Security

Does anyone see my information when my questionnaire is being submitted?

No. Information is transmitted from your computer to Statistics Canada using a secure encryption protocol.

How does Statistics Canada stop hackers or other unauthorized people from accessing census test information?

Statistics Canada takes every precaution to protect your information. Transport Layer Security (also known as TLS) enhances the privacy of the information passing between your browser and our servers. By encrypting the information, this protocol provides a safe passage for data transmission and authentication.

Sophisticated security techniques, software, hardware, and procedures are used to protect your information. Census test data are processed and stored on a highly restricted internal network and cannot be accessed by anyone who has not taken the oath of secrecy. Data submitted to our web servers are encrypted before being stored, and they remain encrypted until they are transferred to the high-security internal network.

Does the online questionnaire have built-in security features to protect information in the event of a system failure?

Yes. In the event of a system failure, respondents’ data are not accessible to outside people or systems. Internally, safeguards are in place to ensure that there is no unauthorized access to data.