Customers are judging your cybersecurity before they buy

Nearly four in 10 Canadians say they’ve avoided a company over its cybersecurity. Ask what happens after a breach that exposes their own information and 57% say they’d likely leave.

Both figures come from a new Bell Cyber poll of 1,523 Canadians, which sets customer loyalty against the costs a breach is usually counted in, like forensics, notification and the regulator’s questions.

The customers who don’t come back rarely get a figure attached.

What happened

Bell Cyber, Bell’s cybersecurity business, released the findings on Oct. 21.

The Bell-commissioned survey ran online through Léger’s national panel from July 29 to Aug. 5. Results were weighted by age, gender, and geography using census data. 

Among respondents, 77% say they were personally targeted by a cyberattack in the past year. Only 31% are confident Canadian organizations can protect their personal information from AI-enabled attacks.

“Cyber threats are now part of the operating environment for Canadian organizations and this report shows that cybersecurity is fundamental to how Canadians judge the organizations they do business with,” says John Menezes, president and CEO of Bell Cyber.

The context

Respondents also identified things that would increase their trust. Visible cybersecurity investment matters to 65%, and 47% trust organizations more when data is stored on Canadian servers. Having a Canadian cybersecurity provider increases trust for 40%.

Bell, which commissioned the survey, also sells cybersecurity services hosted in Canada.

The findings measure what people say builds trust. They don’t establish that Canadian hosting provides better protection, or that customers follow through on a stated intention to leave.

Why this matters now

Bell asked Canadians about the companies holding their data and the workplaces they know from the inside. Among employees, only 35% believe they’ve received adequate cybersecurity training, falling to 22% at small businesses.

Employees are customers elsewhere, too. They’re being asked to trust other companies with their information while many remain unconvinced their own employer has prepared them to protect someone else’s.