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Courses/Information Technology/Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity and Data Risk in Professional Practice 2025

Empower yourself with crucial IT insights to protect your business from evolving cyber threats and leverage technology securely, especially in the age of AI.

Created byNathan Geib
5.0
(63 reviews)
BeginnerUpdated Oct 28, 2025
Cybersecurity and Data Risk in Professional Practice 2025

What You'll Learn

check_circleIdentify cybersecurity risks in professional practice.
check_circleUnderstand evolving phishing and ransomware tactics.
check_circleEvaluate implications of AI on data security and privacy.
check_circleImplement controls for Microsoft 365 and web security.
check_circleRecognize the value of phishing-resistant MFA.
check_circleDevelop strategies for continuous data governance.

About This Course

This course provides a practical and engaging overview of cybersecurity, data privacy, and digital risk management in today’s interconnected business environment. Presented by Chris Nowell, a cybersecurity expert with extensive experience in risk assessment and cyber defense, the session explores how organizations and professionals can protect sensitive information, comply with evolving regulations, and build a strong culture of digital resilience.

Participants gain a clear understanding of the key threats facing modern enterprises, including phishing, ransomware, social engineering, data breaches, and insider risks. The session breaks down how these attacks occur, how criminals exploit human error, and how simple, consistent security practices can prevent significant financial and reputational damage.

The presentation also highlights the intersection between technology, human behavior, and compliance, covering essential frameworks such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), encryption, password management, incident response planning, and business continuity. Emerging topics such as artificial intelligence, cloud vulnerabilities, and data sovereignty are examined in the context of professional responsibility and organizational governance.

With a focus on awareness and accountability, this course helps professionals understand their role in protecting client data, maintaining ethical standards, and ensuring regulatory compliance in an era of constant cyber evolution.

Topics Covered

1. The Evolving Cyber Threat Landscape

  • Common cyber threats: phishing, malware, ransomware, and social engineering
  • Real-world case examples of corporate and individual breaches
  • The cost of cyber incidents in time, reputation, and regulatory exposure

2. Understanding Data Privacy and Protection

  • What constitutes personal and sensitive data
  • Legal and professional obligations to safeguard client information
  • Principles of data minimization, consent, and retention

3. Human Behavior and the Security Chain

  • Why people remain the weakest link in cybersecurity
  • Recognizing social engineering tactics and manipulative techniques
  • Building a culture of awareness, communication, and accountability

4. Cybersecurity Fundamentals

  • Importance of strong passwords and password management systems
  • Multi-factor authentication (MFA) as a frontline defense
  • Encryption and secure data transfer practices
  • Updating software and patch management as ongoing defense measures

5. Emerging Technologies and AI Risks

  • The dual role of AI in both enabling and preventing cybercrime
  • Deepfakes, identity fraud, and misinformation
  • Cloud computing vulnerabilities and data localization concerns

6. Compliance, Governance, and Risk Management

  • Understanding the legal implications of data breaches
  • Cyber insurance, liability, and disclosure responsibilities
  • The importance of internal policies, employee training, and periodic reviews
  • Developing and maintaining an incident response and recovery plan

7. Business Continuity and Professional Responsibility

  • Responding to breaches: communication and containment strategies
  • Lessons learned from real cyber incidents
  • The professional’s duty of care in handling client and corporate data

Your Instructors

Nathan Geib
Nathan Geib
menu_book44 courses
star6,819 reviews

The CPA Small Practitioners’ Forum was created to offer an inviting, semi-causal, and easygoing professional development weekend that provides substantial professional development value to small practitioners. All profit earned by the CPA Small Practitioners’ Forum is donated to the Alberta CPA Education Foundation, so you are helping young people in Canada get scholarships for university. All these courses are reviewed by the delegates at the Forum in Banff annually so we have a great lineup that is adjusted every year to keep things relevant to small practitioners. If you work at a public accounting firm in Canada with employees of 1-50 people, you are our target demographic and you should find this course useful.

Chris  Nowell
Chris Nowell

IT Security Director at ThreeSheild

Chris Nowell leads ThreeShield Information Security Corporation, which transforms IT and web development so business owners can thrive without worrying about outages, insurance issues, or inevitable cyberattacks. Chris holds Computer Science and MBA degrees along with an alphabet soup of security certifications. Over the last two decades, he’s audited nearly every provincial entity with the Auditor General of Alberta and improved the security of hundreds of organizations around the world, from small accounting firms and websites that process multibillion-dollar annual sales to rocket and military helicopter manufacturers.

Credit Information

Do these courses count toward my professional development requirements?

This portal is provided as a training and development resource for City of Markham employees. Every course is delivered by a qualified subject matter expert or learning organization, is quantifiable in hours, and is verifiable — you receive a documented certificate of completion for every course you finish, stored on LearnFormula indefinitely.

If you hold a professional designation (for example in engineering, accounting, human resources, or law), courses may be counted as professionally relevant, verifiable learning activities toward your continuing professional development. Individual practitioners are responsible for confirming that an activity meets the requirements of their professional body. For questions about the City of Markham's training and development policies, please speak with your people leader or Human Resources.

What Students Are Saying

5.0
Student's Choice
63 reviews

Frequently Asked Questions

We are a registered provider with 327+ associations and regulatory bodies worldwide. We operate across 29 global markets including Canada, the US, Australia, and the UK. Every course page clearly displays its specific accreditations. Upon completion, you receive a professional certificate that can be validated online. Our certificates include all necessary accreditation details, credit hours, and completion dates, and are formatted specifically to meet the submission requirements of most global regulatory bodies.