Cyber security services for Toronto businesses

Security work organized around your business exposure

Canada Create provides cyber security services for Toronto organizations and teams across Canada. We connect security assessment, implementation, testing, readiness and ongoing service planning around the systems your organization depends on. Funded SaaS and AI companies may need a credible answer to an enterprise security review. A healthcare network, legal group or institutional property team may need to understand access, supplier dependencies and recovery priorities across several locations.

Start with the decision in front of you: which exposure needs attention, which customer requirement needs evidence, or which operational responsibility has no clear owner. We turn that into a written scope with deliverables, access requirements, responsibilities and acceptance criteria. You can commission a focused engagement or a coordinated program.

Related guide: What to check before hiring a cyber security company.

Choose the right security engagement

Assessment and risk prioritization

A cyber security audit and risk assessment reviews agreed systems, controls and evidence. Its output can include an asset and dependency view, documented gaps, a risk register and a remediation roadmap. The scope states which records were examined and which areas remain untested. This is the starting point when leadership needs a defensible basis for spending or a customer has asked for a documented security position.

A risk assessment ranks what was found by likelihood and business impact, so the first fixes protect what would hurt most if it failed: customer data, payment systems, email, backups and the accounts that control them. Each risk is written in plain language with its owner, the systems involved and the recommended action, so leaders can approve, defer or accept it knowingly. Quick wins, such as missing MFA or unsupported software, are separated from projects that need budget and planning. Repeating the assessment on an agreed schedule shows whether the risk register is shrinking or growing.

Authorized penetration testing

Penetration testing examines whether weaknesses can be exploited within an approved boundary. Applications, networks, cloud environments and other targets require their own rules of engagement. The test plan identifies permitted techniques, operating windows, stop conditions and contacts. Findings distinguish validated impact from issues needing further investigation.

Readiness and staff programs

Compliance readiness helps organize control implementation and evidence for the particular SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS or customer-assurance program you identify. Formal examination and certification have their own independent provider requirements. Security awareness training addresses staff decisions, approved simulations and reporting habits. Each program has its own deliverables rather than a blanket promise that one service satisfies every obligation.

Operational security and websites

For continuing detection, alert handling, endpoint coverage or SIEM responsibilities, use our managed security services page. Coverage, tooling, escalation and response authority belong in that agreement. Website maintenance and security covers the website-specific work, including hardening, updates, recovery preparation and scoped remediation. These services can be coordinated with your internal team or existing provider.

Incident response and ransomware recovery planning

Incident readiness connects technical work with the people authorized to make business decisions. We can scope response-plan development, tabletop exercises, system-recovery planning and technical work within the agreed environment. The plan names the incident lead, system owners, escalation contacts, communications owners and the advisers involved in insurance or notification decisions.

For ransomware recovery, useful preparation includes identifying essential services, mapping dependencies, reviewing backup separation and defining how restoration will be tested before reconnecting affected systems. Recovery objectives are planning inputs; a backup’s existence alone does not establish that the business can restore its service. NIST’s incident response guidance places preparation, detection, response and recovery within broader cyber risk management.

If an incident is active, follow your existing incident plan and contact your designated response and insurance channels promptly. When discussing a new engagement with us, identify the affected systems and current response owner at a high level. Response availability, authority and specialist investigation requirements must be confirmed before work begins. Keep credentials and sensitive incident evidence out of the public enquiry form.

Security leadership, identity and cloud priorities

A virtual CISO or security-advisory scope can organize the risk register, program roadmap, policy ownership and leadership reporting. Your executives retain risk decisions and approval authority. We connect the agreed priorities to implementation tasks: reviewing privileged access, joiner and leaver processes, cloud configuration, third-party connections and application change controls.

For SaaS and AI products, discovery also maps production tenants, service accounts, deployment paths, customer-data flows and model-provider dependencies. A vulnerability-assessment scope identifies assets and approved checks, then separates scan findings from validated exposure. Digital-forensics requirements are defined with the incident lead, including collection authority, evidence handling and any specialist or legal requirements.

For a focused review of cloud workload configuration, access paths and approved hardening work, explore our cloud security services.

