On October 14, 2026, Open North hosted the first CyberAIDE cybersecurity resilience webinar. This launch marks the start of a broader series of free sessions and training opportunities across Canada, designed to help mission-driven organizations, small municipalities, and First Nations and Indigenous communities better understand their cybersecurity realities and take practical preventative steps.
Open North welcomed representatives from several Ontario not-for-profit organizations to a 90-minute webinar to test an interactive, mission-centred approach that views cybersecurity through the lens of service delivery and mission.
Mapping resilience together
During the session, participants worked through a Cybersecurity Mission Resilience Map, focusing on one critical organizational service. CyberAIDE’s methodology places an organization’s mission and capacity to serve its community at the centre of the assessment, meeting its obligations and maintaining trust when the digital systems supporting its work are disrupted because protecting community trust matters most when digital tools fail.
First, participants considered what happens if the digital tools supporting that service become unavailable for three to seven days. They mapped how consequences compound over time, not only for internal operations, but also for service delivery, accessibility, relationships, obligations and community trust.
Participants then explored how the work actually happens on the ground, identifying key information, technologies, accounts, people, external providers, and the workarounds staff rely on. Naming these hidden dependencies and making the unknowns visible became the most valuable aspect of the exercise. Finally, participants used their observations to identify realistic next steps tailored to their mission, capacity and context.
By the end of the session, participants had created a draft resilience map connecting:
- A mission-critical service and the people who rely on it;
- The possible consequences of a disruption;
- Key dependencies, existing strengths and important unknowns;
- The people who should be involved in the conversation; and
- One feasible next action, with accountability and timing.
Participants shared that if digital services stopped, for many reasons, including a cybersecurity attack, they might manage for a couple of days. Prolonged delays, however, would cause their services to stop, leading to shortages, timeline crises, clients not being served, and, in the longer term (seven days or more), reputational damage and broken trust. This is especially true for essential services related to food, shelters, families, intellectual disabilities, and other critical missions where not-for-profit organizations play an essential frontline role.
The webinar reinforced a central principle of CyberAIDE: organizations don’t need advanced knowledge to begin their cybersecurity journey. They can start by asking informed questions about the services they provide, the people who depend on them, and the conditions required to keep those services running. The completed resilience map becomes a practical conversation tool that organizations can review with leadership, program staff, operations personnel, technology providers, and community representatives. It can also serve as a starting point for a deeper security assessment and a longer-term action plan.
The beginning of a longer conversation
This first CyberAIDE webinar was an encouraging beginning, and more sessions are ahead. The next webinar will take place on November 18, 2026 at 2 pm EST. Register now to reserve your place. Participation is free, and no technical cybersecurity expertise is required.
Register for the November 18 webinar.
We thank the organizations that joined our first session and contributed their knowledge, questions and experience. Building cybersecurity resilience is an ongoing process, and it begins by connecting digital decisions to the people, mission, and communities those decisions are intended to protect.
Learn more about CyberAIDE.