As we near Black Friday and Cyber Monday, widely recognized as one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year, consumers and businesses alike are prepping for the inevitable influx of online shopping brought forth by the past year of increased remote work and social distancing. The need for online operations to run smoothly is greater and so is the need for organizational data to stay secure from cyber threat.
David Masson, Director of Enterprise Security, Darktrace had this to say:
We are now battling attackers that understand their victims’ business models extremely well – using this knowledge to hit where, and when, it hurts the most. Black Friday is typically a busy and important day for retail, but now with increased pressure on online shopping, hackers are preparing attacks to profit from this and take advantage.
Hackers are using ransomware to not just disrupt the cyber realm, but also to grind organizations to a halt and interrupt critical business processes – we can expect many more of these types of attacks to hit the retail sector at the tail end of this year. At Darktrace, we’ve seen the rising trend in ransomware firsthand, and our AI has already stopped several attempted ransomware attacks across the retail sector in the past month alone.
As the retail sector braces itself for an online shopping season like never before, with a more stretched out timeframe than just one day of deals and savings for their customers, companies must proceed with caution. Increasing their cyber defenses are critical for benefiting from strong sales and keeping their businesses operational. Artificial intelligence is already a crucial ally for the retail sector across Canada – the technology is always on, it doesn’t take breaks and it augments human defenders at a time that will make or break many retailers.
New Workforce Challenges Emerge In Canada As Remote Work Expands: SAP
Posted in Commentary with tags SAP on November 25, 2020 by itnerdChanges to the workplace are accelerating in Canada, forcing leaders to adapt to unexpected disruptions, anticipate future challenges, and plan for strategic changes, according to a survey released today by Oxford Economics, the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) and SAP SuccessFactors, a division of SAP SE.
Some 50 per cent of Canadian respondents said they expect flexible work policies to be a talent differentiator, according to the report “The Future of Work Arrives Early: How HR Leaders are Leveraging the Lessons of Disruptions.” However, 57 per cent expect maintaining productivity given new ways of working to be an ongoing challenge. More than 37 per cent of respondents said that establishing a culture that supports remote employees will also be a challenge when the pandemic subsides, and most acknowledge that their workers have had very different experiences depending on if they are salaried, hourly, office or field workers. Nearly 30 per cent of respondents plan to invest in listening tools or employee surveys, which could help organizations keep a pulse on employee sentiment as changes to the workplace continue.
The report found that 74 per cent of respondents in Canada said their company has the technology it needs to navigate the changing work environment, and 37 per cent expect to invest in remote collaboration tools. Still, only 22 per cent of respondents said that their workers can work remotely and have the necessary technology and environment to do so effectively. Some 38 per cent of respondents expect to reduce their office footprint.
When it comes to attracting talent, 17 per cent of respondents in Canada believe competing for talent will be a major challenge. Top factors to attract and retain talent include flexible work policies (62 per cent), finding new ways of delivering/selling/marketing existing products and services (61 per cent), and the financial stability of the organization (59 per cent).
Looking forward, only 27 per cent of respondents in Canada are planning to invest in learning programs for reskilling and upskilling over the next 12 months. This compares to 22 per cent of U.S. respondents and 38 per cent of respondents outside of the U.S., despite employee readiness to learn new skills.
“The Future of Work Arrives Early: How HR Leaders are Leveraging the Lessons of Disruption” reportsurveyed HR leaders in 10 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. The data in this press release represents more than 300 HR leaders in Canada. Download the Canadian report and the global report.
Leave a comment »