Cyber Security Essentials for Small and Mid-Sized Businesses in Victoria and Vancouver
If you run a small or mid-sized business in Victoria or Vancouver, cyber security might not always feel like the most urgent item on your list. You are already managing staff, operations, customer service, budgets and everything in between. It is understandable that technology concerns do not always rise to the top.
At the same time, cyber incidents have become increasingly common across British Columbia. A CBC report highlighted that ransomware attacks have spiked in recent years, affecting organizations of all sizes. Seeing the impact on businesses throughout the province reinforces why local companies need to take cyber security seriously and build resilience into their operations.
As long time experts in the IT field, we have been working with businesses for nearing two decades on how to stay secure as the times change and have seen monumental shifts in how cybersecurity needs to be approached. This article is not meant to alarm anyone. The goal is to highlight real risks, share what we are seeing locally and help BC business leaders understand why cyber security matters. Most importantly, we want to provide practical steps that any organization can take to strengthen protections in a manageable and realistic way.
What Recent Incidents in British Columbia Tell Us
Cyber security becomes much easier to understand once you see how it affects real organizations close to home. Here are a few examples that reflect the current landscape in our region.
West Shore Business Incident: When Your Email Becomes a Weapon Against Your Customers
In October 2025, Victoria Buzz reported that a construction business in the West Shore area experienced every business owner's nightmare. Hackers broke into their computer system and did something particularly damaging—they sent fake invoices to the company's real customers, making it look like legitimate bills.
Imagine receiving what appears to be a normal invoice from a contractor you've worked with for years. Same email address, same logo, same professional tone. The only difference? The bank account number has been changed to send your payment directly to criminals instead of your trusted vendor.
What happened behind the scenes:
The attackers didn't need to be master hackers. They simply tricked someone at the company into clicking a convincing fake email or giving up their password. Once inside the email system, they watched and waited, learning how the business communicated with customers. Then, at just the right moment, they inserted themselves into real conversations and sent out fraudulent invoices.
How modern email security would have stopped this:
Advanced email protection tools like Proofpoint and Avanan (by Check Point) are specifically built to catch these exact schemes. Think of them as highly trained security guards for your email system who work 24/7.
Here's what they would have done differently:
Before the attack even started: These systems would have flagged the original phishing email that gave hackers access in the first place. They recognize when an email is pretending to be from someone it's not, even when it looks perfectly legitimate to the human eye.
During the compromise: If hackers did get into the email account, these tools would have noticed unusual behavior—like someone logging in from a strange location, setting up suspicious email rules, or suddenly sending invoices with different payment details. The system would alert your IT team immediately.
When the fake invoices went out: The security system would have automatically added warning banners to suspicious emails, alerting recipients that something didn't look right. In many cases, the fraudulent invoices would be blocked completely before reaching your customers' inboxes.
The West Shore business and their customers didn't have this protection. The result was damaged trust, financial losses, and weeks of cleanup work to reassure clients and secure their systems.
BC Government Network Events: Even Large Organizations Face Challenges
In May 2024, the Times Colonist reported that the Government of British Columbia detected several highly sophisticated cyber incidents. Officials noted that these may have involved state-sponsored attackers with significant resources and expertise.
What this means for your business:
If large public institutions with full IT departments can be tested, it reinforces the importance of basic cyber hygiene for smaller organizations. You don't need government-level security, but you do need the fundamentals in place—and those fundamentals are more accessible than ever.
London Drugs Cyber Incident: When Business Stops
In April 2024, Vancouver Is Awesome covered a cyber attack that forced London Drugs to temporarily close stores across Western Canada while teams worked to secure systems and investigate what happened.
What this means for your business:
The biggest impact is often operational. Even if customer data isn't stolen, your work can come to a complete stop while systems are restored or audited. For small businesses, days of downtime can mean missed payroll, lost sales, and customers who start looking elsewhere.
Survey Data: Half of BC Businesses Have Experienced a Cyber Incident
A Global News report found that more than 50 percent of BC companies surveyed had dealt with at least one cyber incident in the previous year. Surprisingly, many leaders still believed they were unlikely targets.
What this means for your business:
Incidents are now common across all sectors and organization sizes. The good news? Even small improvements create meaningful protection. You don't need to be a technology company to have strong defenses.
Guidance From Canada's National Cyber Authorities
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security publishes practical information that speaks directly to organizations with limited resources. Their guide Cyber Security for Small Business focuses on realistic steps that smaller organizations can take, including managing access, protecting accounts, updating systems, backing up data and training staff. Their message is clear: when the basics are done well, most common threats become much easier to prevent.
Their National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025 to 2026 notes that cyber crime is the most persistent threat to Canadian organizations. The report highlights increases in phishing, credential theft and ransomware, and points out that attackers often use automated tools to scan the internet for businesses with weak or missing controls.
Think of it this way: criminals are like burglars checking car doors in a parking lot. They're looking for the unlocked ones. Your job is to make sure your doors are locked.
What Business Owners and Managers Should Know
You don't need to be a cyber expert to navigate this landscape. Here are the principles that matter most:
Most incidents begin with a person, not a system
Phishing emails, fake invoices and impersonation schemes remain the most common entry points. That's why training your team and having the right email security tools are so critical.
Access control is one of your strongest protective tools
Multi-factor authentication (that second code you get on your phone) and good password practices go a long way toward preventing account compromise.
Remote and cloud-based work require structure
Many businesses in Victoria and Vancouver rely on hybrid teams. Each device, account and cloud service should be protected and monitored.
