Signal 02 · · CCN Intelligence
Cybersecurity Is Becoming a Customer Loyalty Issue
Cybersecurity is increasingly influencing customer confidence and business relationships. A new Bell Cyber study found that 77% of Canadians surveyed reported being targeted by a cyberattack in the previous year, while 57% said they would likely leave a company following a breach involving their personal information. Only 31% expressed confidence in Canadian organizations' ability to protect against AI-enabled attacks. The findings raise an important business question: As cyber threats become more sophisticated, can organizations demonstrate the security and accountability needed to maintain customer trust?
What happened
Bell Cyber released its national study, Modern Cybersecurity: Canadian Expectations and Enterprise Responsibilities, on October 21. Conducted by Léger among 1,523 Canadian adults, the research found that 77% reported being personally targeted by a cyberattack in the previous year, 57% said they would likely leave a company after a breach involving their personal information, and 38% had avoided a company because of cybersecurity concerns. The study also found that 76% believed AI helps criminals create convincing scams faster than organizations can stop them, while only 31% expressed confidence in Canadian organizations' ability to protect against AI-enabled attacks. Meanwhile, 65% said visible cybersecurity investments increased their trust. The survey identified gaps in workplace cybersecurity training, particularly among small businesses. These findings reflect respondents' experiences and perceptions, not independently verified cyberattack or breach rates.
Why it matters for Canada
Cybersecurity is moving beyond a technology and compliance responsibility into a broader business concern. A breach can affect customer retention, reputation, revenue and confidence in an organization's leadership. AI-enabled fraud, impersonation and social engineering are increasing the difficulty of distinguishing legitimate communications from malicious activity. This creates pressure on businesses to demonstrate that customer information is protected and that incidents can be managed effectively. For Canadian SMEs, limited cybersecurity resources and employee training can make these challenges particularly difficult. The findings also suggest that Canadian data residency and domestic cybersecurity providers influence some consumers' confidence. However, Canadian hosting alone does not guarantee stronger security. The challenge is converting cybersecurity investment into protection that customers can understand and trust.
What CCN sees
CCN Intelligence sees Bell Cyber's findings as evidence of a significant change in the relationship between cybersecurity and business performance. Cybersecurity is increasingly becoming part of how customers evaluate the organizations they trust. This creates a new responsibility for leadership. Protecting information remains a technical and operational requirement, but maintaining confidence is a broader organizational challenge involving governance, communications, employee behaviour and customer relationships. The research also highlights an important contradiction. Consumers appear increasingly concerned about cyber threats, yet many have limited confidence in organizations' ability to protect them. Closing that gap will require more than additional technology spending. Businesses need to demonstrate that cybersecurity investments produce meaningful improvements in prevention, detection, response and resilience. They also need to communicate honestly about what can and cannot be guaranteed. No organization can eliminate cyber risk entirely. Promising complete protection would be neither credible nor sustainable. Trust is strengthened when organizations establish reasonable safeguards, communicate transparently, respond effectively to incidents and take responsibility for protecting the information entrusted to them. The growing influence of AI makes this even more important. As attackers use automation to produce more convincing scams and accelerate malicious activity, defenders must improve their own capabilities while maintaining appropriate human judgment and accountability. For Canada, there is an opportunity to strengthen its position as a trusted provider of cybersecurity services and digital infrastructure. But that reputation must be earned through demonstrated performance, not simply national branding or data residency claims. Cybersecurity is no longer only about protecting the business. It is increasingly about protecting the relationships that make the business possible.
What leaders should consider
Boards and executive teams should evaluate cybersecurity alongside customer retention, reputation and operational resilience. Businesses should be able to explain their security commitments clearly without disclosing sensitive technical information or promising complete protection. Practical employee training, strong authentication, effective monitoring and tested incident-response plans remain essential. Organizations should also consider how AI-enabled threats are changing fraud prevention, customer communications and security operations. For cybersecurity providers, the opportunity is to demonstrate measurable business outcomes rather than relying primarily on technical capabilities or product claims.
What to watch next
Watch whether Canadian businesses begin treating customer confidence in cybersecurity as a measurable business indicator. AI-enabled impersonation, fraud and social engineering will remain important threats, particularly as automation becomes more accessible. Bell Cyber's collaboration with Cohere and its AI-enabled security operations initiatives will be worth following for evidence of improved protection and response capabilities. Watch how Canadian financial institutions, telecommunications providers and digital service companies communicate security commitments and respond to incidents. The broader question is whether organizations can close the gap between growing customer expectations and demonstrated security performance.
People to Watch
John Menezes — President and CEO of Bell Cyber; AI-enabled cybersecurity and customer trust. Sami Khoury — Former head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security; national cyber resilience and public confidence. Canadian CISOs and business executives — Increasingly responsible for connecting cybersecurity performance to customer and business outcomes.
Organizations to Watch
Bell Cyber — Publisher of the study and developer of AI-enabled cybersecurity capabilities. Léger — Research organization responsible for the national survey. Cohere — Canadian AI company collaborating with Bell on cybersecurity applications. Canadian Centre for Cyber Security — National cybersecurity guidance and threat intelligence. Canadian telecommunications, financial and digital service providers — Industries where trust and security directly influence customer relationships.