Consumers increasingly aware of online security risks, but hold businesses responsible for data breaches, finds Gemalto study

• Only 30% of consumers believe companies are taking their personal data protection very seriously

• 58% of consumers fear they will be victims of an online data breach

66% would be unlikely to do business with organizations responsible for exposing financial and sensitive information

Amsterdam, Jan 17, 2017 - Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, today released the findings of its 2016 Data Breaches and Customer Loyalty report, revealing that consumers put responsibility for protecting their personal data firmly at the hands of the organizations holding their data - and not themselves.

According to the 9,000 consumers surveyed in Australia, Benelux, France, Germany, Russia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States, 70% of the responsibility for protecting and securing customer data lies with companies and only 30% of the responsibility with themselves. Yet, less than a third (29%) consumers believe companies are taking protection of their personal data very seriously. This comes as consumers are becoming increasingly fearful of their data being stolen, with 58% believing it will happen to them in the future. More than 4.8 billion data records have been exposed since 2013 with identity theft being the leading type of data breach accounting for 64% of all data breaches^[1].

Where consumers see most risk
Despite becoming more aware of the threats posed to them online, only one in ten (11%) believe there are no apps or websites out there that pose the greatest risk to them and consumers are not changing behavior as a result:

• 80% use social media, despite 59% believing these networks pose a great risk
• 87% use online or mobile banking, with 34% 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% increase online versus -2% decrease in store), despite 21% admitting the threat of cybercrime increases a lot during these periods

Consumer attitudes on data breaches
Nearly six in ten (58%) consumers believe they will be a victim of a breach at some point, and organizations need to be prepared for the loss of business such incidents may cause. The majority of consumers who currently use the following, say they would stop using a retailer (60%), bank (58%) or social media site (56%) if it suffered a breach, while 66% say they would be unlikely to do business with an organization that experienced a breach where their financial and sensitive information was stolen.