Artificial intelligence has become the newest tool in the cybercriminal’s arsenal. AI cyberattacks on Markham businesses are now cheaper to run, harder to detect, and easier to scale than anything we saw two years ago. This piece explains how attackers are currently using AI, why small and mid-sized companies are most affected, and the effective defences against this new wave.
How attackers are using AI to scale phishing attacks on small businesses
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security ranks artificial intelligence as the top trend reshaping the country’s cyber threat picture for 2025 and 2026. AI tools have removed the skill ceiling for cybercrime.
A junior threat actor can now use a language model to write a flawless invoice request in your accountant’s tone of voice, clone a CEO’s speech pattern from a podcast clip, or generate working malware without writing a line of code. The Cyber Centre also reports that phishing-as-a-service kits are circulating openly online, letting attackers buy convincing email templates instead of writing them from scratch.
What used to take an experienced criminal a week of preparation can now be assembled in an afternoon. The old advice about looking for spelling mistakes and clumsy English no longer applies. AI-written phishing reads like it came from someone you trust.
The AI cyberattacks Markham businesses are seeing right now
Four threats account for most of the activity hitting local companies.
Business email compromise is the most common. Attackers use AI to study a target’s public communications, then send finance staff a payment request that matches the boss’s tone, urgency, and signoff. The Cyber Centre documented a 2024 case where attackers used deepfake video to impersonate the CFO of a British engineering firm on a video call, tricking an employee in Hong Kong into wiring millions to fraudulent accounts.
Voice and video deepfakes are climbing fast. A 30-second audio sample is enough to clone someone’s voice well enough to fool a colleague on a phone call.
Polymorphic malware presents a bigger problem. AI-rewritten code mutates each time it deploys, so signature-based antivirus tools struggle to spot it. The Cyber Centre judges that ransomware will almost certainly continue to be the most impactful cyber threat facing Canadian organizations through 2026, with attackers constantly refining tactics to maximize profits.
Credential stuffing happens at machine speed. Automated bots test stolen passwords against thousands of business logins in minutes, hunting for password reuse.
Each of these arrives in your inbox, your phone, or your network looking ordinary.
Why small businesses are now the primary target
The myth that hackers only chase big companies is out of date. The Business Development Bank of Canada reports that 73% of small businesses have experienced a cybersecurity incident, yet in a 2024 BDC poll, 61% of business owners still agreed that the larger a company is, the more likely it is to be hacked, a perception that’s particularly common among businesses with revenue under $3 million. As BDC explains, demanding $50,000 from twenty small companies is often easier than going after one large one with a full security team.
Three factors put smaller Markham businesses in the crosshairs:
The first is lighter defences. Most smaller companies run baseline antivirus, default email filtering, and infrequent staff training. AI tools were built to slip past exactly that setup.
The second is team size. Statistics Canada’s 2023 Canadian Survey of Cyber Security and Cybercrime found that scams, fraud, and identity theft were the most common methods used in cyber incidents impacting Canadian businesses, with identity theft up 11 percentage points since 2021. Smaller firms have the fewest people to spot or stop those attempts.
The third is data value. Client records, banking credentials, supplier details, and payroll information all carry resale value. A small accounting firm or law office can hold the same calibre of sensitive data as a much larger enterprise. Put together, the three factors above explain why AI cyberattacks on Markham businesses are landing more often, and at greater cost, than ever before.
The layered approach to IT security Markham businesses need
A single tool will not stop the new wave of AI threats. What works is depth, with several controls that catch attacks at different stages and people who know what to look for:
Phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication is the foundation. Number-matching apps and hardware keys defeat the credential theft that underpins most AI phishing campaigns.
Behavioural endpoint detection watches for unusual activity, like unexpected file encryption or scripts running at odd hours, instead of relying on signature matches that AI malware sidesteps.
AI-aware email filtering looks at intent and language pattern instead of sender reputation alone, so it flags polished messages that older filters miss.
Regular staff training keeps people sharp. The Cyber Centre’s guidance recommends ongoing awareness programs that include realistic AI-generated test phishing because employees still spot the right cues when they have been practiced on.
Around-the-clock threat monitoring keeps response time tight. AI attacks happen at machine speed, and human response without continuous visibility is too slow to matter.
Patching and least-privilege access remain the unglamorous controls that prevent most incidents. Outdated software is still the single most common entry point.
How VBS IT Services helps Markham SMBs fight back
VBS IT Services has supported Markham SMBs since 2007, and the team has spent the past two years rebuilding its cybersecurity stack specifically to counter these techniques. The approach combines synchronized endpoint, network, email, and Wi-Fi protection with 24/7 human-led monitoring, so when one layer catches a threat, the others know about it within seconds.
Alongside the technical stack, VBS runs ongoing cybersecurity awareness training with AI-aware phishing simulations, regular dark web monitoring for stolen credentials, and a structured risk assessment that maps current controls against current attack methods. Markham businesses that work with VBS get a single accountable team for IT security, helpdesk, and strategic planning instead of a patchwork of point tools. You can see how that approach has played out for organizations across the city on the VBS happy clients page.
The aim is to give business owners a clear view of where they are exposed and a practical plan to close those exposures, instead of another black box to trust.
If your defences were built for the threats of three years ago, they were built for a different problem. A short call will show you where you are exposed and what fixing it looks like in practice. Book a free cybersecurity assessment with the VBS team, and we will walk through your current setup and show you exactly where the risks sit.
Canadian data sovereignty captures the principle that personal and business information collected from Canadians, by businesses operating in Canada, should sit under Canadian law, governance, and jurisdiction. In practice, it means knowing where data is processed and stored, who can access it, and which legal framework applies if something goes wrong. The federal AI for All strategy and Bill C-36 have moved this principle from theory into concrete compliance obligations.
Yes. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, working with provincial counterparts in Quebec, BC, and Alberta, confirmed in 2026 that PIPEDA applies in full to foreign AI tools collecting personal information from individuals in Canada. The Commissioner used a real and substantial connection test, which captures any AI service marketed to or used by Canadians, regardless of where the provider is based. If your business processes client data through ChatGPT, Gemini, or similar tools, you remain accountable under Canadian law for what happens to that data.
Bill C-36, which introduces the Protecting Privacy and Consumer Data Act, proposes fines up to the greater of twenty-five million dollars or five percent of gross global revenue. Beyond financial penalties, businesses also face reputational damage, lost enterprise contracts that require privacy attestations, and possible refusal of cyber insurance claims if reasonable security measures were not in place.
Start with an inventory of every cloud and AI tool used across the business, including free trials and personal-account workarounds. For each tool, confirm where data is processed and stored, whether subprocessors have access, and whether your vendor agreement includes Canadian-context terms. Then move shadow tools onto business-tier accounts with admin controls on prompt retention and model training. A cybersecurity and compliance review with a local IT partner offers the fastest way to get this work done.
