Free Toronto clinic to help non-profits navigate cybersecurity threats

Author Sharlene Gandhi

A new cyber-clinic has launched at the Toronto Metropolitan University to help non-profits and community organizations “cope with phishing scams and other threats.”

Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, which hosts public education and entrepreneurship programs about cybersecurity through the University, has partnered with the philanthropic arm of security company Okta to provide these services for free.

According to 2024 research by Carleton University’s Charity Insights Canada Project (CICP), nearly three in five charities have experienced phishing or email scams which expose organizations’ sensitive data. More than two in five reported experiencing fake invoices or billing scams.

Last year, several prominent charitable and non-profit organizations experienced data and money loss due to cybersecurity breaches. The Toronto Public Library’s systems were attacked in October 2023, jeopardizing the personal data of current and former employees. It took four months for the library to get its systems back on track.

The Toronto Zoo also had employee information stolen during a ransomware attack in early 2024, while the Hamilton Community Foundation lost over $900,000 after a “sophisticated cyber fraud in the form of several payments to one of [their] partners.”

Meanwhile, the Canadian Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience (CCNDR) also released a report on the unique constraints of the non-profit sector in maintaining secure systems: from accessing files on mobile devices to being on the receiving end of used and outdated hardware that is not set up to receive up-to-date security patches.

CICP’s research also found that 20 per cent of charities surveyed have been investing in cybersecurity insurance, which can help to cover some of the financial losses associated with confidential data, and loss of income from business interruptions.

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  • Sharlene Gandhi is the Future of Good editorial fellow on digital transformation.

    Sharlene has been reporting on responsible business, environmental sustainability and technology in the UK and Canada since 2018. She has worked with various organizations during this time, including the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University, AIGA Eye on Design, Social Enterprise UK and Nature is a Human Right. Sharlene moved to Toronto in early 2023 to join the Future of Good team, where she has been reporting at the intersections of technology, data and social purpose work. Her reporting has spanned several subject areas, including AI policy, cybersecurity, ethical data collection, and technology partnerships between the private, public and third sectors.

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