Helping Quebec non-profits below ‘cybersecurity poverty line’ strengthen networks

Facing the threat of cyberattacks and with limited budgets, non-profit organizations across Quebec are being offered free cybersecurity consulting sessions.

Facing the threat of cyberattacks and with limited budgets, non-profit organizations across Quebec are being offered free cybersecurity consulting sessions through a pilot project led by Polytechnique Montréal engineering school.

Many non-profits are often below the “cybersecurity poverty line,” says Marc Gervais, executive director of IMC2, a cybersecurity institute involving Polytechnique and other Quebec universities that groups more than 50 professors and their research teams.

“They typically cannot even afford training or basic audits,” he said.

In response, the institute decided to train students on how to identify weaknesses in digital security infrastructure by having them conduct free audits, supervised by their professors, on non-profits.

In Quebec alone, there are tens of thousands of non-profits, many of which struggle with the same security issues as larger organizations: phishing, data breaches, ransomware attacks, piracy, artificial intelligence-linked fraud, and malware — software designed to harm a computer or network. What they lack are the finances and technical expertise to counter such threats.

In 2023, pro-Russian hackers took down some Quebec government-linked websites. The province’s electrical utility, Hydro-Québec, was also hit with a cyberattack in 2023, with hackers shutting down its website and cellphone app; however, critical systems weren’t affected.

Non-profits can face similar threats, Gervais said, but they don’t have the in-house expertise to deal with them. Which makes the pilot project, dubbed the “cybercitizen assistance network,” all the more important.

The pilot is being funded thanks to a $1.3-million grant from Google in January 2024. The first to benefit was Institut du Nouveau Monde, a Montreal-based group with a mission to increase citizen participation in democratic life, said Louis-Philippe Lizotte, its operations director.