The pandemic has shifted more and more of what we do online. Cybercriminals have followed.<\/p>\n
In a global health crisis that most of us\u2014countries, businesses and individuals\u2014saw as a challenge, cybercriminals saw opportunity. Early on in the pandemic, the World Health Organization experienced a fivefold<\/a> increase in cyberattacks, as criminals stole WHO employees’ credentials to spread misinformation and thwart its efforts to respond to the crisis. Since then, cybercriminals have targeted the global race to develop a vaccine, targeting drug-development research with the apparent aim of profiting from other countries’ intellectual property.<\/p>\n While interfering in a global health crisis is especially troubling, cybercrime doesn’t stop there. According to the Canadian Centre for Cybersecurity<\/a>, it’s a major threat to all Canadians and businesses, to our infrastructure and to our public institutions. And it’s on the rise. In the year after a Canadian federal data-breach reporting law went into effect on Nov. 1, 2018, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada<\/a> received 680 breach reports affecting some 28 million Canadians. That was before the pandemic forced even more of our work, commerce and learning online.<\/p>\n It’s a subject that preoccupies privacy expert and recent Disruptors<\/i> guest Ron Deibert.<\/p>\n
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