Data breaches across Canada are at record levels and they cost businesses an average of $6.32 million to resolve, according to a new study by technology giant IBM (IBM).
The report states that there are 27,000 data breaches per year across Canada, which is an all-time high. That works out to about 75 breaches per day across the country.
And Canadian organizations are paying millions of dollars to resolve the cybersecurity incidents, says IBM.
The company said that the current situation with data breaches is “staggering.”
IBM’s report comes as Canadians are seeing their data fall into unauthorized hands at unprecedented levels.
In recent years, high-profile data breaches and cyberattacks have occurred at businesses such as Giant Tiger, Petro-Canada, Indigo Books, and London Drugs.
IBM said that the costs to resolve a data breach or cyber incident include legal services, regulatory fines, consumer reparations, and lost business.
Its report was based on an analysis of data breaches experienced worldwide between March 2023 and February 2024.
Among 16 countries examined, Canada was found to have the sixth-highest costs for data breach resolutions, coming in behind the U.S., Germany and Italy.
The most common forms of data breaches involve phishing scams and compromised login credentials.
Within Canada, financial services and technology companies experienced the most expensive breaches, with average costs of $9.28 million and $7.84 million, respectively.
IBM’s stock has risen 19% so far in 2024 and currently trades at $191.50 U.S. per share.
