Top 7 Cybersecurity Threats and How to Protect Your Business
The cyber landscape in Canada continues to change as technologies advance. Breaches disrupt daily operations and weaken customer confidence, making them more expensive to ignore.
According to the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, state-sponsored and financially motivated threat actors are leveraging more sophisticated tools, including artificial intelligence and cybercrime-as-a-service.
Meanwhile, the average cost of a data breach in Canada is projected to hit CA$6.98 million in 2025, which is a 10.4% rise from 2024.
Almost all Canadian industries are impacted, with Services, Manufacturing, and Public sectors topping the list.
At this rate, cybersecurity threats are no longer just an IT concern.
In this article, we outline the top seven cyber threats you might face and what you can do to mitigate them.
Understanding the Different Cyber Threat Categories
External threats
As the name suggests, these are attacks that originate outside of your network. They are usually motivated by money or acquiring private information in the name of competition. Some common examples include phishing, ransomware, and denial-of-service attacks, which target weak passwords, unpatched software, or careless clicks to get in.
Internal threats
The harder threats to detect come from inside. Sometimes an employee with access decides to misuse it. Other times, someone simply makes a mistake such as forwarding a confidential file or ignoring a security alert. Both kinds can expose data or stop operations, but the intent behind them changes how you respond.
By understanding where a threat starts and why it happens, you can target controls more precisely and close security gaps before they turn into incidents.
The Top 7 Cybersecurity Threats Facing Businesses Today
1. Phishing attacks
Phishing targets people by sending emails or messages that look routine, such as supplier invoices or password resets. This is in hopes the target clicks or shares credentials. They can then take over the target’s profile and fulfill their goal.
To prevent these attacks, the most immediate thing to do is to turn on multi-factor authentication. Use mail filters that block spoofed or suspicious domains. Scrutinize each email received. Usually, a misspelled source and grammatical errors in the body are dead giveaways of a phishing email.
2. Ransomware
Ransomware attacks hold access to files and systems until a “ransom” is made. Criminal groups now sell these attack kits as a service, so anyone with money can launch them. Once ransomware gets in, encryption can begin within minutes, locking files and cutting off access immediately.
A good way to defend against these is to maintain verified offline backups, patch every connected system, and use monitoring tools that can spot unusual encryption activity as it starts.
3. Insider threats
There are instances where the threat comes from inside. It could be an employee acting out of frustration or someone who simply drags a confidential file into the wrong shared folder. The activity uses legitimate credentials so it can work under the radar for weeks or even months.
Restricting privileges by role, tracking administrative activity, and rotating access regularly are some strategies to avoid these.
4. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks
A DDoS attack overwhelms servers with fake traffic so real users can’t access services. In industries that rely on uptime such as retail or finance, even a brief slowdown can derail transactions and decrease trust.
Build flexible capacity through cloud scaling, enable DDoS protection tools, and keep real-time monitoring active during peak seasons when legitimate demand is high.
5. Malware and viruses
Short for malicious software, malware is intrusive computer programs specifically designed for nefarious purposes such as to disrupt, destroy, or steal private information. A virus is a type of malware that’s capable of replicating itself and spreading across an entire company’s shared systems.
These cyber threats often come via email attachment, an unverified download, or a shared device that’s already compromised. Once clicked and executed, these can quietly monitor user activity, steal credentials, or damage critical files.
To reduce your attack surface, keep endpoint protection updated, scan systems frequently, and make software verification a standard habit before any installation.
6. Social engineering
Social engineering banks on trust. Attackers rely on familiarity to get what they want by posing as managers, vendors, or partners and pressuring employees to act fast. The message looks routine or urgent, and that’s what makes it work. One quick click or approval can hand over everything you meant to protect.
Beware of demands with urgency. Confirm before acting on any unusual request, and make skepticism part of your process.
7. Zero-day exploits
A zero-day exploit leverages a flaw in a system, software, or firmware that no one has addressed yet. Since it’s unknown, no defense is usually ready. In large or highly connected systems, one compromise can move quietly across departments.
The best defense is constant awareness. Scan for vulnerabilities, apply updates as soon as they’re released, and work with security partners who track new exploits before they reach your environment.
Practical Strategies to Strengthen Your Cybersecurity Defenses
Build layered defenses
Firewalls block outside access, endpoint protection isolates infections, and detection tools identify anything unusual that slips through.
Monitor your systems regularly
Real-time insight helps you spot irregular activity early. Clear, actionable alerts shorten response times and keep systems running while you contain the issue.
Encrypt and restrict access
Protect information everywhere it moves. Limit exposure to those who need it and store credentials in secure, managed environments instead of shared files.
Keep software up to date
Unpatched systems are still the easiest way in. Apply updates on schedule, remove unsupported tools, and verify that every integration meets current security standards.
Audit your setup regularly
Schedule reviews to test backup recovery, validate vendor access, and confirm that every control still performs as intended.
Train staff and update them on new security protocols
Walk employees through recent phishing tactics, review data handling procedures, and make incident reporting quick and routine.
Strengthen authentication
Reassess admin access on a set schedule and close unused accounts before they create risk.
Bring in external support when needed
Consider delegating 24-hour monitoring to a security partner that can coordinate response efforts and manage patching cycles that internal teams struggle to maintain.
Automate repetitive work
Let trusted systems manage patching, log analysis, and routine scans.
Reducing exposure to cybersecurity threats will ultimately require consistency. Systems that are maintained, monitored, and supported by alert teams resist incidents better than those fixed only after something breaks.
Stay Prepared for What Comes Next
Cyber actors will continue to test how well systems hold up under pressure. Being ready means keeping your environment current, tracking performance, and maintaining clear visibility into how data moves across your network.
Preparation will make a big difference in mitigating the costly aftermath of a cyberattack in terms of compromised data, ransom given, reputational damage, and lost customer trust.
Let Us Automate works with businesses to maintain that control through secure automation, managed cloud environments, and reliable upkeep that keeps infrastructure running smoothly.
With consistent attention to data integrity and system security, your organization remains steady against new cybersecurity threats.