Four in Ten (41%) Small and Medium-Sized Business Owners Think Data Thieves and Hackers Aren't Interested in a Business of Their Size

Toronto, ON -- Small and medium-sized business owners who have the capacity to process debit/credit transactions could be underestimating the degree to which fraudsters are targeting their business, with a new Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of Visa revealing that four in ten (41%) `agree' (10% strongly/30% somewhat) that `data thieves and hackers are not interested' in a business of their size. The majority (59%), though, `disagrees' (29% strongly/30% somewhat) with this premise.

Despite many potentially underestimating the bull's-eye that thieves are placing on their business' data, most are not taking a lackadaisical approach to storing that data securely. Four in ten (39%) say that securing their customer's information is `vital' to their business, and it's a `well thought-out part' of their business and operations. A similar proportion (41%) says it's `important, although it's not something they have formally planned for', but that they use `common sense to keep things safe'.

Two in ten (20%) think that it's either `not relevant to their business' (15%) or are `not sure how important it is, but that it's an area that is probably not given adequate attention' (5%).

As a matter of routine, six in ten SMBs keep electronic files with their customer's information. Among those that do, eight percent (8%) only encrypt the data, while four in ten (39%) only password protect the data, and another four in ten (39%) do both. Just 14% neither encrypt nor password protect their customers' data.

One half (48%) of small and medium-sized business owners have at some point sought out information about how to properly handle and store their customer's information. Almost one in four (24%) SME owners say they do not know or are not sure where to turn to get information about how to better secure information at their business.

These are the findings of a poll conducted on behalf of Visa from February 2 to February 9, 2009. This online survey of 885 small and medium-sized business owners (1-250 employees) in Canada was conducted via the Ipsos I-Say Online Panel, Ipsos Reid's national online panel. The results of these polls are based on a sample where quota sampling and weighting are employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to Census data. Quota samples with weighting from the Ipsos online panel provide results that are intended to approximate a probability sample. Statistical margins of error are not applicable to online polls, however, an unweighted probability sample of this size, with a 100% response rate, would have an estimated margin of error of +/- 3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had the entire adult population small and medium-sized business in Canada been polled.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
Sean Simpson
Research Manager
Ipsos Reid
Public Affairs
(416) 572-4474
[email protected]

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