ICSPA releases report measuring the impact of cyber crime on businesses in Canada

The International Cyber Security Protection Alliance (ICSPA) supported by a group of Canada's most recognized businesses - Above Security, BlackBerry, CGI Group Inc., Lockheed Martin and McAfee – today released the findings of its study on the impact of cyber crime on businesses in Canada.

The report results from a survey of 520 small, medium and large Canadian companies to identify the nature of cyber threats and the impact they have on businesses in Canada.  Businesses in six sectors – financial, retail, airlines/shipping, telecommunications, utilities/critical infrastructure and, aerospace/defense were surveyed during November – December, 2012.

The survey found that cyber crime is prevalent among Canadian businesses: 69% of the companies surveyed reported some kind of attack within a twelve-month period.  The survey also found that types and frequency of attack varied depending on the nature and size of the business and that companies with larger revenues were targeted most often.  Malware and virus attacks were shown to be the most prevalent form of attack with phishing, spear phishing and social engineering coming second.

About a quarter (26%) of those interviewed said that cyber attacks had a considerable impact on their business both in terms of financial loss and reputational damage with financial fraud being the biggest threat.  While the majority of respondents (64%) reported that senior management takes cyber crime threats seriously, there remain considerable gaps in preparedness against cyber crime. Large businesses are somewhat better prepared than medium and small ones, but still much remains to be done to prevent and deal with such attacks.

“The ICSPA is pleased to have conducted this landmark study to provide a snapshot of cyber crime in Canada,” said John Lyons, ICSPA’s Chief Executive.  “While Canada is the first country we studied, we will be conducting similar studies in other countries to establish the impact of cyber crime on business communities around the world. Cyber crime knows no borders and acknowledging the extent of the threat is a key prerequisite to taking action to deal with it.”

“With our small sample of businesses in Canada we found just the tip of the iceberg.” said Ken Taylor, ICSPA North American President.  “But what we found still makes a compelling case that the threat is real and immediate. Our actions must therefore be equally concrete and urgent. We need to break down the silos and collaborate to find ways to protect ourselves. For my part, I will be speaking with businesses, governments, individuals and communities to get the collaboration started as soon as we can.”

Public Safety Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have welcomed this additional information on the awareness of cyber crime and its associated dangers.

For more information
www.icspa.org