadOct 16
Access approved (6 apps)VerifiedApprovals + provisioning statusOct 16
Essential training completeVerifiedAcademy completion events · 4 of 4 · avg 92%Oct 17
Policies acknowledged (6)VerifiedSigned receipts · v3 policy setOct 17
Reviewed by IT Manager · Oct 20, 2026Confirmed by company admin · Oct 20, 2026

Templates for how your company actually works.

Start from ours, tune them to your departments, preview what the employee will see. Critical controls can't be removed, only excepted on record.

CoreBaseline employee security profile
DeviceNew laptop · Windows
DeviceNew laptop · macOS
RemoteRemote worker security
AdminManager / administrator elevated access
FinanceFinance sensitive-data access
SalesSales / marketing SaaS access
ContractorContractor restricted access
ChangeRehire / change of role · Lost device / replacement

Your next hire could start this way.

SecureStart is included in every Cowkeeper plan. The setup fee covers your organization's IT Reset.