New cybercrime prevention resource for retailers from Retail Council of Canada

Retail CyberSecure: Tools to better protect against growing threats of cybercrime

TORONTO, Jan. 30, 2023 /CNW/ - Retailers and shoppers alike are becoming increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks.

Retail Council of Canada (RCC), is coordinating with cybercrimes experts, retail IT and Loss Prevention professionals, industry partners, and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) - thanks to the generous support of the Ontario government's Ministry of the Solicitor General - to create the just-launched RCC's Retail CyberSecure initiative.

The collective effort behind RCC's Retail CyberSecure will help create essential resources to inform how retailers can fortify their systems and train their staff on the best practices in preventing cybercrime.

"With the changes in how consumers shop and buy, retailers and shoppers alike are becoming increasingly targeted by cyber criminals who are not easy to identify, and can be anywhere," says Rui Rodrigues, Retail Council of Canada Executive Advisor, Loss Prevention and Risk Management. "We're excited to work together with the broad range of experts to develop tools and strategies we can use to better protect against this unfortunately growing nefarious activity."

RCC's Retail CyberSecure program is free and will be available in English and French. The available assets will build over the next year and will eventually include:

• Links to the latest, critical industry resources on reducing retail cybercrime
• Downloadable guidebooks and videos on phishing, pharming, and threat identity
• E-learning modules to train retail employees on the best practices in preventing cybercrime

Kicking-off the program will be a series of six free webinars: 

• Cybersecurity awareness: February 8, 2023
• Current cyber threat: March 8, 2023
• Threat reaction plans: April 5, 2023
• Defensive procedures: May 3, 2023
• Ransomware training for technical teams: June 7, 2023
• Brute force attacks: July 5, 2023

For more information or to register for RCC'S Retail CyberSecure webinar, visit the Retail Council of Canada website.

Retail is Canada's largest private-sector employer with over 2 million Canadians working in our industry. The sector annually generates over $78 billion in total compensation. Core retail sales (excluding vehicles and gasoline) were over $433B in 2021. Retail Council of Canada (RCC) members represent more than two-thirds of core retail sales in the country. RCC is a not-for-profit industry-funded association that represents small, medium, and large retail businesses in every community across the country. As the Voice of Retail^tm in Canada, we proudly represent more than 45,000 storefronts in all retail formats, including department, grocery, specialty, discount, independent retailers, and online merchants. www.retailcouncil.org.

SOURCE Retail Council of Canada