Consumer trust is in the doldrums: Indifference towards data exposure is widespread

Imperva has published findings from a global study on consumer perceptions of data privacy and trust in digital service providers. The results suggest that consumers feel trapped: sharing personal data is a requirement to use digital services but a majority do not trust organizations to protect their data.

The results point towards a number of interesting trends. Most surprising, perhaps, is that consumers appear to have become numb to security concerns with nearly half of consumers reporting either ‘not caring’ about how much data they share online or ‘not worried’ about data security since exposure is inevitable.

Consequently, trust between consumers and organizations appears to have hit rock bottom as well. 35% of surveyed participants don’t trust banks, hospitals, the government or retailers to adequately protect their data. Despite this want of security confidence, however, the cloud appears to be full of secrets: adults are using cloudmessenger service and apps to confess to sexual fetishes, substance abuse, infidelity and other manners of unsavoury behavior.

It is clear: consumers are putting their sensitive information out there. For every organization, large and small, managing sensitive data is now a business imperative.