A recent study by Interac Corp has shown our cultural identity yet again; Canadians are more concerned about fraud and phishing scams than they are about home break-ins, violence, vehicle theft or plane crashes.
One quarter of Canucks have clicked on a link (in an email, on a website or an advertisement) that resulted in a phishing scam. Keep in mind, of course, that these were only from the respondents to this survey, it does not include the full impact to Canadians and it’s highly likely the numbers are strikingly higher.
Further to the confessions of getting scammed, we Canadians are worse than cats when it comes to curiosity; 65% of respondents confessed to feeling extremely tempted to click on a link that they knew there was something phishy about.

“As payment fraud increasingly migrates online through scams like phishing, the continued work we do with our partners to detect and prevent fraudulent activity has never been more important,” said Rob Fodor, Chief Data Scientist and VP of Fraud, Interac Corp. “It’s also why we feel strongly about arming Canadians with the information they need to spot, avoid and report any phishing scams they may come across.”
At ActiveCo, we believe strongly in ongoing security awareness training for any workforce. By ongoing, we truly mean working with our clients on a monthly basis to ensure their teams are being reminded on best practices for security, as well as executing training programs to give ownership further business intelligence on their team.
Security is a global issue and impacts every business, big or small, Canadian or Swiss. It’s not enough to assume businesses of a certain industry, a certain size, or in a certain location, will not be targeted by hackers. If you’ve ever thought “that won’t happen to me“, it’s time to change thinking to “I need to be ready if and when that happens to me!”
Do you feel prepared today?
Many small-to-medium sized companies to have no security strategy in place. The most common reason we hear is simple uncertainty on how to get started. We open our doors for an introduction on how to properly manage, maintain and execute security awareness training. We are proud that our clients can prove to their own clients and partners that they have taken steps to protect their data, and their staff, in this world’s insecure business climate.
Would you consider letting us help you find the right security awareness program for your business?