Downtime costs more than the ransom
2026-07-04 · ShieldIT
When people picture a ransomware attack, they picture the ransom demand. In practice, that’s rarely the number that hurts most.
The math that surprises owners
The average cost of a data breach in Canada reached CA$6.98 million in 2025 — up more than 10% in a single year (IBM). For a small business, the loss shows up as idle staff, missed deadlines, and customers who quietly move on. Ransomware now appears in 88% of small-business breaches (Verizon 2025), and Canadian small businesses lose about CA$26,000 on average per attack (CFIB).
Speed is the lever
Here’s the part you can control: Canadian organizations that use security automation contain a breach for CA$3.34 million less on average than those without (IBM 2025). Detection and containment speed is where a managed provider earns its keep.
What “protected” actually looks like
- 24/7 monitoring and managed detection & response
- Enterprise backup with a tested recovery — not just a backup that exists
- MFA and email security to stop the common ways in
- A plan for the bad day, written before you need it
The goal isn’t to scare you. It’s to make the incident a non-event.
Book a Discovery Call and we’ll pressure-test how fast you could recover today.