- In this report
- Overview
- Phishing
- Viruses
- Spam
- Spyware
- Social networking
- A safer net
- How criminals deceive
- Where criminals plot
- State of the Net
- Properly erasing hard drives
- Ways to stay safe online
- Canadian online security
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September 2007
Canadians on the internet
Canadians, on a per capita basis, face just as many computer viruses and worms as Americans. They might even face more because,
on average, Canadians view one-third more Web pages than Americans, according to ComScore, which researches online browsing
and transaction behavior. (One possible reason: A higher proportion of Canadians have broadband access, which allows for faster
connections. More than 89 percent of Canadians with Internet access have broadband, compared with the 74 percent of Net-connected
Americans.)
There's ample evidence of online threats to Canadians. Canadian e-mail addresses are now targeted by malware that is specific to Canadian companies, such as CIBC and Royal Bank. Much of it is organized crime, said Claudiu Popa, president and CSO of security consultant Informatica Corp. "They're throwing serious money at it," Popa said, "and they're probably using commercial data-mining tools to precisely target [consumers]."
Such online attacks are also becoming more sophisticated, said Pierre Julien, director of marketing and sales with Sigma Assiste, a subsidiary of Desjardins Financial Security. With the popularity of social networking sites, such as YouTube and Facebook, people are actually volunteering personal information without considering the consequences. The problem is such a concern that the Government of Ontario has prohibited its employees from using Facebook at work.
In its first edition of a cross-Canada survey on identity theft, conducted by Surveys, Opinion Polls and Marketing (SOM) on behalf of Sigma Assistel, 2 out of 3 Canadians are concerned about identity theft, while 4 out of 10 believe they will be victims of identity theft in the years ahead. And according to data compiled by the Phone Busters call centre, 7,778 Canadians were victims of identity theft in 2006, with related losses totaling $16.3 million.
Canadians, then, clearly need to follow all the steps to protect themselves that we recommend in our report.
There's ample evidence of online threats to Canadians. Canadian e-mail addresses are now targeted by malware that is specific to Canadian companies, such as CIBC and Royal Bank. Much of it is organized crime, said Claudiu Popa, president and CSO of security consultant Informatica Corp. "They're throwing serious money at it," Popa said, "and they're probably using commercial data-mining tools to precisely target [consumers]."
Such online attacks are also becoming more sophisticated, said Pierre Julien, director of marketing and sales with Sigma Assiste, a subsidiary of Desjardins Financial Security. With the popularity of social networking sites, such as YouTube and Facebook, people are actually volunteering personal information without considering the consequences. The problem is such a concern that the Government of Ontario has prohibited its employees from using Facebook at work.
In its first edition of a cross-Canada survey on identity theft, conducted by Surveys, Opinion Polls and Marketing (SOM) on behalf of Sigma Assistel, 2 out of 3 Canadians are concerned about identity theft, while 4 out of 10 believe they will be victims of identity theft in the years ahead. And according to data compiled by the Phone Busters call centre, 7,778 Canadians were victims of identity theft in 2006, with related losses totaling $16.3 million.
Canadians, then, clearly need to follow all the steps to protect themselves that we recommend in our report.
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