According to JWN, cyber-security continues to be an issue for Canadian businesses. According to a new survey by a Massachusetts based cyber-security firm, 83% of companies surveyed had some sort of cyber-security breach in the past year. At the same time, Carbon Black reported in January that 76% of surveyed Canadian companies reported a cyber attack last year with 25% reporting they have experienced an increase in attacks. In addition, the supply side of businesses have been experiencing increases in attacks as 13% of successful breaches were on engineering businesses, and 21% of successful breaches were from web application attacks specifically targeting the financial sector.
Currently, malware finding its way on to company computers is the most common type of cyber attack that occurs with 30% of surveyed businesses reporting malware attacks. A close second at 20% of cyber attacks was phishing attempts that aim to capture sensitive information like usernames, passwords, and credit card details. Many companies are trying to get ahead of cyber threats with 59% of companies surveyed reporting that they actively engage in cyber threat hunting.
The National Cyber Threat 2018 assessment indicated that cyber-crime is the cyber threat that is most likely to impact Canadian businesses in the short term and that current cyber threat reports are in line with that prediction. In addition, the report also indicated that cyber-criminals are taking advantage of illicit goods and services and take advantage of both technical vulnerabilities and human errors.
Therefore, Canadian businesses need to take extra precautions to help keep their businesses and customer information safe. Many larger companies have teams and consultants they employ specifically for cyber-security. However, those smaller businesses with fewer resources need to also take simple yet important steps to increase cyber-security. These measures could include training staff against phishing attempts, using two-step verification for any sensitive business accounts or emails, having an encrypted payment gateway on your e-commerce website and using up to date antivirus protection.