Working from home has made Canadian businesses vulnerable to cyberattacks, as more than half of ransomware victims said they paid ransoms to hackers in 2021, according to a NOVIPRO/Léger survey released Monday.
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The results of this survey reveal that 56% of organizations targeted by malware were forced to pay the amounts demanded by cybercriminals.
The IT Snapshot shows that 25% of businesses in Canada admitted to having experienced a cyber threat in the past year, a similar percentage to the previous year. Quebec (24%) was the hardest hit province in 2020, but Ontario (29%) topped that spot in 2021.
Some 53% of computer threats nationwide come from employees, according to the probe, stating that of this percentage, 31% of attacks are attributable to a malicious internal resource.
Teleworking has revived the fears of companies, 76% of which have reviewed practices in terms of IT security. Companies in Quebec (70%) were less likely to review their security practices due to the pandemic than Ontario and British Columbia (82%).
More than half of businesses in Ontario (56%) said they feared a cyber attack more since the implementation of hybrid working, compared to Quebec (32%) which is less concerned.
“Companies must be proactive and implement the right devices to prevent cyberattacks, otherwise the impact will be devastating on our economy,” said Yves Paquette, co-founder and president of NOVIPRO, in a press release.
“If organizations invested even a fraction of the potential cost of a cyberattack, they could put systems and processes in place that are effective enough to guard against such fraud,” Mr. Paquette added.
The survey was conducted from October 1 to 25, 2021, with 491 people.