ManuSec Canada Returns to Toronto to Address Rising Cyber Risks in Manufacturing

The 3rd Edition of the Summit Will Unite Cybersecurity and Manufacturing Leaders to Strengthen IT-OT Resilience

Princeton, NJ – QG Media, an ISMG company, will host the 3rd edition of ManuSec Canada: Cyber Security for Critical Manufacturing Summit on April 14 and 15, 2026, in Toronto. The summit will bring together senior cybersecurity, IT and OT leaders from across the manufacturing sector to address the growing cyberthreats targeting industrial operations.

Centered on the theme “Future-Proofing Canadian Manufacturing Through IT-OT Cyber Resilience,” this year’s event will explore how organizations can secure increasingly connected industrial environments while maintaining operational continuity, safety and efficiency. As IT and OT systems converge and threat actors increasingly target production environments, resilience has become a critical business imperative – not just a technical objective.

The urgency is reflected in recent data: Cyberattacks targeting the manufacturing sector increased 61% globally in 2025, while ransomware incidents continue to escalate across industrial environments.

“Canadian manufacturers are operating in one of the most complex threat environments we have seen, where the convergence of IT and OT systems has fundamentally changed the risk calculus,” said Kudsia Kaker, managing director at QG Media. “ManuSec Canada exists to equip security and operations leaders with practical tools, peer insights and cross-functional frameworks needed to protect production environments and build resilience that holds under pressure.”

Against this backdrop, ManuSec Canada will bring together cybersecurity and manufacturing leaders to examine how organizations are defending increasingly connected industrial environments.

Key Themes

Reflecting the need for a holistic and future-ready approach, the 2026 agenda will explore:

• Ensuring industrial resilience through rapid response planning, recovery procedures and workforce readiness;
• Cultivating a people-first security culture that empowers employees as the first line of defense;
• Securing IT-OT convergence to enable safe, seamless and efficient operations;
• Future-proofing defenses against AI-driven threats and emerging technologies such as quantum computing;
• Building governance models aligned with established frameworks and best practices.

Together, these themes emphasize the shift from reactive security measures to integrated, resilience-driven strategies tailored to the realities of modern manufacturing.

Among the featured sessions, Sebastien Barthelemy, CISO at Kruger, will share lessons from building a comprehensive OT security architecture across more than 40 manufacturing sites. His session, titled “How We Engineered a Comprehensive OT Security Architecture: Our Blueprint for Success,” will outline how governance, segmentation, visibility and crisis readiness can be integrated into a scalable security framework designed to support complex industrial environments.

Recognizing that technology alone cannot ensure resilience, the summit will also spotlight the human dimension of cybersecurity. Gord Howells, vice president of IT at Sofina Foods, will discuss how organizations can build stronger security cultures through people-centric strategies that move beyond traditional awareness training to focus on individual engagement, education and long-term behavioral change across the workforce.

Complementing these perspectives, a panel moderated by Kush Gidda, director of cyber and IT security at Ontario Power Generation, will examine incident response strategies in manufacturing environments. Drawing on lessons from recent high-profile attacks, panelists Kevin Dreyer, I.T. director and CISO at Maple Reinders Group; Shawn McBurnie, head of IT/OT security and compliance at Northland Power Inc.; and Manoj Tiwary, chief information officer at Subaru Canada Inc., will discuss how organizations can minimize downtime, support teams during crises and build more effective response frameworks.

In addition to the main conference, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in an exclusive “GenAI Security ThinkTank” workshop on April 16, focused on understanding emerging AI-driven threats and translating them into actionable defense strategies.

By uniting cybersecurity, IT and OT leadership under a shared focus on resilience, ManuSec Canada 2026 aims to equip organizations with the frameworks, strategies and cross-functional alignment needed to safeguard production environments, ensuring that security becomes a driver of reliability, safety and long-term industrial growth.

For more information and to register, visit https://canada.manusecevent.com/.

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About ISMG

Information Security Media Group (ISMG) is the world’s largest media organization devoted solely to cybersecurity, information technology, artificial intelligence and operational technology. Each of our 38 media properties provides education, research and news that is specifically tailored to key vertical sectors including banking, healthcare and the public sector; geographies from North America to Southeast Asia; and topics such as data breach prevention, cyber risk assessment, OT security, AI and fraud. Our annual global summit series connects senior security professionals with industry thought leaders to find actionable solutions for pressing cybersecurity challenges.

About QG Media

QG Media is an international provider of cutting-edge B2B conferences and digital content for technology leaders. Focusing on cybersecurity and IoT, QG brings together business leaders to demonstrate thought leadership through content-driven presentations, interviews and webinars. The success of any QG Media event lies in providing expertly curated programs, inviting industry leading speakers, along with offering extensive networking opportunities to promote collaboration and drive innovation.

About ISMG Events

ISMG Events is a premier platform for security professionals and practitioners worldwide. Our global, annual events bring together the ISMG Events Community, comprising over 40,000 members, to exchange knowledge, insights and best practices in the field of cybersecurity. The cornerstone of our event portfolio is the ISMG Global Summit Series. These summits take place both virtually and in-person, offering participants a diverse range of topics to explore. In addition to our Global Summit Series, ISMG Events hosts exclusive Executive Roundtables that are closed-door, topic-focused discussions that provide practitioners with a collaborative environment to address today’s most pressing security concerns.