The business world might be showing increasing concern about the costs and consequences of data breaches, but a recent survey showed that the vast majority of consumers have taken no steps to safeguard their finances or privacy.
Denver-based IdRADAR Inc. found that even though over 260 million people have had their data exposed since the December announcement that Target’s systems had been breached, but almost 80 percent of survey respondents have done nothing to mitigate the risk of identity theft or financial fraud.
“There is a national data breach epidemic, and consumers shockingly show very few signs of concern. Most are taking no measures to protect themselves,” said Tom Feige, CEO of idRADAR.
The consumer poll revealed that about 58 percent of people would only change passwords on accounts if forced to do so by a web site or vendor. Less than 10 percent regularly change passwords every month as recommended.
However, nearly all (93 percent) of the adults surveyed said that following a breach, the company involved should offer free credit monitoring.
“Clearly, consumers do not want to take responsibility for protecting themselves before or after a serious breach. They want someone else to worry about it,” said Feige.
Seventy percent of consumers indicated that they use debit cards, although retailers say that credit cards offer more protection, since the money is not being withdrawn directly from the consumer’s bank account. And, 54 percent of peoples said they wouldn’t pay for credit card fraud protection or identity theft monitoring services on their own. It’s not worth the money in their eyes, idRADAR’s survey showed.
Most people want to rely on the government to protect them,” Feige said. “And they don’t seem to care if their personal privacy rights are threatened.”
However, privacy regulations vary state to state, he noted.
According to the survey, 55 percent are more concerned about the threat of data breaches than about the government monitoring their private phone conversations or their email.
The survey revealed a general lack of knowledge about cybersecurity. Over half of the people surveyed admitted they had not even heard the Heartbleed security flaw affecting much of the Internet.
“People are not paying enough attention to this critical problem, and their lack of knowledge on the entire subject is frankly very alarming,” said Feige.
Erin is the managing editor of Advisen’s Front Page News. She has been covering property-casualty insurance since 2000. Previously, Erin served as editor-in-chief of The Standard, New England’s Insurance Weekly. Erin is based in Boston, Mass. Contact Erin at [email protected].
