{"id":212191,"date":"2026-05-11T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/11\/cybersecurity-is-not-going-away-says-defence-advisor\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T15:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:05:08","slug":"cybersecurity-is-not-going-away-says-defence-advisor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/11\/cybersecurity-is-not-going-away-says-defence-advisor\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cybersecurity is not going away,\u2019 says defence advisor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Cybersecurity is not going away,\u2019 says defence advisor<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.northernontariobusiness.com\/industry-news\/manufacturing\/cybersecurity-is-not-going-away-says-defence-advisor-12264172<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-11 15:00:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.northernontariobusiness.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. Jonathan Clow urges Northern Ontario companies to jump on security certification process if serious about chasing defence contracts
\n If you\u2019re a Northern Ontario business looking to supply products and services to the defence sector, you need to become very familiar, very quickly, with the Canadian Program for Cyber Security Certification (CPCSC).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to Jonathan Clow, a retired Royal Canadian Air Force pilot with more than three decades of experience in defence operations, procurement and multinational leadership.<\/p>\n

The recently launched certification program outlines the security requirements for any companies that want to do defence business with the federal government in an effort to protect sensitive information, said Clow, now a senior executive account manager with 123 Defence\u00a0(recently renamed from 123 Cyber).<\/p>\n

Under the new Canadian Defence Procurement Program, all companies will have to meet the basic, Level 1 certification, while mid-tier companies will need at least Level 2. Level 3 certification is for high-level companies. Certification can take between three and 12 months.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a long, sometimes burdensome process, Clow said, but one he emphasized is necessary for national security.<\/p>\n

\u201cThirty-seven years in the government, working with DND (Department of National Defence) and the military, I can tell you, hand on heart, that this program is absolutely required,\u201d he said during a recent webinar. \u201cIt’s not just extra red tape.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clow\u2019s was the second in a series of virtual seminars hosted by Northern Ontario Road to Defence (NORD), a multi-year program being led by the City of North Bay that’s geared toward helping more northern small and medium-sized enterprises pivot to the defence sector.<\/p>\n

Cybersecurity compliance is about more than just IT, Clow said. In the defence industry, it refers to business decisions that impact a company’s ability to compete in the sector.<\/p>\n

Clow encouraged companies serious about catering to defence sector to be proactive with the certification process.<\/p>\n

If they wait until they’ve been awarded a contract, for example, it’s likely already too late to become compliant in the allotted timeline for a project.<\/p>\n

And if a prime contractor has to choose between two companies making the same product and one is certified while the other is not, they’ll often go with the certified company because it provides a guarantee.<\/p>\n

“There is actually a business advantage of getting compliant before the rest of your competitors,\u201d Clow said. \u201cThat’s something to consider.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the Canadian and U.S. certification programs are similar in some ways, they aren’t reciprocal, Clow emphasized. So, if a company’s aiming to do business in both countries, he advised they pursue the two certification processes simultaneously to save time.<\/p>\n

The U.S. program \u2014 the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) \u2014 is now mandatory. Anyone seeking defence procurement contracts in the U.S. needs a minimum of Level 1 clearance, including just to view a request for proposals (RFP), and a requirement for Level 2 is coming.<\/p>\n

Clow believes Canada won’t be far behind with similar requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cLevel 2 assessments will be available by the end of this year, and they will start being required in April of 2027,\u201d Clow said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I would encourage you to find out if you’re going to be in this business or not, and if you are, find out what level you’re going to need. Because if you need a Level 2, it’s already April 2027 today. That’s how you have to think of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certification covers areas of the business including access control, awareness and training, incident response, personal security, and physical protection, Clow said.<\/p>\n

On the cybersecurity side, it also covers multi-factor authentication, controlling who gets on your network, and employee onboarding and offboarding processes.<\/p>\n

Compared to the U.S. program, Canada’s is supply chain-focused, Clow said, and it’s really aimed at building up trust with providers.<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially, it’s really regulating when the government passes data to a prime and a supply chain,\u201d Clow said. \u201cIt’s about where that data goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He advised Northern Ontario companies that are serious about getting into defence to educate themselves about cybersecurity compliance followed by a needs assessment. This will help them determine the cost to the business, the resources they’ll need, and the timelines for compliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy doing a needs assessment and a scoping exercise, you can figure out what you’re really going to need, what it’s going to look like, and cost and time, and then when doing it makes sense,\u201d Clow said. \u201cIt’s hard to make business decisions when you don’t have any information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cybersecurity compliance isn’t as scary once the steps are planned out and business owners know what their obligations will look like over the coming months.<\/p>\n

He predicts cybersecurity regulations in Canada, under Bill C8, 2025, will eventually be applied to all regulated critical infrastructure in Canada \u2014 financial, nuclear, transport, energy among them.<\/p>\n

\u201cCybersecurity is not going to go away. It cannot go away,\u201d Clow said. \u201cOur peer adversaries are crushing us. If you knew what was going on, you would be keenly taking action.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Cybersecurity is not going away,\u2019 says defence advisor https:\/\/www.northernontariobusiness.com\/industry-news\/manufacturing\/cybersecurity-is-not-going-away-says-defence-advisor-12264172 Publish Date: 2026-05-11 15:00:00 Source Domain:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":212192,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.vmcdn.ca\/f\/files\/nob\/uploadedImages\/Industry-News\/technology\/2026-05-11-department-of-national-defence-drones-supplied.jpg;w=1200;h=800;mode=crop","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-212191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cybersecurity","tag-cybersecurity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212191"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212194,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212191\/revisions\/212194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}