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Certification eligibility

All organizations are eligible for certification. The program's cybersecurity measures are primarily designed for small and medium-sized organizations (SMOs).

Certification requirements

To be eligible for certification your organization must implement the security controls in the National Standard CAN/CIOSC 104:2021 Baseline cyber security controls for small and medium organizations.

What are the security control areas?

  • Leadership
  • Accountability
  • Cyber Security Training
  • Cyber Security Risk Assessment
  • Incident response plan
  • Automatically patch operating systems and applications
  • Enable security software
  • Securely configure devices
  • Use strong user authentication
  • Backup and encrypt data
  • Secure mobility
  • Establish basic perimeter defences
  • Secure outsourced cloud and IT services
  • Secure websites
  • Implement access control and authorization
  • Secure portable media
  • Point of Sale (POS) and Financial Systems
  • Computer Security Log Management

These security control areas reflect industry-accepted cybersecurity best practices.

How do you get certified?

1
Improve cybersecurity knowledge

Access the free eLearning series

Learn more about each of the cybersecurity control areas and receive a certificate of completion.

Download templates and how-to guides

Access the templates and how-to guides for download on our certification tools webpage.

2

Understand certification requirements

Implement security control areas

All security control areas must be implemented.

 
3
Register in the Cybersecure Canada portal

Register in the CyberSecure Canada portal to:

Complete the cyber certification readiness survey.

Connect with an accredited certification body.

Request an audit.

Track your certification progress.

4
Pass the audit

Achieve certification!

Valid for 2 years.

Display CyberSecure Canada decals and digital certification mark.

Be included in our directory of organizations awarded the CyberSecure Canada certification!