TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cyber security incidents have become the new normal for Canadian companies, with one hundred per cent of organizations experiencing attacks, according to the findings of a new study from Scalar Decisions Inc. of more than 400 Canadian IT and security workers.
Released today, the 2019 Scalar Security Study (commissioned by Scalar and conducted independently by IDC Canada) showed that cyber security incidents are occurring on a regular basis and the cost of these compromises is at an all-time high. The average cost per organization of responding to, and recovering from, cyber security incidents increased to between $4.8 million to $5.8 million, up from $3.7 million last year.
Despite facing fewer cyber attacks overall (440 on average, down from 445 last year), organizations suffered more breaches (12.5 on average, up from 9.3) as bad actors became more efficient and effective. The percentage of attacks that result in a breach increased to three per cent, up from two per cent last year.
“Canadian companies are still overconfident in their abilities to successfully defend against cyber security attacks. Many are now realizing the need to implement a cyber resiliency plan in order to better prepare, defend and respond to incidents,” said Theo Van Wyk, Chief Technology Officer – Security at Scalar Decisions. “The rise in the percentage of successful breaches coincides with the shift in cyber security efforts from protection against attacks to improving detection of malicious attacks and responding to and recovering from incidents.”
The study, examining the cyber security readiness of Canadian organizations and year-over-year trends in handling and managing growing cyber threats, also found:
• Of the survey respondents, 18 per cent reported having data subjected to ransomware demands, 17 per cent had data encrypted, and 12 per cent had data deleted
• Nine per cent of respondents were not confident in their organization’s ability to prevent cyber security breaches and only 11 per cent of survey respondents had a “high” degree of confidence
• On average 38.5 per cent of the data organizations stored was considered confidential
• The average number of days spent recovering from cyber security breaches by an organization’s security, IT, and legal departments increased significantly to 19.4 days from 16.1 days last year
“Organizations need to put a larger emphasis on cyber security planning and work on any deficiencies that they may have in handling security risks,” added Van Wyk. “Conducting cyber security fundamentals can reduce cyber-attack success rates by over 50 per cent. If this can’t be handled in-house, then external expertise is an efficient way to shore up defenses.”
The full study can be downloaded at https://www.scalar.ca/en/landing/2019-security-study/
About the 2019 Scalar Security Study
The 2019 Scalar Security Study was independently conducted by IDC Canada. The data provided in the report was obtained through a Canada-wide cross-industry survey of 407 IT security and risk & compliance professionals. All survey participants were screened for direct involvement in improving or managing their organization’s IT security. Eighty-seven percent of the IT security respondents were at a supervisor level (Infosec Supervisor/IT Supervisor) or higher. Survey respondents were screened to represent organizations with a minimum of 15 full-time employees and at least 10% of their total employees located in Canada.
About Scalar
Scalar is Canada’s leading IT solutions provider, focused on security, infrastructure, and cloud. Founded in 2004, Scalar is headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Victoria. Scalar was recently named one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies, named to CRN’s 2018 Solution Provider 500 List, and listed on the Growth 500 for the ninth year running. In addition, Scalar was deemed a major player in the IDC MarketScape for Canadian managed security service providers and ranked the #1 ICT security company on the 2014 -2018 editions of the Branham 300. For further details, visit www.scalar.ca or follow Scalar on Twitter, @scalardecisions.
About IDC Canada
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC Canada is part of a network of over 1100 analysts providing global, regional, and local expertise on technology, industry opportunities and trends with more analysts dedicated to understanding the Canadian market than any other global research firm.