Protecting the office network and its devices

Many small organizations run on a handful of routers, laptops and phones that were set up quickly and never revisited. These two services put them in order.

Firewalls, Wi-Fi and remote access

The internet provider installed a box years ago, someone added a Wi-Fi extender, a camera installer opened a port, and now nobody is sure what is exposed. Network security sorts that out: firewall setup and rule review, patching of routers, switches and access points, and separate segments so a visitor’s phone cannot reach the accounting computer. Staff Wi-Fi is kept apart from guest Wi-Fi. Remote access for people working from home gets multi factor sign-in, outside vendors receive only the access they need, and logging and DNS filtering add early warning. Diagrams and documentation stay in your own name, which helps when you change providers or open another location.

Laptops, desktops and phones

Every device someone signs into holds files, saved passwords and a path into email and cloud accounts. Endpoint security covers that whole fleet: protection software on each machine, drive encryption so the files on a lost laptop are hard to read, operating system and app patching, and everyday accounts without admin rights. Company and personal phones are managed under rules you approve. Somebody has to watch the alerts, so the engagement names who does. New staff receive devices that are set up properly, and departing staff hand theirs back cleanly with access removed. A device register shows what the organization owns, who holds it and whether it is current.

Scanning, ransomware readiness and insurance questionnaires

Boards, insurers and large clients now ask smaller organizations for evidence of basic security. These services find the weak spots and organize the proof.

Regular checks for known weaknesses

Software makers publish weaknesses in their products every week, along with the updates that fix them. Vulnerability scanning compares what runs on your systems with that public knowledge, under written authorization and an agreed scope. External scans cover your public addresses and websites; internal scans cover servers, laptops, the office network and cloud accounts. Findings are ranked by business risk, with a summary for owners and a detailed list for whoever does the fixing, and rescans confirm each fix took effect. Scanning differs from penetration testing or a formal audit, and a recurring schedule keeps the picture current as new issues are announced.

Ransomware plans and insurance applications

Ransomware readiness is a short list of decisions about logins, updates, permissions, copies of data and who does what on a bad morning, written down before it is needed. Ransomware protection reviews the usual ways in, the prevention layers you can see and whether a clean copy of your work sits out of reach, then walks your managers through a tabletop exercise. Those same controls appear on the questionnaire a broker sends with a cyber policy. Cyber insurance readiness compares each question with what is actually in place, closes the gaps you choose to close and gathers evidence, so your answers are accurate. Your licensed broker remains your adviser on coverage.

What a useful handover contains

• A scope record showing the systems, business services and review period covered.
• Findings linked to available evidence, with assumptions and untested areas visible.
• A prioritized plan with owners, dependencies and decisions for leadership.
• Implementation and retesting records for the remediation expressly commissioned.
• A handover for your IT team, operational provider or independent assessor, as applicable.

Requirements from customers, insurers and regulators differ. Bring the actual questionnaire or requirement into discovery through an agreed secure channel. We map the work to that request and involve your appropriate advisers when applicability or legal interpretation is needed. AI may assist research, analysis and report drafting, with human review and applied technical judgement. We agree how confidential evidence may be used, check conclusions against the available records and present final deliverables for your approval.

Related work is explained on its own pages: dark web monitoring and incident response.

Scope, cost and the next step

Custom-scoped engagements; proposal after discovery. Cost depends on the systems and locations involved, review depth, testing permissions, evidence availability, remediation work and any continuing service coverage. The proposal distinguishes one-time project work, recurring responsibilities and third-party tools or specialist services.

Smaller organizations can start with a focused priority without committing to an enterprise-wide program. Larger teams can coordinate several workstreams around their procurement, product or operational needs. Share a high-level system inventory, your current providers and the decision date you are working toward. Call (416) 273-9030, Monday to Friday, 9 am to 6 pm, and Saturday, 10 am to 2 pm. After hours, our 24/7 AI agent answers the toll-free line, +1 (800) 808-9235, and we’ll follow up the next business morning. The standard team response target is 24 to 48 hours during business days; incident response coverage is agreed separately.

Related guide: How to get more clients for your MSP.