WALTHAM, Mass., Oct. 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Carbon Black, (NASDAQ: CBLK), a leader in cloud-native endpoint protection, today released the results of its second Canada Threat Report, based on a survey of 250 CIOs, CTOs and CISOs across Canada. The results show that the threat environment is sustained and sophisticated with phishing attacks serving as the primary cause of data breaches.

Key research findings from the responses of the surveyed Canadian businesses:

 
• 88% of Canadian businesses reported suffering a data breach during the past 12 months
 
• 82% of Canadian businesses reported an increase in overall attack volume in the past 12 months
 
• 78% of Canadian businesses said cyberattacks have grown more sophisticated
 
• 90% of Canadian businesses said they have IT security concerns around digital transformation projects and 5G network rollout
 
• 74% of Canadian organizations said they are more confident in their ability to repel cyberattacks than they were 12 months ago
 
• 87% of Canadian businesses said threat hunting has improved their defenses
 
• 88% of Canadian businesses said they plan to increase their security budgets over the next year
 

Rick McElroy, Head of Security Strategy at Carbon Black, said: “As we analyze the findings of our second Canadian Threat Report, it appears businesses are adjusting to the ‘new normal’ of sustained and sophisticated cyberattacks. Greater awareness of external threats and compliance risks have also prompted businesses to become more proactive about managing cyber risks as they witness the financial and reputational impacts that breaches entail.”

The latest report from Carbon Black found a sharp increase in breaches caused by phishing attacks in Canada compared to its prior report, indicating threat actors are targeting the weakest link in the security chain – users.

49% of Canadian businesses surveyed noted a degree of financial damage associated with breaches, with 12% saying the damage was severe. In contrast, 65% said they suffered damage to their corporate reputation, with 15% saying it was severe and 33% saying there was no impact at all.

Defender confidence is on the rise
 
Participating Canadian businesses reported feeling more confident in their ability to repel cyberattacks than they did 12 months ago, the report found. 32% said they feel a lot more confident, while 41% said they feel a little more confident.

McElroy said: “As the cyberdefense sector continues to mature, businesses are becoming more aware of the tools at their disposal and the tactics they can use to combat cyberattacks. We believe this growing confidence is indicative of a power shift in favor of defenders, who are taking a more proactive approach to hunting out and neutralizing threats than previously.”

This is underlined by the 87% of Canadian businesses surveyed who reported seeing their defense strengthened through threat hunting and 76% who found evidence of malicious cyberattack activity during hunting exercises. Recognition of cybersecurity investment benefits is further supported by the fact that 88% of Canadian businesses surveyed said they planned to increase cybersecurity budgets in the next 12 months.

Concern about digital transformation, 5G rollout and cyber skills shortages
Asked about the security around the implementation and management of digital transformation programs and 5G rollout only 10% of Canadian respondents said they had no concerns. 32% predicted it would offer more effective and destructive methods of cyberattacks.

To download the full Canadian executive summary click here.

Survey methodology
 Carbon Black commissioned a survey, undertaken by an independent research organization, Opinion Matters, in August 2019. 2012 CIOs, CTOs and CISOs were surveyed for this global research project across multiple countries including:  Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore and the UK. Companies were from a range of industries including: financial, healthcare, government, retail, manufacturing, food and beverage, oil and gas, professional services, and media and entertainment.

About Carbon Black

Carbon Black (NASDAQ: CBLK) is a leader in cloud-native endpoint protection dedicated to keeping the world safe from cyberattacks. The CB Predictive Security Cloud® (PSC) consolidates endpoint protection and IT operations into an endpoint protection platform (EPP) that prevents advanced threats, provides actionable insight and enables businesses of all sizes to simplify operations. By analyzing billions of security events per day across the globe, Carbon Black has key insights into attackers’ behaviors, enabling customers to detect, respond to and stop emerging attacks.

More than 5,600 global customers, including approximately one third of the Fortune 100, trust Carbon Black to protect their organizations from cyberattacks. The company’s partner ecosystem features more than 500 MSSPs, VARs, distributors and technology integrations, as well as many of the world’s leading IR firms, who use Carbon Black’s technology in more than 500 breach investigations per year.

Carbon Black, CB ThreatSight and CB Predictive Security Cloud are registered trademarks or trademarks of Carbon Black, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions.

Media Relations Contact
Ryan Murphy
Carbon Black
Director of Global Communications
917-693-2788
rmurphy@carbonblack.com

Source: Carbon Black, Inc.