Most (97%) Canadian businesses (96% globally) say their cybersecurity strategies will shift as a result of the increased digitization during COVID-19 pandemic according to PwC Canada’s Digital Trust Insights report. PwC surveyed more than 3,000 business and technology executives around the world, including a significant number of Canadian respondents, who tell us what’s changing and what’s next in cybersecurity, privacy and resilience.
“Traditional approaches to cyber are struggling to keep up with the pace and scale of digitization and automation. 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.” says Saj Nair, Partner & National Leader for Cybersecurity, Privacy & Financial Crime, PwC Canada.
Rethink the cyber budget process
Almost half (56%) of the Canadian respondents (55% globally) expect to increase their cyber budgets, however only very few (34%) of Canadian executives (44% globally) are really confident their cyber budgets are being assigned and spent correctly. As organizations digitize, getting the most value out of every cyber dollar spent will become even more critical, not just because of our current economic climate, but also because every new digital process can become a vulnerability for cyber attack.
Level the playing field with attackers
Leading organizations are exploring innovative and advanced methods to protect their expanding digital ecosystems as increased adoption of cloud, automation and Internet of Things (IoT) systems can’t be protected with traditional IT Security methods. The top three cybersecurity approaches that Canadian organizations have implemented, and are currently realizing the most benefits from, are security orchestration and automation (19%), modern identity and access management (17%) and integrated cloud and network security (17%).
Build resilience for any scenario
Cybersecurity’s role now and into the future will be strengthening the resilience of their organizations. Almost half (57%) of Canadian executives (40% globally) plan to increase resilience testing to make sure, if a disruptive cyber event occurs, their critical business functions will stay up and running.
Talent: Future-proof the security team
In the next year, 42% of Canadian respondents plan to add full-time cybersecurity personnel to their organization. Many recognize the challenges in attracting and retaining good cyber talent, and so not surprisingly an overwhelming majority (94%) of Canadian respondents (93% globally) use or plan to use managed services.
Digital Resilience Centre
To further enable their clients on their digital trust journey, PwC Canada has opened its first Digital Resilience Centre in Vaughan, Canada. The Centre provides an end-to-end digital trust framework to help organizations innovate, experience, and operate across the threat management lifecycle. The Centre 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 is the Digital Resilience Sandbox, an immersive lab where clients can see, touch and experience the latest technologies, such as industrial systems, robotics, IoT, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and mixed reality, and simulate offensive and defensive tactics on them. Clients can experience what an adverse event on their digital ecosystem would look like and test various methods to prevent, detect and react to these threats. Other similar centres exist in Israel, India and the US.
