Hashan Kodituwakku | About CyberSecure Canada

All you need to know about
CyberSecure Canada
Cyber attacks are becoming more prevalent and the operations are not only
limited to major enterprise organizations. “Because the big companies are
the ones making headlines of cyberattacks does not mean small startups
are not victims. In fact, they are easier targets as they often lack the
resources to invest in cybersecurity or provide training for their staff,”
says Hashan Kodituwakku. Size doesn’t matter for cybercriminals and
significant small businesses are being targeted. This has resulted in a huge
amount of data and profit loss-to the point where some companies have
had to shut down.
Hence, this becomes a wake-up call for businesses, employees and
government. More reasons why CyberSecure Canada was born to address
cyber threats plaguing small businesses by ensuring they are upto par in

their cybersecurity. Wondering what CyberSecure Canada is all about?
Read on as Hashan Kodituwakku, a successful IT expert with over 15
years in the field explores more on CyberSecure and how it can benefit
your business.
What is CyberSecure Canada?
CyberSecure Canada is a federal cyber certification program provided for
small and medium-sized companies (less than 500 employees) to help
them achieve a baseline of security.
The aim is to increase awareness among these businesses about
cybersecurity risks, and threats and how to be more secured. On top of
that.,it comes with a nice logo that you can easily tell your partners, supply
chain, clients and online shoppers that you are a certified trusted business
that makes cybersecurity a priority.
Why do you need to get CyberSecure Canada
certification?
As mentioned earlier, the certification comes with permission to use the
logo that can include in your marketing or website. This will serve as official
public recognition that demonstrates compliance with the baseline security
control. Hence, an organization gains a competitive advantage within their
niche as customers understand it is a secured company that they can
commit their valuable information.
Cyber attacks can be devastating for any business and they can lead to
financial loss, damaged reputation and loss of customers and clients. This
certification can help limit the impact of cyberattacks. This certification can
also start as a starting point for many businesses that lack adequate
knowledge of cybersecurity.
It will widen your opportunities as you will be able to compete for
businesses that require cybersecurity certification both locally and globally.

Who is eligible for CyberSecure Canada
certifications?
Although the certification measures are meant for small and mid-sized, all
companies can apply. However, it is advisable for the bigger organizations
to go for more robust cybersecurity certification.
What does it take to be certified?
To be certified, an organization has to demonstrate that they implement
the 13 baseline security controls. For this, your organization needs to be
audited by a certification body and the website contains the list of eligible
organizations that can get it done. The 13 baseline security control include:
Have an incident response plan
Automatic patching of operating systems and applications;
Enable security software;
Secure device configuration
Strong user authentication; (6
Training for employee awareness
Have a data backup and encryption policy
Secure mobility
Establish basic perimeter defences
Secure cloud and outsourced IT services
Secure websites
Implement access control and authorization
Secure portable media.
What is the cost of CyberSecure Canada
certification?
The cost for CyberSecure Canada certification lies in the needs of your
organization. It has been stated on the website FAQ section that the cost
of the certification process will be determined by the certification
body. Hashan Kodituwakku explains that If a company has already used

a certification body products and services that have already meet the
security control standard, they might not charge anything. While other
certification boards can charge from few hundreds of dollars to thousands
depending on the audit needs and complexities of the business.