Google.org backs $3.5M Cyber Clinics Canada network

Google.org is giving $3.5 million to launch Cyber Clinics Canada, a national network that will pair college and university students with non-profits and community groups needing free cybersecurity help, the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst at Toronto Metropolitan University announced Oct. 14.

The Catalyst will lead the network, and $1 million of the funding goes to the Catalyst itself, according to Google Canada’s announcement and the Catalyst’s news release. Google said the money will also fund Google Cybersecurity Certificate scholarships for learners entering the field.

Under the clinic model, students work with charities, non-profits and small businesses under the supervision of experienced mentors and faculty. MobileSyrup reported that services include vulnerability and risk assessments, phishing and security hygiene training, incident response planning, and regulatory and privacy compliance. BetaKit reported that students will not handle active cyberattacks.

“Think of it as a teaching hospital for the digital age,” said Charles Finlay, the Catalyst’s founding executive director. Sabrina Geremia, Google Canada’s vice-president and country manager, called cyber clinics “a proven, scalable model.”

Ontario’s Nolan Quinn, minister of colleges, universities, research excellence and security, also backed the launch in the Catalyst’s release. “Protecting Ontario means building a robust cybersecurity workforce,” Quinn said.

The national network builds on the Catalyst’s own cyber clinic, which launched in 2025. According to the Catalyst’s website, that clinic is virtual and runs engagements of four to six weeks, after which the client organization receives a written cybersecurity action plan. It serves under-resourced Canadian non-profit and community organizations by invitation, and the page says unsolicited applications are not accepted.

The release said the model already operates in 61 clinics across eight countries. Google said one in six cybersecurity job postings currently goes unfilled, which it cited as a reason to train more entry-level workers. BetaKit also cited an IBM report from earlier this year that found a 44 per cent year-over-year increase in attacks targeting public-facing applications.

Several details remain unannounced. Neither the Catalyst nor Google said how many Canadian colleges and universities will take part, which ones, or when new clinics will open. Nor did they say how organizations outside the Catalyst’s current referral network will be able to apply for help. The initiative’s website is cyberclinics.ca.

For Canadian small organizations, the practical question is whether the expanded network will open to direct requests or keep the invitation-only approach the Catalyst uses now. That is likely to depend on how many schools sign on.

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Sources: Google Canada blog, Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst news release, BetaKit and MobileSyrup, all Oct. 14, 2026.