Cybertheft Yields Little Trust in Big Business

By

In April of 2011, electronics juggernaut Sony suffered a data breach so biblical that 77 million user accounts were compromised, one of the most massive scale internet thefts of all time.  Pan to fall 2013, 40 million credit and debit card accounts pilfered thanks to Target and their clearly ill-managed data silos.

Every single day, we as consumers utilize methods of payment (credit cards, debit cards, mobile payments) tantamount to placing perennial means of access to our finances right in the hands of a myriad of industry verticals, and if a market study conducted by Radius Global Market Research holds any truth to it, commerce as we know it may withdraw back into the proverbial dark ages of physical, tangible currency.

According to Radius GMR’s online consumer study, entitled “Privacy & Security Issues Among U.S. Consumers”, there are few customers left holding any semblance of trust that a company will, or even has the means to keep their private information safe.

"Ongoing security breaches have pushed the issue of online security to the top of consumers' minds," said Jamie Myers, Radius GMR Director. "We set out to determine which industries were the most trusted among consumers when it comes to keeping data secure. In the end, those surveyed felt that no company in any industry is doing it well."

When U.S. technology owners were asked which industry vertical was doing the best job of keeping their information safe, a resounding 29 percent (highest percentage by far) voted ‘no industry’, nor could they identify one company they trusted out of a large list of specific company names.

"Consumers made it clear that a perception of poor security practices is reason enough to stop doing business with a brand," adds Myers. "Clearly it is not enough to have a good track record. In this environment brands must adjust communications to merchandise ongoing efforts in order to establish and keep trust."

Keep trust indeed, a whopping 25 percent of consumers think financial websites are doing the best, operating systems and social media make their bed in the lowest and least trusted echelon of industries.

An old axiom tells us that trust is earned, and it is with much disdain that this columnist is unable to recount one message of assurance, one menial remark to the effect of ‘this is what we are doing to protect your information’.  Until said time when big business uproots itself from its role as direct and de facto facilitator of identity theft and fraud, one might be wise to deal with big business, only with tangible currency.




Edited by Maurice Nagle
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Related Articles

Can Science Outsmart Deepfake Deceivers? Klick Labs Proposes an Emerging Solution

By: Alex Passett    3/25/2024

Researchers at Klick Labs were able to identify audio deepfakes from authentic audio recordings via new vocal biomarker technology (alongside AI model…

Read More

Top 5 Best Ways to Integrate Technology for Successful Project-Based Learning

By: Contributing Writer    3/19/2024

Project-based learning, also popularly known as the PBL curriculum, emphasizes using and integrating technology with classroom teaching. This approach…

Read More

How to Protect Your Website From LDAP Injection Attacks

By: Contributing Writer    3/12/2024

Prevent LDAP injection attacks with regular testing, limiting access privileges, sanitizing user input, and applying the proper encoding functions.

Read More

Azure Cost Optimization: 5 Things You Can Do to Save on Azure

By: Contributing Writer    3/7/2024

Azure cost optimization is the process of managing and reducing the overall cost of using Azure. It involves understanding the resources you're using,…

Read More

Massive Meta Apps and Services Outage Impacts Users Worldwide

By: Alex Passett    3/5/2024

Meta's suite of apps and services are experiencing major global outages on Super Tuesday 2024.

Read More