Study: Canadian companies want homegrown cybersecurity options

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has released its 2025 Cybersecurity Survey, which reveals that an increasing number of professionals are opting for more homegrown options when considering a cybersecurity provider.

According to survey data, 82 per cent of experts say that the country of origin has become more important when considering cybersecurity providers. An interesting point is that 56 percent of respondents said they have reconsidered a U.S.-based cybersecurity option due to trade and current political uncertainty.

One interesting point that the study uncovered is that while nearly all companies (98 per cent) conduct cybersecurity training, 57 per cent of companies report performing this training monthly, which remains roughly unchanged since 2022, despite the threat of cyberattacks becoming more hostile. Regarding cyberattacks, one in four (24 per cent) Canadian companies reported being the victims of ransomware within the past year. Among these victims, 74 per cent reported having their data stolen, with 74 per cent paying a ransom, which the study noted was typically more than $25,000. In terms of data breaches, 42 per cent of the organizations polled reported a breach of customer or employee data in 2025, up from 29 per cent in 2022.

In terms of AI, 70 per cent of respondents are worried about potential cyber threats from generative AI. However, only 18 per cent were very worried, and 52 per cent answered that they were somewhat worried. The survey also notes that organizations are most concerned about data gathered by AI tools (65 per cent of respondents) and improved phishing emails/texts (61 per cent of respondents). Organizations also expressed concern about deepfakes (images, videos, and audio).

On the topic of deepfakes, Spotify recently announced that it is cracking down on AI-generated music and deepfake covers on the platform.

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