Cybersecurity incidents affected 18% of businesses in Canada last year: StatCan

A new Statistics Canada report says 18 per cent of Canadian businesses were impacted by cybersecurity incidents last year, compared with 21 per cent of Canadian businesses in both 2019 and 2017.

The data, which was collected from January to March 2022, shows 16 per cent of small businesses, 25 per cent of medium-sized businesses and 37 per cent of large businesses reported being affected by cybersecurity incidents in 2021.

Statistics Canada says the most common types of cybersecurity incidents identified by businesses were incidents to steal money or demand ransom payments and incidents to steal personal or financial data.

Sixty-one per cent of affected businesses identified external parties as the perpetrator of cybersecurity incidents, while 38 per cent could not identify the perpetrator.

The percentage of businesses that reported spending some money to detect or prevent cybersecurity incidents remained relatively the same in 2021, at 61 per cent, compared with 62 per cent in 2019.

However, the amount of money Canadian businesses spent to detect or prevent cybersecurity incidents increased by roughly $2.8 billion in 2021 to $9.7 billion when compared with 2019, Statistics Canada says.

by The Canadian Press