By analyzing data from the 2.2 million users of its free cybersecurity service, CIRA Canadian Shield, the Q4 Insights report offers a deep dive into some of the trends detected from October to
Malware (malicious software designed to compromise devices) topped the threat rankings with 17.3 million blocks, while phishing attacks (scams where attackers use various impersonation techniques to steal user data) saw the biggest increase throughout the year with a 306% increase from the first quarter.
Canadians’ interest in cryptocurrency has increased dramatically over the past few years, and cybercriminals were paying attention. According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center (CAFC), between January and
CIRA’s new General Manager of Cybersecurity and DNS Services,
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“Everyone should feel like they can access the internet without fear of threats, scams and attacks. We offer CIRA’s Canadian Shield service as a free service so all Canadians can have a safer online experience, and it’s a key way to build a trusted Canadian Internet through our investment program community,” said Tanya O’Callaghan, CIRA Vice President. , Community Investment, Policy and Advocacy.
Main findings
- In 2021, recorded phishing blocks quadrupled, between the first and last quarters of the year.
- A total of 13.3 million requests were blocked between October and
December 2021 the highest quarterly total in 2021 and a significant increase from the previous quarter. - Cryptocurrency and online streaming were the top sources of fraudulent sites, accounting for 21.1% of all blocked requests for cryptocurrency sites and 15.4% for online streaming sites.
- In
December 2021 a total of 91,120 blocked requests were associated with attempts to exploit the Log4j vulnerability. - The report suggests that cybercriminals are adjusting their scams to peak times of online shopping, around
6-9 p.m. ET .
About CIRA Canadian Shield
CIRA’s Canadian Shield is a free cybersecurity service that improves privacy and blocks botnets, phishing, ransomware and other malware as one of the many ways we are building a Canadian Internet of confidence through our community investment program. CIRA has partnered with
CIRA Canadian Shield is designed by Canadians, exclusively for Canadians, and was recently named the default DNS over HTTPS resolver for Mozilla Firefox users in
About CIRA
CIRA (
Media Contacts
Delphine Avomo Evouna
Communications Specialist, CIRA
613.315.1458
[email protected]
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