facebook rss twitter

Brits worried about social media data security

by Sarah Griffiths on 8 March 2011, 11:23

Tags: General Business

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qa4yb

Add to My Vault: x

Socially aware?

As businesses embrace social media, the British public is concerned about the sites' ability to keep their data safe, more than any other type of organization.

According to a recent online YouGov survey, conducted for web security firm Websense, just 14 percent of Brits surveyed were ‘very' or ‘fairly' confident about social media sites keeping data safe, with almost 80 percent ‘not very' or ‘not at all' confident.

The research is based upon the response of 2107 adults between 31 January and 2 February.

The public trusts medical professionals and financial institutions the most when it comes to data security, according to the survey, while they are most suspicious of social media sites and mobile phone retailers.

Here is a table listing the percentage of people that were ‘very' or ‘fairly' confident in organizations' abilities to protect data.

 

Organisation type

Percentage of public ‘confident' in data security

Medical professional - hospitals/doctors

63

Financial institutions -banks/insurance

53

Central government - HMRC, DVLA etc

47

Utility providers

38

Online retailers

37

Local councils

37

High street retailers

32

Mobile phone providers

26

Social media sites - Facebook, Twitter, linkedIn

14

 

"The threats to data are real and the British public is well aware of this," said Andy Philpott, regional vice president, UK and Ireland for Websense.

"While public perception of data protection appears low, with only two out of the nine organisations ranking above a 50 percent confidence level, this doesn't have to be the case.  We would urge all organisations to ensure they're truly protecting their confidential data - which includes the personal information of the British public."

...which of course is an expected reaction from an internet security firm.



HEXUS Forums :: 2 Comments

Login with Forum Account

Don't have an account? Register today!
Shock as public believes UK banks are more likely to keep their data safe than privately owned, foreign and largely unaccountable websites.


Doesn't seem to reflect that in practise though.
Stop employing idiots, educate people to the risks, and enforce immediate dismissal and legal action for anyone who loses data. Simple.
Yet for some reason it seems so hard…