Your free small business cyber security checklist

As you may have heard on Surge 105.1, cyber security isn't just a big-business problem. Threat actors often target small and medium-sized businesses because they expect fewer defences, and a single incident can cost you time, money and the trust of your customers and suppliers.

The Government of Canada's Get Cyber Safe campaign, led by the Communications Security Establishment, has published a plain-language guide for businesses without a dedicated IT team. It's free, it's practical, and it's a great place to start this Cyber Security Awareness Month.

Download the guide (PDF, 2.3 MB) →

Know the threats

Phishing, social engineering, malware, ransomware and hacking: what they look like and how they reach a small business.

10 practical steps

From securing accounts and devices to backups, updates and employee training: a checklist you can work through at your own pace.

Ready-to-use templates

An asset inventory list, a cyber security plan and an incident response plan to help you get organized and stay prepared.

The 10 steps at a glance

  1. Take stock of your assets
  2. Secure your accounts and devices
  3. Secure your network
  4. Develop a backup system
  5. Protect customer and sensitive data
  6. Enable automatic updates
  7. Develop a cyber security plan
  8. Train your employees
  9. Establish an incident response plan
  10. Stay up to date

Get the full guide with details and templates (PDF) →

Have an IT team or provider?

Share the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security's Cyber security hygiene best practices checklist (ITSAP.10.102) with them. It covers network, system and user protections in more technical detail.

Questions? We're here to help.

Digital nGenuity has been helping Nova Scotia businesses with their IT and cyber security since 2004. If anything in the guide raises questions about your own business, our team is happy to talk it through.

The Get Cyber Safe Guide for Small Businesses is published by the Government of Canada (Communications Security Establishment). Digital nGenuity is sharing this free resource as part of Cyber Security Awareness Month and is not affiliated with the Government of Canada.