More than half of Canadians say they would likely stop doing business with a company after a breach involving their personal information, according to a new report from Bell Cyber that highlights the potential consequences of cybersecurity failures for businesses.
The report, Modern Cybersecurity: Canadian Expectations and Enterprise Responsibilities, found that 77 per cent of Canadians said they had been personally targeted by a cyberattack in the past year, while 38 per cent had avoided a company because of cybersecurity concerns. It also found that 69 per cent were more concerned about cyber threats than they were two years ago.
The findings suggest cybersecurity is increasingly affecting how consumers evaluate businesses and decide which organizations they trust with their personal information.
AI threats add to concerns
Artificial intelligence is emerging as another source of concern, with 76 per cent of Canadians believing AI is helping criminals create convincing scams faster than organizations can stop them.
Nearly half of respondents said they had received a communication in the past year that they suspected had been generated or altered using AI. However, only 31 per cent said they were confident Canadian organizations could protect their personal information from AI-enabled attacks.
The report also identified gaps in workplace cybersecurity training, with only 35 per cent of Canadian employees saying they had received adequate training. That figure fell to 22 per cent among employees at small businesses.
More than half of employees surveyed, or 56 per cent, said they had independently sought cybersecurity information, pointing to a potential gap between the training workers receive and the knowledge they believe they need to recognize and respond to threats.
John Menezes, president and chief executive of Bell Cyber, said cybersecurity has become a fundamental consideration in how Canadians assess the organizations with which they do business.
"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. Canadians increasingly companies to protect sensitive information, communicate clearly when something goes wrong and keep pace with increasingly complex threats. Organizations that want to earn and maintain that trust need to be ready to detect and respond quickly."
Transparency and investment seen as trust factors
The report identifies communication, visible investment in cybersecurity, employee training and control over sensitive data as four areas where businesses can work to strengthen consumer confidence.
Timely updates about threats and transparency around data protection were identified as the leading drivers of trust amid AI-related risks. The findings also suggest that businesses can demonstrate their commitment to security through visible spending on cybersecurity measures.
About 65 per cent of respondents said visible cybersecurity investments increased their trust in a company. The report also points to the importance of data storage and service providers, with 47 per cent saying they had greater trust in organizations that stored data on Canadian servers.
Another 40 per cent said they trusted organizations more when cybersecurity was managed by a Canadian provider.
The findings indicate that businesses face expectations not only to protect customer information but also to communicate their security practices and demonstrate their ability to respond when problems arise.
Practical, role-specific employee training is another measure highlighted in the report, which recommends equipping workers to recognize threats and respond effectively.
Bell outlines AI-driven security approach
Bell Cyber said it is working with Canadian organizations through its Autonomous Security Operations Centre (ASOC) and a cybersecurity-specific large language model developed with Cohere.
The system combines specialized cyber intelligence with AI agents and is designed to detect, investigate and contain threats at machine speed, with human oversight and response guardrails.
The capabilities run on Bell AI Fabric in Canada, which the company said brings together faster threat response and Canadian control over sensitive security data.
The report's findings are based on an online survey commissioned by Bell and conducted through Léger's national research panel. The survey ran from July 29 to Aug. 5, 2026, and included 1,523 Canadian residents aged 18 and older.
Results were weighted using the most recent census data to reflect Canada's demographic profile by age, gender and geography.
Bell said the online survey was not based on a random probability sample, meaning a margin of error cannot be calculated. For comparison purposes only, a probability-based sample of the same size would have an estimated margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.