CISO Forum Canada 2025: Charting the Future of Enterprise Security
The CISO Forum Canada 2025 convened the country’s leading information security executives and industry practitioners for an in-depth, strategic discussion on modern cyber defense. Held at the prestigious The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto, the event served as a critical platform for CISOs to address sophisticated threats, regulatory demands, and the challenges of securing complex digital enterprises.
Overall Highlights and Themes
The forum’s primary focus was on Resilience, Governance, and the integration of Security into Business Strategy. Discussions highlighted the increasing responsibility of CISOs across diverse sectors, including healthcare (Abdul Karim, Unity Health Toronto; Emerson Rajaram, Public Health), finance (Octavia Howell, Equifax Canada; Terence Malatombee, TD Bank), and critical infrastructure (Vaughn Hazen, CN Rail).
Key thematic sessions likely covered:
Sector-Specific Risk:
Tailoring security strategies to the unique regulatory and operational environments of municipal government (Ali Shahidi, City of Toronto) and education (Priya Mouli, Sheridan College).
Executive Leadership and Influence:
Moving security from a cost center to a strategic business enabler, with insights from leaders like Bil Harmer (Craft Ventures) and Renee Guttmann (CisoHive).
Cyber Defence and Intelligence:
Tactical discussions on threat mitigation, featuring input from the intelligence community, including Terry T (CSIS), and experts on the national threat landscape, such as Bob Gordon (Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange).
Venue, Speakers, and Sponsors
Venue: The event was hosted at The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto, providing a high-profile, professional environment suitable for executive-level collaboration and confidential discussions.
Speakers: The speaker faculty represented a broad and deep pool of Canadian cyber expertise, with over 30 top executives contributing. The list featured numerous CISOs and VPs from major Canadian entities, including Anshul Srivastava (TTC), Shakeel Sagarwala (Canadian Tire Bank), and Puroo Maheshwari (CPP Investments). The diverse perspectives ensured coverage across strategy, operations, and compliance, ranging from large enterprises to public sector bodies.
Sponsors and Partners:
The Forum received substantial support from a broad coalition of global and regional partners. Major sponsors included global tech leaders AWS, BELL, IBM, JUNIPER NETWORKS, and MNP. Specialized cybersecurity insights were provided by firms such as ARCTIC WOLF, VEEAM, GUARDICORE, and PROOFPOINT. The critical involvement of Durham REGION, the Town of Ajax, and the ISACA Toronto Chapter highlighted the local and national commitment to advancing Canadian cybersecurity knowledge and collaboration.
YouTube Playlist
Related video content, including event footage and potentially session summaries, can be found via the organizer’s platform. For recordings and highlights, attendees and interested parties should check the official YouTube channel playlists provided by the host organization, siberX, at: https://www.youtube.com/@siberxorg/playlists.
