By: Chloe Quan
Cyberattacks are no longer distant threats, they are a cost of doing business. Mid-sized companies across North America and Europe are increasingly being targeted, as regulators and insurers rank cybercrime among the most disruptive risks to organizations. Ransomware has emerged as a particularly damaging tactic, affecting both critical sectors and commercial firms. The average global cost of a data breach now reaches into the multimillion-dollar range, factoring in ransom payments, lost business, regulatory penalties, and long-term reputational harm. For boards that once treated cybersecurity as a technical footnote, it has become a test of governance, risk oversight, and executive judgment.
A Board Problem, Not Just an IT Problem
Senior leaders recognize that a significant incident can halt operations overnight and have a lasting impact for years. Medium-sized firms now report cyber incidents at nearly the same rate as large enterprises, including identity theft, fraud, and ransomware attacks. Yet many lack the in-house expertise of a global bank or telecom, leaving boards responsible for complex digital risks without full visibility into internal networks and supply chains.
As companies migrate more data and critical operations to cloud platforms and connected devices, the stakes rise. Breaches often span multiple environments, ranging from public clouds to on-premises systems, which complicates remediation, inflates investigation costs, and prolongs disruptions. “The idea that a single firewall can protect a company is obsolete; attackers now move fluidly across hybrid systems, suppliers, and remote work setups,” says Sanjay Chadha, a senior leader at Toronto-based SAV Associates. In this environment, boards seek more than a stack of security tools; they want a coherent strategy they can understand, question, and approve.
SAV Associates’ Boardroom Approach
SAV Associates, a Toronto-based professional services firm, advises startups and mid-sized companies on accounting, assurance, technology risk, and cybersecurity. Rather than focusing solely on technical products, the firm begins with business context, including how a company generates revenue, which systems are mission-critical, and where a cyber incident could inflict the most financial or reputational harm. Consultants work with finance leaders, operational heads, and founders to explore plausible scenarios, such as disruptions to key platforms, financial data integrity issues, or exposure of sensitive customer information. These discussions form risk narratives that executives and directors can follow without deep technical knowledge.
From there, the firm develops resilience and assurance plans that align security and compliance with broader business goals, including system and organization controls reporting and cybersecurity audits. Practitioners translate vulnerabilities into business questions, such as how much operational disruption the company can tolerate, what level of data loss is acceptable, and how cyber weaknesses intersect with other strategic risks, including dependence on a single cloud provider. “Boards do not need packet-level detail,” Chadha notes. “They need to know whether risk receives the same rigor as financial oversight and where the biggest gaps remain.” This framing allows directors to challenge assumptions, weigh trade-offs, and make informed investment decisions.
A Pragmatic Playbook for Mid-Sized Firms
SAV Associates emphasizes prioritization, helping resource-constrained companies focus on the controls that matter most. Even after breaches, many organizations struggle to convert technical findings into actionable investments, and budget cycles often lag emerging threats. The firm guides clients to focus on a targeted set of safeguards and governance practices that address the most likely and consequential threats.
This approach typically includes stronger identity and access controls, disciplined patching of critical systems, clear segmentation between essential and nonessential assets, and ongoing monitoring tied to customer-facing reports or regulatory requirements. By linking these measures to business operations, customer trust, and due diligence from partners and investors, companies gain a roadmap anchored in real-world impact rather than an open-ended wish list.
Training, Culture, and Scenario Planning
SAV Associates also focuses on the human element. Many breaches begin with human error, such as employees clicking on phishing emails, mishandling credentials, or sending sensitive data to unintended recipients. The firm provides sector-specific awareness programs, highlighting threats such as payment diversion scams and account takeover attempts. “Generic training slides do not change behavior,” Chadha says. “People need to see themselves and their own business models in the scenario.”
Scenario-based exercises further help organizations prepare for cyber incidents and compliance failures. By simulating high-stakes decisions, executives, legal advisers, and technology staff gain experience before facing real-time crises. These exercises also complement audit evidence and governance documentation, aligning response readiness with regulatory expectations.
Gaining an Edge Without Enterprise Budgets
While mid-sized companies cannot match the security spending of global enterprises, firms like SAV Associates offer a different advantage: clearer governance, stronger assurance, and candid conversations about risk, trust, and accountability at the leadership level. By translating technical risks into business terms, prioritizing controls, and rehearsing responses, these organizations can enhance their resilience and maintain confidence among stakeholders, even under the pressure of escalating cyber threats.
