Most Canadian organizations experienced cyberattacks due to more employees working from home in 2020, according to the "Global Security Insights Report" from VMware. As such, many security leaders are exploring opportunities to upgrade their cybersecurity strategies and technologies to protect against emerging cyber threats.
Other notable findings from VMware's report included:
- 86 percent of Canadian security leaders said their organization suffered a breach in 2020, with 88 percent of breaches considered "material."
- 78 percent indicated attack volumes increased, and 79 percent noted cyberattacks became more sophisticated.
- 56 percent stated they fear a material breach in 2021.
Applications and workloads were the top security concerns among CISOs, the report showed. Also, the report revealed operating system vulnerabilities (19.5 percent) were the most common cause of data breaches, followed by third-party apps (16 percent).
Canadian Security Leaders Rethink Their Approach to Cybersecurity
Expanding attack surfaces are forcing Canadian security leaders to reconsider their cybersecurity investments and ensure their organizations can protect remote workers against cyberattacks, the report indicated. This is reflected in the following results:
- 58 percent of Canadian security leaders said they need to view security differently than they have previously due to the fact that attack surfaces have expanded.
- 58 percent noted they need better visibility over data and apps to stop attacks.
- 34 percent are building more security into their infrastructure and apps and reducing the number of point solutions.
- 31.5 percent have updated their security policy and approach to mitigate risk.
- 29.5 percent have updated their security technology to mitigate risk.
In addition, 95 percent of Canadian security leaders said they have shifted or plan to shift to a cloud-first security strategy, the report revealed. They also look poised to update their cybersecurity strategies to keep pace with cybercriminals.
