Cybersecure Catalyst Toronto Metropolitan University

Empowering small and medium-sized businesses to protect themselves

Cybersecurity is an urgent concern for small and medium-sized businesses. Cyber incidents impacting SMBs make headlines every day. SMBs are wisely deploying technologies to collect data and grow their businesses, but cyber risks are surging along with these integrations. SMB-related cyber incidents often involve customer records, supplier and vendor information, and payment card data, and the impacts of a serious breach on an SMB can be devastating. As well, SMBs are often suppliers in larger supply chains, and breaches can imperil the SMBs’ own customers and suppliers.

Turning cyber risks into a competitive advantage

Simply Secure offers the highest-quality resources and training that SMBs need to drive the cybersecurity of their organizations. These resources and training are designed to help SMBs become more cybersecure and turn their cybersecurity into a competitive advantage and positive differentiator.

With Simply Secure, SMB owners and employees can grow a culture of cybersecurity within their organizations and develop a better understanding of the overall impact of cyber threats on every level of their businesses. With Simply Secure, SMBs can adopt a cybersecurity framework that suits their business and industry and that implements the five primary elements of a successful cybersecurity program: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond and Recover.

Cybersecurity Statistics

Small and medium-sized businesses are critical to the success of Canada’s economy. They are also among the most targeted groups for cyberattacks. As SMBs rapidly deploy technology, but are often constrained by budgets, important cybersecurity concerns can become an afterthought.

  • The global average cost of a data breach is $3.9 million across SMBs. (Ref)
  • Globally, 45% of SMBs globally said that their organization’s security posture was ineffective at mitigating attacks. (Ref)
  • 70% of SMBs report that their employees’ passwords have been lost or stolen in the past year. (Ref)
  • 54% of SMBs believe their companies are too small to be hacked. (Ref)
  • 47% of cybersecurity attacks in Canada target small to medium-sized businesses. (Ref)
  • About 18% of businesses have been impacted by a cyberattack or data breach in the last two years. (Ref)
  • 37% of Canadian businesses hit by a data breach estimate that the attack cost them over
    CAD $100,000, while 20% of those businesses had no idea of the cost of the breach. (Ref)
E-Learning Modules:

E-Learning Modules:

Start your cybersecurity learning and training today

Submit a white paper

We are always looking for great content to share with our SMB community. If you are an organization, independent researcher, thought leader or a part of an educational institution, you can submit your white paper to be included on our website. All submissions will be reviewed thoroughly by experts before being published.

Please complete the following form and provide an attachment of your white paper in PDF format for review. Please note that the document size should not exceed 10MB.

    About The Catalyst

    Driving collaboration to empower and protect Canadian businesses

    Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst is Toronto Metropolitan University’s national centre for innovation and collaboration in cybersecurity. The Catalyst collaborates with governments at all levels, private-sector leaders and public agencies, and academic partners from across Canada, to empower individuals, organizations and businesses to seize the opportunities and tackle the challenges of cybersecurity. The Catalyst delivers cutting-edge programming in training and certification; commercial acceleration and support for cyber scale-ups; and public education and policy development, all in cybersecurity.