Operational continuity is central to resilience
Good backups, clear procedures and quick reporting help limit the impact of any incident. When—not if—something happens, you want to be back up and running quickly.
Understanding Email Security: Your First Line of Defense
Let's talk about the security layer that could have prevented the West Shore incident and protects against the majority of cyber attacks: advanced email security.
Most businesses use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace for email. These platforms include basic security features, but they're designed to catch obvious threats. Today's attackers are more sophisticated. They craft emails that look identical to legitimate messages, they study your business relationships, and they wait for the perfect moment to strike.
This is where specialized email security tools make all the difference.
What Makes Advanced Email Security Different?
Think of basic email security like a lock on your front door. Advanced email security is like having a security system with cameras, motion sensors, and 24/7 monitoring.
Proofpoint and Avanan (Check Point Harmony Email) are two of the leading solutions, and they work in similar but complementary ways:
They learn what "normal" looks like for your business: These systems study how your team communicates, who your regular vendors are, and what typical invoices look like. When something deviates from the pattern—even slightly—they take notice.
They catch what humans miss: An email might have the right logo, the right signature, and the right tone. But the security system notices that it came from a slightly different web address, or that the sender's location doesn't match previous emails, or that the urgency of the language is unusual.
They protect in real-time: Rather than waiting for you to report something suspicious, these tools work in the background, blocking threats before they reach your inbox or adding warning labels to messages that need a second look.
They understand business relationships: The systems map out your supply chain and vendor relationships. If an invoice comes from a compromised vendor account (like in the West Shore case), the system recognizes that the payment details have changed and flags it immediately.
They stop account takeovers: If someone does compromise an employee's email account, these tools detect the unusual activity—different login locations, attempts to create forwarding rules, or messages with altered banking information—and alert your team before damage is done.
Real-World Protection in Action
Let's revisit the West Shore scenario with advanced email security in place:
Week 1: An employee receives a phishing email designed to steal their password. Instead of landing in their inbox, Proofpoint or Avanan recognizes the suspicious sender and blocks it entirely.
Alternative scenario—Week 2: Let's say a different phishing attempt gets through and an employee accidentally enters their password on a fake login page. When the attacker tries to access the account from an unfamiliar location, the security system triggers an alert to your IT team and requires additional verification.
Alternative scenario—Week 3: The attacker manages to access the email account and begins preparing to send fake invoices. The security system notices that forwarding rules have been created and that emails are being deleted automatically—classic signs of compromise. Your team receives an immediate alert.
The result: The attack is stopped before customers ever see a fraudulent invoice. Your business's reputation stays intact, no money is lost, and you've learned valuable lessons about your security posture.
This isn't hypothetical. These tools stop thousands of these attacks every single day for businesses across British Columbia.
Practical Steps That Small and Mid-Sized Businesses Can Start With
These measures are realistic for organizations of all sizes and don't require deep technical knowledge.
1. Implement advanced email security
This is your highest-impact starting point. Tools like Proofpoint or Avanan integrate seamlessly with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. Your team won't notice any difference in how they use email, but threats will be caught before they become problems.
2. Turn on multi-factor authentication everywhere possible
Microsoft 365, banking, payroll systems, CRM tools and email platforms all support it. Yes, the extra step is mildly inconvenient. But it stops the vast majority of account takeovers.
3. Train your staff regularly
Even short, focused training sessions make a significant difference. Help your team recognize phishing attempts, understand why they shouldn't share passwords, and know who to contact if something seems off.
4. Review payment and approval processes
Add verification steps for banking changes and large payments. A simple phone call to verify a changed invoice can prevent a devastating loss.
5. Keep devices and software updated
Attackers often rely on vulnerabilities that could be fixed with a simple update. Enable automatic updates wherever possible.
6. Maintain reliable, tested backups
Backups support recovery from ransomware, accidental deletion or hardware failure. Make sure you're actually testing those backups—discovering they don't work during a crisis is too late.
7. Understand which cloud tools your team uses
Unused accounts and outdated access can create unexpected openings for attackers. Regular audits of who has access to what can close these gaps.
A Clearer and More Confident Approach
Cyber security doesn't need to feel overwhelming. Recent incidents in British Columbia demonstrate that cyber threats are real, but they also show that resilience is entirely within reach for small and mid-sized businesses.
The West Shore incident could have happened to any business. What makes the difference is having the right protections in place before an attack occurs. Advanced email security tools like Proofpoint and Avanan aren't luxuries—they're essential business protections that deliver immediate value and peace of mind.
With thoughtful planning and a focus on fundamental protections, organizations can protect their operations, their people and the trust they've built with customers.
Cybersecurity Solutions for Local Businesses
If you're unsure where your business currently stands or want help prioritizing next steps, our team is here to support you. We're a Managed IT company serving Victoria and BC, and we've been supporting businesses to protect their systems for 20 years.
Book a consultation with Digital Sky Solutions
We'll walk you through a practical assessment of your environment and help you create a plan tailored to your goals. Whether you're looking for an audit of your systems and some IT consulting to set you on the right track, or a team of professionals to take on your IT systems and cybersecurity entirely, we can help.
We can guide you through implementing advanced email security solutions like Proofpoint or Avanan, ensuring they're configured properly for your specific business needs and integrated seamlessly with your existing systems.
Learn more about how we support local organizations through:
Don't wait until you're dealing with a crisis. The businesses that fare best are the ones that prepare ahead of time. Let's have a conversation about protecting what you've built.
