Science, engineering and the firms around them
Pasadena's largest employers include Caltech, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which Caltech manages, Kaiser Permanente and Huntington Hospital. The engineering and consulting firm Tetra Tech has its headquarters on East Foothill Boulevard, and ArtCenter College of Design and Pasadena City College add two more campuses. Around them is a long tail of smaller companies: engineering consultants, research suppliers, architecture firms and startups.
Firms that work for federal agencies or defense contractors often find security terms in their contracts, such as NIST SP 800-171 for controlled unclassified information and, for defense work, CMMC. Even firms without those terms hold design files and research data that clients expect to stay private. Clear access control, managed and encrypted laptops, and documented backups are the starting point.
Banks, law firms and wealth managers
East West Bank is headquartered on Los Robles Avenue, and the office buildings of South Lake Avenue and the Playhouse Village hold banks, wealth managers, accounting firms, insurance agencies and law practices. Many are small firms with long client lists and a lot of sensitive financial data.
These firms answer to rules like the FTC Safeguards Rule for customer financial data and client confidentiality for lawyers, and they are prime targets for wire fraud. Email security, multi-factor sign-in everywhere and a written security program are what auditors and insurers ask about first. See IT for financial services and law firms.
Old Pasadena, Colorado Boulevard and the Rose Parade
Old Pasadena's historic blocks around Colorado Boulevard are full of shops and restaurants, with small offices on the floors above. Most take cards, many run on a single internet line, and few have anyone in charge of IT. For them, the essentials are a managed firewall, guest Wi-Fi on its own network, PCI DSS basics for card payments, and point-of-sale systems that keep working when the internet doesn't.
Colorado Boulevard is also the Rose Parade route. Around New Year's the city closes the route from the night before the parade until cleanup ends on parade day, and businesses along it plan deliveries and access around the closure. If you're on the route, schedule equipment work or an office move for another week, and make sure remote access works so nobody has to come in.
What the Eaton Fire taught local businesses
In January 2025 the Eaton Fire burned more than 14,000 acres in Altadena and Pasadena and destroyed more than 9,000 structures. Businesses the flames never touched still lost days: evacuations, power and gas shutoffs, and an unsafe drinking water notice for parts of Pasadena kept offices closed while work piled up.
The lesson is simple and has to be acted on before the next fire: files and email in the cloud rather than on one office server, backups kept somewhere else and tested, laptops that work securely from any kitchen table, and a written business continuity plan. Pasadena has its own city-owned utility, Pasadena Water and Power, but no utility can promise power during a fire. Battery backup and a second internet connection close the gap.
Huntington Hospital and the medical offices
Physician groups, dental offices and therapy practices fill the medical buildings around Huntington Hospital and across the city. They need HIPAA compliance: a current risk analysis, secure email and texting with patients, encrypted devices, and backups that keep the schedule running. See IT for healthcare practices.
How we work with Pasadena businesses
GlobeVM is based in Los Angeles and comes to you. The 134 and the 210 can be slow at any hour, so most help starts remotely, within minutes of your call. When something needs hands, an engineer comes on site. Companies with offices in Pasadena and in Glendale or Burbank get one setup and one number to call. See our Glendale page for the neighbors to the west.
