How do Canadian CISOs deal with cyberattacks?

The spate of high-profile ransomware incidents in recent years has chief information security officers (CISO) all across the globe alarmed, and a new survey has found that CISOs are now prioritizing preventing such cyber incidents from happening over simply detecting and responding to malware as they happen.

Cybersecurity company Proofpoint surveyed 1,400 CISOs from across the world to prepare its “2022 Voice of the CISO Report.” The report looks into how CISOs are adjusting to the pandemic, how they are adapting strategies to support long-term hybrid setups, their changing role as risk demands evolve, and what part people play in the security of their companies.

Prevention is better than the cure, as they say, and Proofpoint’s survey reveals as much: 59% of CISOs in 14 countries said the prevention is the focus of their organization’s defence against ransomware. In terms of Canadian CISOs, that figure is raised to an impressive 87%.

Canada leads the way in the prevention model, followed by Australia (75%), the UK (70%), and France (65%). In America, only 58% of respondents indicated that their organization’s strategy is focused on prevention.

Proofpoint’s survey also assessed how confident CISOs are with the cyber insurance of their organizations, and whether the coverage would actually pay out when required. 88% of Canadian CISOs trust their coverage, compared to the global average of 58%. By comparison, only 49% of American CISOs have full trust in their cyber coverage.

However, it was also noted that while CISO’s favour prevention, four in 10 CISOs said their organizations do not have any plan in place should they be forced to pay a ransom following a successful ransomware attack. Proofpoint also found that 72% of Canadian CISOs said they felt that they are at risk of suffering a material cyber attack in the next 12 months – up from 50% the previous year.