Digital Main Street and Mastercard expand partnership to provide additional support for small businesses
New offerings further cybersecurity education and training for small businesses
Today, Digital Main Street and Mastercard announced the expansion of their partnership with the goal of providing Canadian small businesses with added resources, tools and best practices to safeguard their operations against an increasing volume of cyber attacks. This expansion will help grow educational programs across the country, with a focus on increasing cybersecurity awareness among small businesses, youth and recent graduates. In addition to the programming, the partnership will also offer new tools and solutions that will help small businesses
assess their level of cyber readiness and provide corresponding actionable recommendations to help mitigate existing risks.
Since the pandemic, the way Canadians shop, bank, and work has evolved — and so has the strategies of cyber criminals. With small businesses continuing to expand their online footprint, it becomes increasingly important to prioritize the protection of their online operations. With these educational resources and content, small business owners will be able to evaluate their level of cybersecurity protection, learn how to improve it, and most importantly equip themselves with the right tools to address any threats.
“We are thrilled to be expanding our partnership with Mastercard,” said John Kiru, Executive Director of TABIA and Founder of Digital Main Street. “Since the inception of Digital Main Street, this collaboration has been critical in ensuring that we are bringing industry leading resources and opportunities to businesses across the country. In a time where small businesses are being increasingly targeted with cyber attacks, phishing scams and more – this will provide invaluable resources and support to ensure they are protected.”
“Small businesses can often be easier targets for cyber attacks because they have less security protection and fewer resources dedicated to cybersecurity compared to larger corporations,” said Sasha Krstic, president of Mastercard in Canada. “Despite their size, small businesses still have valuable data and it’s important that they have access to resources to shield themselves. Our expanded partnership with Digital Main Street will provide added tools and resources for small businesses so that they can focus on growing their operations knowing they are protected.”
As a founding partner of Digital Main Street, Mastercard furthers its commitment to supporting and helping small businesses protect their online operations at a time when small businesses continue to establish a larger online presence. This announcement follows similar cybersecurity-related initiatives by Mastercard in Canada, which includes investments for the Toronto Metropolitan University and Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, the University of New Brunswick’s Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity, and a $510M investment in its new Global Intelligence and Cyber Centre of Excellence in Vancouver.
Small businesses in Canada can visit www.digitalmainstreet.ca to learn more about how to gain access to these news tools and resources.
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About Digital Main Street
Digital Main Street is a program that helps main street businesses achieve digital transformation. The program is built around an online learning platform, structured training programs, and the Digital Service Squad, a team of street-level team members who help main street businesses grow and manage their operations through technology.
Digital Main Street was created by the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA) with direct support from the City of Toronto. DMS is also supported by a group of strategic business partners, including Mastercard, Google, Shopify, Microsoft, Facebook, Intuit QuickBooks, Square, and Lightspeed.
The program is delivered Pan Canada in support of small business thanks to the support of all three levels of government. www.digitalmainstreet.ca
About Mastercard (NYSE: MA)
Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.
