51% of Canadian Businesses Report Cyber-Security Issues

How secure is your business? What about the data you collect for business use, how secure is it? In the expanding digital age, the two questions are virtually one and the same. Most businesses are primarily made of data. Frighteningly, more than half of the 650 registered businesses surveyed by the Canadian Securities Administrators reported some sort of cyber-security incident in 2016.

As an organization, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) has good reason to be concerned about the state of cyber-security in Canada. The CSA is made up of regulators from the 10 provincial and 3 territorial securities commissions. Their goal is to improve, coordinate, and harmonize regulation of Canadian capital markets, administration of which is functionally left to each province or territory. It’s a safe extrapolation the CSA is considering mandating federal regulations around cyber-security for businesses across Canada.

The most frequent attack reported was phishing. 43% of respondents reported cyber-security issues involving phishing. Phishing is an attempt, often successful, at getting someone at a business to share user-names and/or passwords in a bid to gain access to a company’s web-servers or database. Phishing attempts are often made via email but can also be made in person or over the phone. There are dozens of ways to potentially spot a phishing attempt before falling victim to it but the safest method is quite simple. Treat your business information like the four digit PIN number associated with your debit or credit card, or better yet, treat it like your social insurance number. There is almost never a correct time to share it and always a million good reasons to protect it.

18% of businesses reported malware incidents. Malware is often found on business websites, especially on sites built on the popular WordPress platform, and is designed to infect visiting computers with some form of itself. Often malware is programmed to record and report keystrokes, to alter the users’ web experiences by directing them to websites they would not otherwise visit, or to make the infected machine part of a larger bot-net. There are a number of best-practice steps a business’ IT department should take to make sure the website and server are free of malware and that they remain protected against future infection. Several security focused WordPress plug-ins such as WordFence, and BulletProof Security are available to webmasters and administrators.

15% of businesses reported fake invoices or fraudulent attempts to transfer money. These scams are variations on age-old frauds and the only protection is vigilance.

“Preparation is key to mitigating cyber security threats,” said Louis Morisset, CSA Chair and President and CEO of the Autorité des marchés financiers in a CSA press release issued yesterday. “We encourage all firms to perform comprehensive risk assessments, and evaluate the strength of existing policies, employee training programs and response plans as they relate to vulnerabilities in these areas.”

Cyber-security is likely to be one of the primary social and business issues in 2018. An annual business or website security audit would be a smart procedure to implement.

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Hotels

1. Jennifer Smith
General Manager
The Omni King Edward Hotel
37 King Street East
Toronto, ON
M5C 1E9
Tel: 416-863-9700
Website: www.omnihotels.com/hotels/toronto-king-edward

2. Mark Perry
General Manager
Executive Hotels and Resorts (Boutique)
8 Colborne Street
Toronto, ON
M5E 1E1
Tel: 416-350-2419
Website: www.spazen.ca or www.cosmotoronto.com

3. Emeline Boul
General Manager
Hotel Victoria (Boutique)
56 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON
M5E 1G5
Tel: 416-363-1666
Mobile: 647-574-5832
Website: www.hotelvictoriatoronto.com

4. Omkar Sawant
Reservations Manager
One King West Hotel
1 King Street West
Toronto, ON
M5H 1A1
Main: 416-548-8100
Reservations: 1-866-470-5464
Website: www.onekingwest.com

5. Van Nguyen
General Manager
Cambridge Suites Toronto
15 Richmond Street East
Toronto, ON
M5C 1N2
Direct: 416-601-3757
Hotel: 416-368-1990
Website: www.cambridgesuitestoronto.com

Restaurants

1. Michael Pagliaro
Carisma (Italian)
15 Toronto Street
Toronto, ON
M5C 2E3
Tel: 416-864-7373
Website: www.carismarestaurant.com

2. Patti Shaw
Terroni (Italian)
57 Adelaide Street East
Toronto, ON
M5C 1K6
Tel: 416-203-3093
Website: www.terroni.com

3. Declan
Restaurant 20 Victoria – Michelin guide approved
20 Victoria Street
Toronto, ON
M5C 2A1
Tel: 416-804-6066
Instagram for reservations: https://www.instagram.com/twentyvictoria/

