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State of Canadian SMB IT Security 2026: Annual Industry Survey

Fusion Computing is running an annual survey of how Canadian small and mid-size businesses actually secure their IT, across accounting, legal, wealth management, construction, manufacturing, logistics, municipal, design, and non-profit sectors. Participants get the full report two weeks before public release.

Request the survey link

Published by Fusion Computing · CISSP-led · Canada’s 50 Best Managed IT (2024 & 2025) · Canadian-owned, serving regulated SMBs since 2012
Why take part: participants receive the full benchmark report two weeks before public release, and can compare their own posture against Canadian firms of the same sector and size. Free, aggregated, and never shared.

Why this survey exists

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre logs hundreds of millions of dollars in reported losses annually, led by business email compromise and ransomware. Understanding which controls Canadian SMBs have actually deployed, versus what they believe they have, is the goal of this survey.

Why this survey matters: The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security reports that small and medium businesses absorb the majority of cyber-incident impact while reporting the lowest baseline control maturity, yet most national statistics aggregate them with large enterprises. This study isolates the Canadian SMB picture.

Most Canadian small and mid-size businesses make security decisions without a clear picture of what their peers are doing. National breach studies focus on enterprises. We built this survey to produce a sector-by-sector benchmark that a 10-person to 200-person Canadian firm can actually use to judge its own posture against firms like it.

The result is published as an open report so any owner, manager, or board can cite real Canadian SMB figures rather than enterprise statistics that do not match their reality.

What we are asking

“The dangerous number is not the breach rate, it is the confidence gap. Most SMB owners believe they are covered because they have antivirus and a firewall, while the controls that stop modern attacks, MFA everywhere, tested backups, and email authentication, are missing. This survey measures that gap honestly.”

Mike Pearlstein, CISSP, CEO and CISO, Fusion Computing

The instrument is short, roughly eight minutes, and every question is disclosed up front. The 2026 survey covers:

  • Sector and organization size, so results can be segmented by industry and headcount.
  • Whether multi-factor authentication is enforced across email and critical systems.
  • Whether backups exist and have been tested with a real restore in the past year.
  • Whether the organization experienced a security incident or attempted fraud in the past twelve months.
  • Whether the organization carries cyber insurance and what it was asked to attest.
  • Whether IT is handled in-house, by a managed provider, or a mix.
  • Whether security is aligned to a recognized framework such as the CIS Controls or the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.
  • How the organization governs staff use of AI tools.
  • The single biggest IT security concern for the year ahead.

Who should participate

Any Canadian small or mid-size organization is welcome, whether or not it is a Fusion client. Owners, managers, controllers, office managers, and IT leads are all good respondents. One response per organization gives the cleanest data. Responses are aggregated, and no individual organization is named in the published report.

Methodology and integrity

Fusion Computing publishes this survey and discloses that openly. We report aggregate results, including findings that do not flatter the managed-IT industry, because a benchmark only has value if it is honest. The instrument, the response window, and the segmentation method are documented in the report. We do not sell respondent contact information.

The collection window for the 2026 cycle is ten weeks, and the public report is targeted for the third quarter of 2026. Participants who opt in receive the full report two weeks before public release.

Frequently asked questions

Who can take part in the survey?
Any Canadian small or mid-size organization, whether or not it is a Fusion Computing client. The cleanest data comes from one response per organization, ideally from someone who understands how the organization handles IT and security.
Will my organization be named?
No. Results are aggregated and reported by sector and size band. No individual organization is identified in the published report, and we do not sell respondent contact information.
When is the report published?
The collection window runs ten weeks and the public report is targeted for the third quarter of 2026. Participants who opt in receive the full report two weeks before public release.
Who is running this survey?
Fusion Computing Limited, a Canadian-owned managed IT and cybersecurity provider founded in 2012 and led by CISSP-certified CEO Mike Pearlstein. We publish this as an open industry benchmark for Canadian small and mid-size businesses.

Request the survey link and advance report access

To take part, request the survey link and we will send it along with an option to receive the full report two weeks before it is published. If you would rather talk through your own security posture first, we are happy to do that.

Request the survey link   or call (416) 566-2845

You’ll reach our contact form. Mention “SMB Security Survey” and we’ll send the link plus advance report access within one business day.

About the author
Published by Mike Pearlstein, CISSP, founder of Fusion Computing, a Canadian managed IT and cybersecurity provider serving regulated SMBs since 2012.