Ottawa — A new poll suggests that nearly 70% of Canadian organizations faced a ransomware attack last year paid demands to avoid downtime, reputational damage and other costs.
According to the annual Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) cybersecurity survey, the largest number of ransom-paying groups is 17% who said they were attacked last year.
More than one-third (36%) of organizations say they have introduced new security measures to address the increasing pressure from hackers as more people work from home. This is an increase from 29% a year ago.
Almost all 510 security professionals surveyed (95%) say that at least some of the new protection is permanent and 64% support legislation prohibiting payment of ransom demands.
Mark Gordett, General Manager of CIRA’s Cybersecurity and DNS Services, said:
The survey also found that 59% of companies have cybersecurity insurance as part of their business insurance. Many companies have stated that premiums have been raised, and insurers are seeking more evidence of the cybersecurity measures they are implementing.
Canada faces some high-profile ransomware attacks affecting hospitals, RCMP detachments, and major energy pipelines.
Prior to the cybersecurity conference MapleSEC, which begins on Tuesday, an online survey of organizations with 50-999 employees was announced in July and August.
“I feel like the pandemic has forced us to adopt cybersecurity for 10 years in about 10 weeks,” Gaudet said.
“Pivoting telecommuting and employees using their devices has actually increased the number of security threats facing organizations, and malicious people have done everything they can to take advantage of the situation. . “
Research shows that companies hit by cyberattacks most often deal with employees failing to get their jobs done, increasing costs, losing revenue, and declining reputation.
The Canadian Research Insights Council, a poll industry expert, states that online surveys do not randomly sample the population and therefore cannot be assigned a margin of error.
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