Retailers across Canada now have access to a free online and bilingual cybersecurity program.
Called the Retail CyberSecure program, it’s an effort of the Retail Council of Canada, IT and loss prevention professionals, the Ontario Provincial Police, and the Ontario government’s Ministry of the Solicitor General.
The site currently links to previously published cybersecurity awareness articles by the Retail Council, Statistics Canada’s most recent report on the impact of cybercrime, and the U.S. National Institute of Standards in Technology’s Small Business Cybersecurity Corner.
It will be joined by six free webinars, the first of which will arrive next week:
- Cybersecurity awareness: February 8. Registration is open now for this webinar.
- Current cyber threat: March 8
- Threat reaction plans: April 5
- Defensive procedures: May 3
- Ransomware training for technical teams: June 7
- Brute force attacks: July 5Â
Ultimately, the site will have links to the latest industry resources on reducing retail cybercrime, downloadable guidebooks, and videos on phishing, pharming, and threat identity, as well as e-learning modules to train retail employees on the best practices in preventing cybercrime.
“With the changes in how consumers shop and buy, retailers and shoppers alike are becoming increasingly targeted by cyber criminals who are not easy to identify, and can be anywhere,” Rui Rodrigues, the Retail Council’s executive advisor for loss prevention and risk management, said in a statement.
“We’re excited to work together with the broad range of experts to develop tools and strategies we can use to better protect against this unfortunately growing nefarious activity.”
The Retail Council of Canada says it represents more than 45,000 storefronts in all retail formats, including department, grocery, specialty, discount, independent retailers, and online merchants.
