CyberSecure Canada

Business Certification for Canada’s National Cyber Security Program

What is the national cyber security program?

Canada’s national cyber security program is called CyberSecure Canada. It is a federal certification program which aims to raise the baseline cyber security posture among Canadian Small/Medium Organizations (SMO), increase consumer confidence in the digital economy, promote international standardization and better position SMOs to compete globally.

How will this help my organization?

It helps build trust in today’s digital world. Once certified by an accredited Certification Body, the CyberSecure Canada certification mark can be displayed to give official federal government recognition that compliance with the baseline security controls has been achieved. This shows customers, partners, investors and suppliers that you meet the standard’s requirements, and therefore provides an assurance that fundamental cyber risk management steps have been taken to safeguard information and systems.

What is Watsec’s role as a Certification Body for this program?

Watsec is one of the organizations accredited by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) that has met the requirements of the SCC. As an accredited certification body, we are authorized to evaluate your businesses’ s implementation of the security controls in order to obtain certification.

What do the controls include?

Three categories of controls which contain a total of 48 control statements are examined. Non-technical such as secure user mobility policy, technical in-house such as perimeter defenses, and outsourced such as cloud services. The audit includes a network and system vulnerability assessment, review of security policies and related controls, review of a hardware & software inventory, and review of any other supporting documentation. This is a practical standard highly achievable for Canadian SMOs. According to CCCS the standard “… presents the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security baseline cyber security controls wherein we attempt to apply the 80/20 rule (achieve 80% of the benefit from 20% of the effort) to the cyber security practices of small and medium organizations in Canada.”¹

How do I enroll in the program?

For more information about enrolling in the program please click the Contact Us button below and mention CyberSecure Canada in your request.