Cybersecurity attacks are on the rise and getting more costly for business and governments, according to new statistics on the topic.

Newfoundland and Labrador is still dealing with the fallout from a cybersecurity attack on the province’s health care system back in October of 2021.

The parent company that owns Sobeys and other brands recently got hit by what it called a “cybersecurity event” affecting access to pharmacy prescriptions, rewards programs and gift cards.

The cost of such attacks then gets passed on to ordinary citizens, according to IBM cybersecurity expert Evan O’Regan.

“The people who are doing this are unscrupulous,’ he says. “If there’s money to be made, they’re going to be doing it.”

O’Regan says attacks are becoming more commonplace. Of more concern, he says, is the fact that they are targeting energy and utility companies.

“They were at the top of the victim list in Canada,” says O’Regan, adding they made up 60 per cent of all the attacks that IBM responded to in 2022.

He says that’s no surprise given the hostilities in Ukraine and the resulting demand for energy.