According to a new report, financial services industry in Canada is at elevated risk of being targeted by cyber-attacks. Canadian Cybercrime and Fraud Trends Report, The LexisNexis Risk Solution, indicates a severe rise in attacks introduced by bots or humans during 2022, according to 8 million connections processed by organization’s Digital Identity Network.
A 52% surge initiated by bots year-over-year while 32% increase in human-initiated attacks, the report indicates.
There has been a sharp increase in mobile browser attacks (constituting 80% of the dealings analyzed were mobile related), with more Canadians making use of mobile devices for businesses. The rate of attack increased year-on-year to 5.1%, when compared to the global average of 2.7%, well above the predicted levels.
The highest risk came from the financial services industry as the highest attack rate in total experienced by Canadian firms, second only to LatAm financial firms. Payments (5.8%) and account opening (5.2%) experienced the highest rate of attack. The ecommerce industry in Canada recorded a 183% increase in bot attacks.
Director fraud and identity strategy of Canada, LexisNexis Risk Solution, Alanna Shuh said that results from the study indicates that Canadian establishments experience an exceptional fraud trend when compared to U.S and global averages. The growth in Canadian bot attack volume was extensive and certain industries experienced some of the highest global attack rates, financial services industry is at the top of the list. It is apparent that organizations use a global intelligence layering and consortium solution at each consumer touchpoint are better furnished to stop fraud in its tracks, particularly given the growing complexity and rate of the fraud network globally.
A recent analysis from PwC followed by the report cautioning that more Canadian organizations and individuals are being targeted by progressively sophisticated offenders exploiting tools as artificial intelligence. Every precaution should be looked at when such a treat hovers around, however as cyber security enhances, so do the hackers.