4. Mana
Nami (Japanese)
55 Adelaide Street East
Toronto, ON
M5C 1K6
Tel: 416-362-7373
Website: www.namirestaurant.ca

5. Restaurant Lucie
100 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON
M5C 2W1
Tel: 416-788-9054
Website: www.restaurantlucie.com

6. Niam H
Cantina Mercatto
20 Wellington Street East
Toronto, ON
M5E 1C5
Tel: 416-304-0781
Website: www.cantinamercatto.ca

7. Siva Sathasivam
Uncle Tony’s
38 Wellington St E
Toronto, ON
M5E 1C7
Tel: 416-455-6650
Website: https://uncletonys.ca/

8. Pizzaiolo
104 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON
M5C 2Y6
Tel: 416-860-0700
Website: www.pizzaiolo.ca

9. Robin Singh
Woods Restaurant and Bar
45 Colborne Street
Toronto, ON
M5E 1E3
Tel: 416-214-9918
Website: www.woodsrestaurant.ca

Health and Wellness

1. Thom Tullo
Morpheus8 by Inmode
47 Colborne Street
Toronto, ON
M5E 1E3
Tel: 416-863-6564
Website: www.amanspa.ca

2. Altitude Athletic Training
56 Colborne Street
Toronto, ON
M5E 1E3
Tel: 416-366-3838
Website: www.altitudeathletictraining.com

3. Physioheath Studios
33 Victoria Street, #130
Toronto, ON
M5C 2A1
Tel: 416-368-2525
Website: www.physiohealth.com

Our Amenities

We are by far the most experienced and best coworking team in the market – established in 1980

  • We are the highest Tech centre in the market
  • We have a very modern, high quality, brand new facility located at:

   18 King Street East, Suite 1400

      Toronto, Ontario   M5C 1C4 Canada

    • 18 King Street East is a boutique Class A building – East of Yonge: easy street parking, less traffic, excellent restaurants and lovely parks – St. James Park @ Church & King and Berczy Park @ Wellington East, Scott and Front Streets – Very high energy and engaging area
    • A few steps (a few seconds) to the Yonge Street subway/underground PATH network and streetcar available outside building
    • Building is located in Toronto's vibrant financial district
    • Plenty of parking available in the area including street parking and reserved parking in the 18 King building 
    • Adjacent to the building huge outdoor food courtyard - Beer Bistro www.beerbistro.com and Craft Beer Market www.craftbeermamrket.ca restaurants and bars with onsite catering services
    • Onsite amenities:  Tim Horton's, Beer Bistro, Convenience store and Starbucks across the street 
    • Nearby amenities:  underground PATH network, numerous restaurants, banking, Starbucks plus a wide array of nearby shops and services 
    • New modernized office layout fully furnished with meeting spaces and training rooms plus café lounge area
    • We are leaders in the service of training/meeting rooms with full conference facilities, high quality hot and cold catering
    • Largest training room and conference facilities accommodate up to 60 people classroom style
    • Ultra-high-speed - 1 GIG pipe = 1,000 x 1000 fiber-optic network, which will deliver internet connection speeds faster than most North American services
    • Private shower room
    • Indoor Reserved Parking at the current building rental rate
    • Bicycle parking
    • Rent a space to accommodate your team for meetings, training sessions, corporate events or coworking space or flexible office space for one day, one week, one month or one year, or whatever term suits your business
    • Telsec has over 650 locations in 40 different countries worldwide available for their clients.  Office clients receive up to 8 hours of meeting space per month at no charge at any ABCN member location.  Plus, Office and Virtual Office clients may rent a space from any member location at special member rates which varies depending on the location 
    • King Edward Hotel is located across the street - recently completed a $40 million renovation and boutique hotels close by within walking distance
  • Dining and entertainment at high quality restaurants only minutes away – Carisma, Terroni, Woods Restaurant & Bar and Michelin Rated - Restaurant 20 Victoria. Plus numerous lunch and takeout eateries nearby

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You are welcome to drop-in any-time, a quick call would be appreciated to ensure our availability Vanessa 416-574-1112 or Josie 416-606-4349 or e-mail josie@telsec.net.