VANCOUVER, Oct. 24, 2023 – More than half (55 per cent) of the small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) surveyed in the Metropolitan Vancouver Area (MVA) and on Vancouver Island were attacked by cybercriminals over the past year and 54 per cent paid a ransom to unlock their computers within the past three years, finds a KPMG in Canada survey conducted last month.
Yet 60 per cent still don’t consider cybersecurity a “business priority.”
“Cyberattacks have become a hard reality for companies, with over half in Vancouver and on the Island either trying to ward off attacks or falling prey to bad actors with malicious intent,” says Erik Berg, Partner, Cyber Security Advisory and National Co-Lead of Justice and Public Safety sector, KPMG in Canada, who is based in Vancouver and focuses on digital transformation risk, organizational resilience, privacy, and cybersecurity services. “Small- and medium-sized companies have many competing businesses priorities and often limited capital and resources. Yet, with organizations being constantly targeted by cybercriminals, cybersecurity can no longer be ignored.”
Six in 10 companies in the MVA and on Vancouver Island say their information-technology (IT) and/or operational-technology (OT) systems make them vulnerable to cyberattacks, finds the KPMG Private Enterprise™ Business Survey. Over half (54 per cent) also say that they lack the skilled personnel to implement, monitor, and manage cybersecurity risks and only a third (32 per cent) feel strongly that their employees are adequately trained to recognize a phishing or other attack.