10/14/2026
Cyber Security Awareness Month Canada 2026: A Practical Checklist for Small Businesses: https://cybersecuritycanada.ca/news/posts/cyber-security-awareness-month-canada-2026-small-business-checklist/
October 2026 marks Cyber Security Awareness Month in Canada. This year's theme from the Government of Canada's Get Cyber Safe campaign is "Your best defence is you." The message is straightforward: small actions and good cyber security habits can make a big difference. Checking suspicious messages, enabling multi-factor authentication, and using strong passwords are the kinds of everyday steps that stop many common attacks.
What Should Be on a Cybersecurity Checklist for Small Businesses in Canada?
- Enable multi-factor authentication on email, remote access, and admin accounts
- Turn on automatic updates for operating systems and critical software
- Verify backups are running with at least one copy offline or offsite; test restores
- Train all staff to recognize phishing using Get Cyber Safe's free materials
- Write an incident response plan naming who calls whom and when
- Review password policies and consider a password manager
- Document an asset inventory so no system is missed during patching
For Canadian small businesses, October is an opportunity to move beyond awareness and take concrete action.
October is Cyber Security Awareness Month in Canada. The 2026 theme from Get Cyber Safe is 'Your best defence is you.' Here is a week by week checklist for Canadian small businesses, mapped to the CCCS Baseline Controls.
