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A new survey has discovered that a large number of Canadian organizations have been hit with a cyberattack in the last year – much more than previously reported.
The report published by security vendor Carbon Black said that 83% of the Canadian CIOs, CTOs and CISOs it surveyed for the report admitted that their organizations had suffered a cyber security breach in the previous 12 months.
Of those who said they suffered a breach, 22% said their firm had been breached five times or more.
IT World Canada compared the results to an earlier report by Statistics Canada, which found that 21% of the 10,000 Canadian businesses it surveyed said that they were impacted by a cyber incident that affected their operations in 2017.
Carbon Black has recognized the discrepancy and has offered an explanation.
“A lot of organizations don’t want to acknowledge or even understand if they have been breached, so the senior leadership that respond to other surveys — the CEOs, CFOs or even general counsel — it’s better for them to say it hasn’t happened,” Carbon Black chief cybersecurity officer Tom Kellermann told IT World Canada.
Kellermann added that the 83% number is valid, since they asked security professionals to give their frank opinions.
“If I was the CEO or a general counsel of a Canadian company and I was asked to respond to a survey, ‘Have I been breached last year,’ of course I’d say ‘no’. But then again if I’m a security professional or a CIO who understands the importance of eliminating plausible deniability and lifting all boats through collective action, then I’d say ‘yes’.”
The spokesperson also recognized that Statistics Canada’s survey base was much bigger than Carbon Black’s.
