Cybersecurity strategies shifting as Canadian businesses invest in digitization

According to a recent Digital Trust Insights report by PwC Canada, 97% of Canadian businesses surveyed say their cybersecurity strategies will shift as a result of the increased digitization during COVID-19 pandemic. PwC surveyed more than 3,000 business and technology executives around the world, including a significant number of Canadian respondents.

“Traditional approaches to cyber are struggling to keep up with the pace and scale of digitization and automation,” says Saj Nair, Partner & National Leader for Cybersecurity, Privacy & Financial Crime, PwC Canada. “And they’re slowing down business strategies and impacting both the top and bottom line. So it’s really not surprising that nearly all Canadian executives say their cybersecurity strategies will shift as a result of COVID-19.

The report finds that nearly half (56%) of the Canadian respondents expect to increase their cyber budgets, yet only 34% are confident their cyber budgets are being assigned and spent correctly. In response, organizations are exploring advanced methods to protect their increased adoption of cloud, automation and Internet of Things (IoT) systems.

The top three cybersecurity approaches, the report says, are security orchestration and automation (19%), modern identity and access management (17%) and integrated cloud and network security (17%). In addition, almost half (57%) of Canadian executives plan to increase resilience testing and 42% plan to add full-time cybersecurity personnel to their organization while 94% use or plan to use managed services.

For it’s own part, PwC Canada has opened its first Digital Resilience Centre in Vaughan, ON, which helps organizations unify their defences against digital threats by bringing together thought leadership and capabilities across cybersecurity, privacy, anti-fraud, anti-money laundering, physical security and safety. Within the Centre’s Digital Resilience Sandbox, clients can explore the latest technologies, such as industrial systems, robotics, IoT, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and mixed reality, and simulate offensive and defensive tactics on them.
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