Canadian financial sector faces rising cybersecurity challenges: report

The Canadian financial services industry is seeing a surge in cybercrime and fraud, according to new data from LexisNexis Risk Solutions.

Focusing on transactions and attacks observed in 2022, the report from LexisNexis found that globally, digital fraud was up from 2021 levels, with the global attack rate up 20% year-over-year. The study analyzed 79.8 billion global transactions between January and December 2022 across industries.

Canadian financial services organizations are among the biggest targets, ranking second only to their Latin American counterparts, the report found. Particularly vulnerable areas within the industry include new account openings and payments, with attack rates of 5.2% and 5.8%, respectively.

“This study shows that Canadian organizations experience unique fraud trends compared to global and U.S. averages,” said Alanna Shuh, director of fraud and identity strategy for Canada at LexisNexis Risk Solutions

“The growth in bot volume in Canada was substantial and certain industries such as financial services experienced some of the highest attack rates globally.”

Mobile devices have become a central aspect of transactions in Canada, with 80% of transactions taking place through mobile channels. This trend has brought about its own set of challenges, with the report noting that the mobile browser attack rate increased to 5.1% year-over-year compared to the global average of 2.7% during the same period.

Earlier this year, the personal information of some investment clients was revealed to hackers in a cyber breach. In July, investors affected by the breach launched a class action against Mackenzie Investments, Edward Jones, InvestorCOM Inc., and Fortra LLC, alleging these firms failed to prevent the breach despite being aware of the risks.

Maddie Johnson

Maddie is a freelance writer and editor who has been reporting for Advisor.ca since 2019.