Cybersecurity for Ottawa Small Businesses
The protection most small offices and clinics are missing: account security, phishing defence, and backups that actually restore. Sized for your business, not an enterprise.
Onsite and remote across Ottawa · From $40/hr · No monthly contract required
What we are, and what we aren’t
We are not a security operations centre and we don’t sell 24/7 monitoring or compliance certifications. What we do is close the gaps that actually get small Ottawa businesses breached: accounts without multi-factor authentication, backups nobody has ever tested, a flat network where the guest Wi-Fi reaches the server, and staff who have never been shown what a convincing phishing email looks like. If you really do need a monitored SOC, we’ll tell you rather than sell you something in between.
Business Cybersecurity Services
Accounts & Access Control
The highest-value fix
- Multi-factor authentication across email and cloud
- Per-staff logins instead of shared passwords
- Password manager rolled out to the team
Email & Phishing Defence
Where most attacks start
- Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace hardening
- SPF, DKIM, and DMARC so your domain isn't spoofed
- Simple guidance for staff on what to watch for
Backup & Ransomware Readiness
Tested, not assumed
- Backups that are actually restored from, not just run
- Offsite or immutable copies where it matters
- A written recovery plan you can follow under pressure
Network Segmentation
Keep guests away from systems
- Guest Wi-Fi separated from business systems
- Payment and patient systems on their own segment
- Router and firewall configuration reviewed
Device & Endpoint Protection
Every workstation covered
- Endpoint protection deployed consistently
- Disk encryption on laptops that leave the building
- Patching and update policy that actually runs
Security Audits
A second opinion
- Review of accounts, devices, network, and backups
- Findings ranked by actual risk, not scare tactics
- What to fix yourself and what genuinely needs us
Looking for a virus cleaned off a single home computer instead? See virus & malware removal.
Who This Is For
Small Ottawa organisations that hold data worth protecting but have no in-house IT team.
Clinics and medical offices
Patient records, per-staff access control, and guest Wi-Fi kept away from practice systems.
Retail and restaurants
Payment systems separated from guest networks, and point-of-sale kept off the same segment as everything else.
Professional and home-based offices
Email is how most attacks get in, so this means MFA, domain protection, and staff who can spot a fake invoice.
Any business running on one server
If everything lives in one place, the backup and recovery plan is the whole security strategy.
Business Cybersecurity FAQs
What does cybersecurity cost for a small business in Ottawa?
The first consultation is free. Security work is $40/hour for advisory and setup time, and a full security review of a small office is usually quoted as a fixed-price project once we know how many staff, devices, and systems are involved. You get the scope and the number before anything starts.
Are you a managed security provider with 24/7 monitoring?
No, and we won't pretend otherwise. We are not a security operations centre and we don't sell round-the-clock monitoring. What we do is the practical layer most small Ottawa businesses are actually missing: multi-factor authentication, sensible account and access control, patched systems, backups that have been tested, staff who can spot a phishing email, and a network that isn't wide open. If you really do need a monitored SOC, we'll say so and help you pick one.
We're a small clinic. What about patient data?
Clinic work is a large part of what we do. In practice that means access control per staff member rather than a shared login, encrypted devices, guest Wi-Fi kept fully separate from the network your practice-management system runs on, backups you have actually restored from, and a clear record of who can reach what. We work alongside your practice-management vendor rather than replacing them.
What is a security audit and what do we get?
A structured review of your accounts, devices, network, backups, and the software you pay for, followed by a written list of what we found, ranked by how much risk it carries and how much effort it takes to fix. Plenty of items on that list are things you can do yourselves for free, and we'll tell you which ones those are.
Do you offer phishing training for employees?
Yes, in a practical form sized for a small office: a short session that walks your staff through real examples of fake invoices, password-reset emails and login pages, and what to do when they're unsure. It's not a formal certification program; it's the habits that actually stop most attacks.
What is phishing-resistant MFA, and do we need it?
It's two-step sign-in that a fake login page can't capture, such as passkeys or hardware security keys, unlike codes sent by text that can be phished. For most small businesses, an authenticator app with number matching on every account is the big step; we'd add passkeys or security keys for admin and finance accounts first.
One of our staff clicked a phishing link. Can you help now?
Yes. Message us on WhatsApp and we'll triage straight away: reset and secure the affected accounts, force sign-out of active sessions, check for mail-forwarding rules an attacker may have added, review what was accessible, and then close the gap that let it through. Fast response matters more than a perfect plan here.
Do you provide cyber insurance compliance documentation?
We can help you answer the technical questions on a cyber insurance application accurately (MFA coverage, backup frequency and testing, endpoint protection, access control) and fix the gaps the questionnaire turns up. We're not an auditor and we don't issue certifications.
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Find Out Where You Actually Stand
A free consultation, a review of your setup, and a ranked list of what to fix, including the parts you can handle yourselves.