When it comes to data breaches, consumers hold companies responsible more than themselves.
That’s one of the takeaways from Gemalto’s 2016 Data Breaches and Customer Loyalty report, which was released mid-January.
Businesses should take note: The study found that 66 percent of respondents say they’d be unlikely to do business with organizations that expose their financial and sensitive information.
The study interviewed more than 9,000 consumers from the United States as well as Australia, Benelux, France, Germany, Russia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, Japan and the United Kingdom.
Back to the issue of responsibility. Respondents believe “70 percent of the responsibility for protecting and securing customer data lies with the companies, and only 30 percent of the responsibility with themselves,” according to this press release about the report.
That being said, we’ve also become a rather cynical lot, likely thanks to the barrage of headlines about data breaches. Only 29 percent of consumers believe companies are taking their personal data protection very seriously, according to the report.
“Consumers have clearly made the decision that they are prepared to take risks when it comes to their security, but should anything go wrong they put the blame with the business,” said Jason Hart, CTO for Data Protection at Gemalto. “The modern-day consumer is all about convenience and they expect businesses to provide this, while also keeping their data safe.
“With the impending threats of consumers taking legal action against companies, an education process is clearly needed to show consumers the steps they are taking to protect their data. Implementing and educating about advanced protocols like two-factor authentication and encryption solutions, should show consumers that the protection of their personal data is being taken very seriously.”
People are also increasingly scared of their data being stolen — 58 percent of respondents believe it will happen to them in the future.
Since more than 4.8 billion data records have been exposed since 2013, we’d say there is good cause for people’s concern.
It also seems that while people are aware of the threats posed to them online, they aren’t about to change their behaviors.
According to the press release:
- 80 percent use social media, despite 59 percent believing these networks pose a great risk.
- 87 percent use online or mobile banking, with 34 percent believing they leave them vulnerable to cybercriminals.
- Consumers are also more likely to shop online during busy commercial periods such as Black Friday and Christmas (2 percent increase online versus -2 percent decrease in store), despite 21 percent admitting the threat of cybercrime increases a lot during these periods.
And people definitely aren’t listening to the “practice good password hygiene” advice that’s so prevalent:
According to the survey, 53 percent use the same password across some of their accounts, while 13 percent admitted to using one password for everything.
To read more, ZDnet.com covered the report here.
Is your business covered for a data breach?
Image: Pixabay