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Infographic showing a clipboard with a cybersecurity checklist and a magnifying glass over a checkmark, set against a simplified map of Canada, representing cybersecurity assessment and review.

National Cybersecurity Assessment

The National Cybersecurity Assessment (NCA) service provides universities, colleges, polytechnics, cégeps, and research institutes with an annual, comprehensive assessment of the organization’s cybersecurity capabilities and capacities against the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, as well as a comparison to peer institutions and to assessment results from previous years.

Your organization’s self-assessment provides valuable insights, helping to shape national and regional programs & services to address the sector’s most critical cybersecurity priorities.

NCA in Action

More than 150 Canadian institutions participate in the NCA each year. Learn about the impact of NCA at:

  • Emily Carr University of Art & Design
  • Institution 2
  • Institution 3

Have an NCA story to share? Send us a note at [email protected].

The NCA:

  1. Identifies your organization’s cybersecurity maturity and placement relative to your peers, to identify common, sector-wide strengths and priorities for support.
  2. Identifies cybersecurity gaps at the regional and national levels, to guide future cybersecurity investments by the CANARIE and the provincial/territorial partners in the NREN.
  3. Helps inform your organization’s cybersecurity plans and investment strategies.

Benefits for research and education organizations:

  • Receive an up-to-date snapshot of your organization’s cybersecurity capabilities and capacity
  • Decide how best to invest your resources to enhance your cybersecurity capability – and monitor the impact of your investments each year
  • See what measures have been successful in improving cybersecurity capabilities at other Canadian institutions with similar complexity or other attributes

Getting Started

For organizations enrolled in the CANARIE Cybersecurity Initiatives Program (CIP):

  1. Visit https://canarie.ca/cip/nca to sign up.
    The individual who submits the sign-up form must be able to legally bind your organization and its employees and ensure compliance with the Appropriate Use Policy. On the form, you will need to identify the individual at your organization who will be responsible for acting as the “Questionnaire Owner” – typically, your information security lead.
  2. Participate in an onboarding session with the NCA team.
  3. Receive credentials for the NCA platform that hosts the assessment questionnaire.
  4. Start your assessment!

If your organization is not yet enrolled in the CIP, please reach out to us at [email protected]

Click Here to learn about participation.

Recommended Skills

The NCA Questionnaire Owner—the individual responsible for completing the assessment—should ideally be your organization’s information security lead or an equivalent role. They should be familiar with your current cybersecurity measures and future plans. This person should also have a deep understanding of your organization’s team structure and roles, so they can delegate specific assessment questions to the individuals best equipped to answer them.

Support

CANARIE’s NCA Service Team is available to help you begin using the platform and respond to your questions as you complete the assessment. FAQs and recorded webinars with a platform walkthrough are available on the support site here: nca.canarie.ca

Related:

Frequently Asked Questions