Cybersecurity threats are intensifying in Canada, with a large majority of organizations saying they have been the victim of a cyber-attack in the past 12 months, according to a new report.
As part of a global threat research project, Carbon Black has published its first study looking at the evolving threat landscape in Canada. Released today, 2019 Cyberattack Landscape in Canada found that among the 250 Canadian CIOs, CTOs and CISOs surveyed, 83% said they suffered a security breach in the past year.
“Our first Canada Threat Report exposes the hostile environment facing Canadian businesses and underlines the fact that in today’s digital landscape, breaches are all but inevitable. 76% of surveyed Canadian businesses reported an increase in cyberattacks in the past 12 months,” the report said.
“Of these, 33% have seen up to a 25% increase, 19% have seen an increase of between 26-50% and 15% have seen a 51-100% increase in attack volumes. 10% have witnessed increases of more than 100%.”
According to the report, the average number of breaches per surveyed organization was 3.42, with more than three-quarters (76%) of companies experiencing an increase in attack volumes. Given that 81% of surveyed organizations said that attacks have become more sophisticated, it’s not surprising that 85% of participating organizations plan to increase spending on cyber-defense.
While attacks are increasing in frequency, there seems to be a lack of understanding of the overall scale of attacks and the extent to which criminals are profiting from them on the dark web. “Only 10% of survey respondents correctly identified that the dark economy is valued at more than $1 trillion USD,” the report said.
Though malware was seen in 30% of attacks, “weaknesses in processes and outdated security technology were factors in 20% of breaches, indicating that failures in basic security hygiene continue to be high risk vectors that organizations should address as a priority.”