DataBreaches.Net

Menu
  • About
  • Breach Notification Laws
  • Privacy Policy
  • Transparency Report
Menu

IT security breaches In Canada more than triples in 2009

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Dissent

From a TELUS press release:

A new study from TELUS in partnership with Rotman School of Management released today reveals a major increase in annual losses related to Information Technology (IT) security breaches.

According to the study which surveyed more than 600 IT security professionals across the country:

  • IT security breaches cost the average Canadian organization an estimated $834,000 in 2009 – a 97 per cent increase from the $423,000 reported by the study last year.
  • Similarly, the average number of reported IT security breaches also increased 276 per cent to 11.3 per organization in 2009 – compared with an average of three in 2008.

While every type of organization incurred an increase in breach costs during 2009, the increases were different across sectors:

  • Government organizations more than tripled their average annual cost of breaches to $1,000,000 in 2009, up from $321,000 in 2008.
  • Private companies more than doubled their cost of breaches to $807,000 up from $294,000 in 2008.
  • Publicly traded companies reported a moderate increase of only six per cent year-over-year.

“The significant increase in reported breaches is sobering, however there are several reasons for this activity and some of them are actually positive,” said Dr. Walid Hejazi, Professor of Business Economics, Rotman School of Management. “Our research indicates that one of the contributing factors behind the surge in IT security-related losses is compliance regulations. Although this factor does not explain all instances of breach increases, it is important to note that because compliance has become a much stronger driver for private companies and government organizations in 2009, capabilities to detect and respond to security compromises have greatly improved. The result is that organizations are now detecting more security threats than ever before and consequently need to allocate more budget to address them appropriately.”

“Canadian organizations are finding it difficult to improve their security posture within the current economic climate. However, we found several organizations that performed well despite the adversity. Those organizations tended to review whether or not they were focusing on the right threats and conducted regular assessments of their capabilities to prevent, detect and respond to security concerns,” said Alan Lefort, managing director, TELUS Security Labs. “Too often organizations take a checklist approach to managing security. Without a threat-based view to security management that measures end-to-end capabilities, they are often unprepared when a new type of attack or vulnerability rises to prominence.”

The study also uncovered a rise in employee-related security breaches specifically related to intellectual property. IT security breaches by employees doubled over the past 12 months, with 36 per cent of all IT security incidents in Canada resulting from insider activity. When compared to results from last year’s Rotman-TELUS study, the results from 2009 revealed:

  • Unauthorized access to information by employees increased by 112 per cent.
  • Theft of proprietary information increased 75 per cent.
  • Laptop or mobile hardware device theft increased by 56 per cent.

[….]

For more information, or to request a copy of the study, visit www.telus.com/securitystudy.

Related posts:

  • 2010 Data Breach Report From Verizon Business, U.S. Secret Service Offers New Cybercrime Insights
  • Good news for breached entities: it won’t cost you as much and customers are less likely to leave – Ponemon study
  • First Annual French Ponemon Study Shows the High Cost of Data Breaches for French Organizations
  • Criminal Attacks Are Now Leading Cause of Data Breach in Healthcare, According to New Ponemon Study
Category: Commentaries and AnalysesNon-U.S.

Post navigation

← Florida man sentenced for ID theft
700,000 Express Scripts members notified of extortion demands (update 2) →

2 thoughts on “IT security breaches In Canada more than triples in 2009”

  1. riskpundit says:
    October 4, 2009 at 9:45 pm

    I read the 2008 and 2009 Telus/Rotman studies and I have to say I feel the claim of breaches tripling is not valid. While the average is 11.3, the mode is 3.5. There are significant outliers that make the average less significant. Also the wording of the incident/breach question varied significantly from 2008 to 2009. I wrote a post on my blog with the details.

    http://www.riskpundit.com/riskpundit/2009/10/canadian-study-reports-breaches-tripled-in-2009-is-this-a-valid-statistic.html

  2. admin says:
    October 5, 2009 at 9:37 am

    Thanks for posting that and for your own analyses. I found some of the survey results to Q47 surprising when compared to what we actually read about/hear about it in the media, but given there’s no mandatory disclosure law, I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised.

Comments are closed.

Now more than ever

"Stand with Ukraine:" above raised hands. The illustration is in blue and yellow, the colors of Ukraine's flag.

Search

Browse by Categories

Recent Posts

  • Alert: Scattered Spider has added North American airline and transportation organizations to their target list
  • Northern Light Health patients affected by security incident at Compumedics; 10 healthcare entities affected
  • Privacy commissioner reviewing reported Ontario Health atHome data breach
  • CMS warns Medicare providers of fraud scheme
  • Ex-student charged with wave of cyber attacks on Sydney uni
  • Detaining Hackers Before the Crime? Tamil Nadu’s Supreme Court Approves Preventive Custody for Cyber Offenders
  • Potential Cyberattack Scrambles Columbia University Computer Systems
  • 222,000 customer records allegedly from Manhattan Parking Group leaked
  • Breaches have consequences (sometimes) (1)
  • Kansas City Man Pleads Guilty for Hacking a Non-Profit

No, You Can’t Buy a Post or an Interview

This site does not accept sponsored posts or link-back arrangements. Inquiries about either are ignored.

And despite what some trolls may try to claim: DataBreaches has never accepted even one dime to interview or report on anyone. Nor will DataBreaches ever pay anyone for data or to interview them.

Want to Get Our RSS Feed?

Grab it here:

https://databreaches.net/feed/

RSS Recent Posts on PogoWasRight.org

  • Germany Wants Apple, Google to Remove DeepSeek From Their App Stores
  • Supreme Court upholds Texas law requiring age verification on porn sites
  • Justices nix Medicaid ‘right’ to choose doctor, defunding Planned Parenthood in South Carolina
  • European Commission publishes its plan to enable more effective law enforcement access to data
  • Sacred Secrets: The Biblical Case for Privacy and Data Protection
  • Microsoft’s Departing Privacy Chief Calls for Regulator Outreach
  • Nestle USA Settles Suit Over Job-Application Medical Questions

Have a News Tip?

Email: Tips[at]DataBreaches.net

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

Contact Me

Email: info[at]databreaches.net

Mastodon: Infosec.Exchange/@PogoWasRight

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

DMCA Concern: dmca[at]databreaches.net
© 2009 – 2025 DataBreaches.net and DataBreaches LLC. All rights reserved.