Twenty-three percent of Canadian cybersecurity teams never speak with their executive team about cybersecurity, but of those that did, 23 percent spoke just annually, and 24 percent spoke with the C-Suite semi-annually. Only 13 percent of IT Canadian security professionals spoke with executives quarterly, according to a new Ponemon Institute study with Websense, Inc.

The study revealed a knowledge and resource gap in the enterprise, which leads to an increased level of vulnerability and risk of data security breaches. According to the study, only 31 percent of Canadian IT and IT security practitioners believe their companies invest enough in skilled personnel and technologies to be effective in the enterprise’s security mission.

Security teams are also calling for a complete security system refresh: 29 percent of respondents would do a complete overhaul of their current enterprise security system if the resources and opportunity were available. Fifty-one percent felt frequently disappointed with the level of protection their current security solution offered.

However, a data breach could trigger a change of security vendors for 44 percent of respondents. The security professionals surveyed feel that the top three events that would compel Canadian executive teams to allocate more money to cybersecurity initiatives are:

• Exfiltration of intellectual property (70 percent)
• Data breach involving customer data (58 percent)
• Loss of revenues because of system downtime (46 percent)

On an encouraging note, 46 percent say they are planning on making significant investments and adjustments to cybersecurity defenses in the next 12 months.