Cyber Security Awareness Month for Real Businesses: A Practical Guide for the Golden Horseshoe

Every October, the federal "Get Cyber Safe" campaign reminds Canadians that it's Cyber Security Awareness Month. It's led by the Government of Canada and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, and the 2024 theme was "Generation Cyber Safe."

If you missed the press release, you're not alone. Most owners I talk to between Hamilton and Oakville are too busy dealing with staff, suppliers, and the QEW to follow federal awareness campaigns.

But buried in those campaigns and guides is something useful: a simple list of things small and medium businesses should actually do.

Let's strip out the marketing and turn Cyber Security Awareness Month into a once-a-year "tune-up" for your business.

Why Bother With a "Cyber Awareness" Push at All?

StatsCan's 2024 report said that in 2023, about 1 in 6 Canadian businesses were impacted by cyber incidents. That's down from 21% in 2019, which sounds good… until you notice that scams, fraud, and identity theft are all up among the businesses that do get hit.

Translation: fewer companies are getting hit, but when they do, it's nastier.

At the same time, the Cyber Centre and Get Cyber Safe keep hammering the same message: small and medium businesses can dramatically cut their risk if they do a few basics—training, backups, MFA, good passwords, and a plan.

October is as good a time as any to make sure those basics aren't just "on a to-do list."

Step 1 – Give Your Staff a 30-Minute "Cyber Tune-Up"

You don't need a big training system. Block out half an hour and cover three things:

Phishing and scams

• Pull real Canadian examples from Get Cyber Safe and small-business toolkits: fake CRA emails, fake bank notices, "CEO" gift card scams
• Show screenshots
• Ask "What looks off?"
• Confirm the rule: "If you're not sure, stop and ask"

Passwords & MFA

Use the federal small-business guide's simple advice:

• Use strong, unique passwords
• Use a password manager where possible
• Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) for email, banking, and key apps

How to report something weird

• One email address or phone number to report suspicious emails or screens
• No blame for asking "Is this legit?"
• Clear reassurance that you'd rather look at 50 false alarms than miss one real problem

That's it. No 2-hour lecture, no death-by-PowerPoint.

Step 2 – Run a Simple "Owner Checklist" Against Federal Guidance

The Cyber Centre publishes "baseline controls" and training for small and medium organizations—thirteen practical controls that give you a lot of bang for the buck.

Turn that into a short owner/manager checklist:

• Do we know our critical systems and data?
• Do we have regular backups, including one off-site?
• Is MFA turned on for email, remote access, and key systems?
• Are our devices patched and running modern security software?
• Do we have at least a basic incident response plan written down?

If you answer "no" or "not sure" to more than two of these, that's your Q4 to-do list.

Step 3 – Focus on Your Highest-Risk People, Not Just Your "IT"

Threat assessments and surveys keep saying the same thing: attacks often start with people in finance, leadership, or anyone with wide access.

So, for your Cyber Month push, pay special attention to:

• Owners and executives
• Accounting / payroll
• Anyone who can initiate payments, approve new vendors, or access sensitive records (clients, patients, HR)

For those folks, make sure:

• Their devices are fully managed and up-to-date
• MFA is non-negotiable
• They get extra coaching on wire fraud, invoice scams, and impersonation emails

Step 4 – Map the Official Advice to Something That Fits Here, Not Bay Street

The Get Cyber Safe small-business guide, banking association toolkits, and law-firm checklists all say slightly different things, but they line up on a few basics: training, passwords, backups, and a plan.

For a Hamilton/Burlington/Oakville business, I'd translate that into:

Once a year (October):

• 30-minute staff session
• Owner/manager checklist review
• Quick policy refresh (passwords, payments, reporting)

Once a quarter:

• Test a backup restore
• Spot-check MFA and access for high-risk users
• Review any weird incidents (even near-misses)

You don't need to be perfect. You just need to be materially better than "we hope it's fine."

Step 5 – Document Just Enough to Prove You Tried

If you ever have to talk to an insurer, a regulator, or a big client about an incident, they'll ask:

• "What did you do to protect data?"
• "Do you train staff?"
• "Do you have a plan?"

Make it easy on future you:

• Keep a folder (physical or digital) called "Cyber – Awareness & Training"
• Drop in a one-pager of what you covered this October
• Any attendance list or email invitation
• Copies of checklists and guides you used

That's not paperwork for fun—that's your proof that you took reasonable steps, based on the same federal guidance everyone points to.

You don't have to turn Cyber Security Awareness Month into a full-blown campaign. Just use it as your annual reminder to tune things up, talk to your team, and fix the obvious gaps before they show up in the worst way—on a Monday morning, with systems down and phones ringing.