Australian consumers are somewhat skeptical that retailers can keep their data safe from hackers, but they’ve got more faith in retail than in telcos, government agencies or banks.
The Unisys 2015 Security Insights survey, conducted in Australia by Newspoll, surveyed 1210 adults during April 2015 to find out how secure they felt their personal data is with different organisations.
The results found retailers ranked fourth among the least trusted, behind telcos, government agencies and, the banking and finance industry. Forty-five per cent of Australians surveyed expect a personal information data breach in the next 12 months at a retailer.
Australians believe telecommunications companies (58 per cent) and government agencies (49 per cent) are most likely to suffer a data breach in the next 12 months. Healthcare providers and airlines fared the best out of the industries included in the survey.
“Consumer trust must be earned and maintained,” said John Kendall, security program director, Unisys Asia Pacific. “This survey reveals which organisations the public perceives to be most vulnerable. To build trust, an organisation needs to not only take preventative measures, but to make those measures visible to build public confidence.
“Many Australians have personally experienced a data breach or have seen media reports of high profile breaches by government and telcos, so they have a low level of trust in the ability of those organisations to protect their data. Conversely, public scrutiny around the introduction of e-health records and the resulting assurances for how data would be protected has built community trust in healthcare providers’ ability to protect personal information,” said Kendall.
“Airlines and other transport companies are the most trusted type of organisations. However, they will need to work to maintain this trust as they continue to capture more and more information about their passengers in a bid to provide personalised end-to-end services – including assistance with border security measures,” he says.
