The industry is one of the most targeted amid a significant increase in attacks overall
Canada’s financial services industry is at increasingly high risk of being targeted by cyber criminals according to a new report.
The LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ Canadian Cybercrime and Fraud Trends Report reveals a drastic rise in attacks initiated by humans or bots during 2022 based on 8 billion transactions processed by the firm’s Digital Identity Network.
The report shows a 32% increase in human-initiated attacks year-over-year while those initiated by bots surged 52%.
With more Canadians using mobile devices for transactions (80% of the transactions analyzed were mobile) there has also been a sharp rise in mobile browser attacks. The attack rate was up year-over-year to 5.1%, well above the global average of 2.7%.
Financial services firms
The financial services industry was at high risk, with Canadian firms experiencing one of the highest attack rates overall, second only to LatAm financial firms. Account opening (5.2%) and payments (5.8%) saw the highest attack rates. Canada’s ecommerce industry posted a 183% rise in bot attacks.
"This study shows that Canadian organizations experience unique fraud trends compared to global and U.S. averages. The growth in bot volume in Canada was substantial and certain industries such as financial services experienced some of the highest attack rates globally," said Alanna Shuh, director, fraud and identity strategy for Canada, LexisNexis Risk Solutions. "It's clear that organizations utilizing a global intelligence consortium and layering solutions at each consumer touchpoint are better equipped to stop fraud in its tracks, especially given the increasing size and complexity of global fraud networks."
The report follows a recent analysis from PwC which warned that more Canadian individuals and organizations are being targeted by increasingly sophisticated criminals using tools such as artificial intelligence.
