More consumers now care about how businesses handle their data
Nearly three million Brits have decided to leave a service provider that got hacked, a new research by security firm Privitar reveals. The report shows that 23 per cent of Brits have been affected by a security breach at some point, and 24 per cent of these reacted by switching providers.
The company says consumers now pay attention to how well a company handles data, when making choices. Even though data handling has become one of the key selling points for many companies, 52 per cent of consumers say it’s difficult to find any information on how companies store and use their personal information.
Consumers are not ones to stick around, though -- 83 per cent have said they’d gladly switch to another service, if they believed it could manage their private data better.
"High profile breaches such as those at TalkTalk and Ashley Madison mean that the issues of privacy and data protection have entered mainstream consumer consciousness", said Privitar CEO Jason du Preez.
"People are taking a more active interest in how their data is used day-to-day. Organizations have two years to comply with GDPR, but those that are proactive can gain competitive advantage by winning customer trust. Organizations should look to adopt leading technology solutions to add privacy protections, particularly as part of big data analytics infrastructure and clearly communicate with their customers as to how they are protecting and using their data".
The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is expected to become law by May, and it will force companies to adopt Privacy-by-design in new information architectures.
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