New Cybersecurity Initiative Finds That a Majority of Canadians Have Been the Victim of a Cybercrime
ROGERS CYBERSECURE CATALYST, RYERSON LEADERSHIP LAB & RBC LAUNCH THE CYBERSECURE POLICY EXCHANGE AGENDA (CPX)
TORONTO, July 9, 2020 /CNW/ - The Cybersecure Policy Exchange (CPX), powered by RBC, today launched a report setting out an ambitious policy agenda that addresses findings from new survey data of 2,000 Canadians collected in mid-May. The report sheds light on Canadians' online experiences and their priorities related to cybersecurity and digital privacy.
The goal of CPX is to broaden and deepen the discussion about cybersecurity and digital privacy policy in Canada, and to create and advance innovative policy responses, from idea generation to implementation.
"We live and work in a time of unprecedented technology development and adoption —
further accelerated by events like COVID-19," said Charles Finlay, Executive Director of Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst. "We need urgent national policies that protect our security and digital privacy, while ensuring equal access for all. That is why we developed CPX--to be a platform for debating and advancing cybersecurity policy that is of critical importance to all Canadians."
To lay the groundwork for these discussions, CPX undertook a survey of Canadians; some key findings from the report "Advancing a Cybersecure Canada" include:
- 57% of Canadians reported being the victim of a cybercrime;
- 31% unintentionally installed or downloaded a computer virus or malware;
- 28% experienced a data breach that exposed personal information; and
- 22% had an online account hacked;
- 13% have been a victim of phishing; and
- 8% have unintentionally installed or downloaded ransomware.
- Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians have adopted new technologies to stay connected making them more vulnerable to privacy and security risks. 55% of Canadians have used Facebook Messenger and 46% have used Zoom.
- Only 26% of Canadians with a smart speaker or voice-operated assistant have restricted the information it can access through its settings.
CPX will focus its work on three high-impact technologies:
- Social Media Platforms: Online platforms that enable users to connect and share user-generated content.
- Only 15% of Canadians trust Facebook to keep their data secure, compared to 62% who trust the federal government and 73% who trust health care providers.
- Internet of Things (IoT): Physical networked devices connected to the Internet, from consumer electronics, to larger industrial and infrastructure applications.
- 68% of Canadians have at least one smart device in their home.
- Biometrics and Facial Recognition: Technologies that measure and analyze a person's physical or behavioural attributes to recognize or confirm identities, such as facial recognition.
- 41% of Canadians are uncomfortable with being captured by video doorbells like Amazon's Ring, and 15% support a ban on these products.
This report marks the launch of CPX's agenda to develop public policy solutions, and raise awareness to the privacy and security challenges of each of these technologies.
"Cybersecurity has quickly become one of the most important issues of our time," said Laurie Pezzente, Senior Vice-President of Global Cyber Security and Chief Security Officer at RBC. "As a leading organization in cybersecurity entrusted to keep our clients data safe and secure, RBC is proud to support the Cybersecure Policy Exchange and its ambitious policy agenda. Questions of privacy and security are paramount for all Canadians and policymakers, and proper governance of these issues will ultimately contribute to a more prosperous and equitable world."
On Tuesday, July 14th from 1:30pm - 3:00pm EST members of the CPX team from RBC, Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst and Ryerson Leadership will convene for a live discussion to breakdown their new agenda, survey results and elaborate on the current cybersecurity threat landscape. More information and the registration link can be found here.
Through close public and sectoral engagement with the general public, government, academia and civic institutions on each of these urgent challenges, CPX will work to advance the responsible governance of this technology to protect Canadians.
The full findings are available at https://www.cybersecurepolicy.ca/agenda. An anonymous survey was conducted online by Pollara Strategic Insights on behalf of the Cybersecure Policy Exchange with 2,000 Canadian residents 18 years of age or older, from May 14 to 22, 2020. As a guideline, a probability sample of this size would yield results accurate to +/- 2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The data were weighted by region, gender and age, based on the most recent Canadian census figures to ensure that the sample matched Canada's population.
The Cybersecure Policy Exchange is a new initiative from Ryerson University, dedicated to advancing effective and innovative public policy in cybersecurity and digital privacy. The Cybersecure Policy Exchange is powered by RBC through Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst and the Ryerson Leadership Lab.
Cybersecure Policy Exchange
cybersecurepolicy.ca | @cyberpolicyx
[email protected]
SOURCE Ryerson University
Sumit Bhatia, Director of Communications and Knowledge Mobilization, Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, at [email protected] or (416) 624-9807
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