Only seven per cent of Canadians say they are very confident in the ability of Canadian retailers, governments and banks to protect their personal information, a new national survey by CA Canada, an enterprise software company, has revealed.

Of the three types of organizations, Canadian retailers fared the worst, with less than 1% of consumers saying they are very confident retailers can protect their customers’ online personal and private information.

Canada’s Big Banks also performed poorly, with only 9% of Canadians reporting they are very confident that large financial institutions can protect on-line customer information.

Though far from a ringing endorsement, federal and provincial governments performed the best in the opinion of Canadians. Of those polled, 12% said they are very confident that Canadian governments can protect on-line personal and private information.

According to the CA Canada 2008 Security and Privacy Survey, Canadian security executives echoed consumers’ concerns, with only 36% of those surveyed saying they are very confident in their organization’s ability to protect itself against losing customer or transaction data.

Additionally, the consumer survey indicated that 85% of Canadian consumers cite loss of trust and confidence, damage to reputation, and reduced customer satisfaction as consequences of major security and privacy breaches suffered by the business or government organizations that they deal with.

“Canadian businesses and governments that are managing consumer data and information without robust data security are performing a high wire act without a net,” says Renee Lalonde, regional vice president, CA Canada. “All it takes is one major security or privacy breach and the confidence and satisfaction customers have in those organizations is severely compromised.”

For the survey, a total of 200 telephone and online surveys were conducted among a random sample of large Canadian firms/organizations. Those interviewed included chief security officers, chief information officers, chief technology officers and other senior executives responsible for IT security. All surveys were completed during the period March-April 2008 by The Strategic Counsel on behalf of CA Canada. Margin of error is plus/minus 4.5%, at a confidence level of 95%.

For the consumer portion of the study, a total of 400 telephone surveys were conducted among a random sample of the Canadian general population aged 18-65. All surveys were completed during April 2008 by The Strategic Counsel. Margin of error is plus/minus 4.9%, at a confidence level of 95%.