TORONTO – October 24, 2007 – The Fusepoint Data Confidence Survey, conducted by Leger Marketing, reports that a full 85% of working Canadians are concerned about personal information being stored in online databases and 12% say they have been a victim of identity theft or know someone who has. Interestingly, 22% of working Canadians admit to taking greater care of their own personal information than that of their clients or customers, and one in six (17%) report that their company has been affected by a security breach.
"Security is not just a technology issue; it's a corporate governance issue," said George Kerns, President and CEO of Fusepoint Managed Services. “Many executives are speeding down the information superhighway without a seat belt and putting businesses and consumers at risk. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of protection when it comes to sensitive data.”
Poll results also show that although executives believe that security threats from external hackers have increased since 2005, internal agents such as employees who may unknowingly download viruses, spyware, or adware represent an equal security threat. Additionally, more than two-fifths of executives (42%) have no idea what the dollar value associated with a security breach would be to their business.
Protecting Sensitive Information
While the majority of Canadian businesses use data protection technology, a significant proportion of businesses are not protecting themselves from the risk of external attacks on data.
• One in five executives at Canadian companies report that their company currently does not use anti-virus software and one quarter operate without a firewall.
• Anti-virus software (80%), firewalls (73%) and monitoring and alerting (36%) remain the most commonly used data security measures according to executives.
• Adoption of security services increases as the company size increases.
• Two thirds (62%) of executives say that a data security breach will impact their brand.
• Only two in five (37%) of Canadian executives are very confident they are protected against an attack.
• Majority of Canadian executives feel personally responsible for data security in their company (81%).
• In light of recent news headlines about significant security breaches, 39% of Canadian executives surveyed admitted to taking no action and carrying on with business as usual.
Security Breaches and Concerns with Sharing Data
• One in six (17%) working Canadians report that their company has been affected by a security breach.
• 30% of Canadians working for companies with more than 500 employees say their company has been affected by a security breach.
