European research carried out by ICM points to the growing importance of data security, says Canon Europe. The pan-European research found consumers have a distinct lack of trust regarding data protection, highlighting the potential negative impact of mandatory data breach disclosure, which has been proposed within the European Commission’s (EC) suggested legislation reforms, further emphasising the need for organisations to ensure they have the correct preventative measures in place, it is claimed.
The research found that 76 per cent of consumers would be likely to leave a business or service provider if it leaked some of their person data, with the highest concern around the leak of credit card or bank details (48 per cent).
Just 12 per cent of consumers believe organisations are doing enough to protect their personal data. However, when choosing a business or service provider, consumers are still putting cost as a higher priority (64 per cent) than the personal data security procedures (30 per cent) of the organisation.
The research also revealed that while consumers are concerned about breaches, the majority only read through key parts of security clauses (36 per cent) and a mere 19 per cent read through all the security information provided, while 13 per cent people do not read any security information at all.
Quentyn Taylor, Director of Information Security at Canon Europe, says: “The research shows the growing consumer awareness of data protection. However, if the planned EC reforms go ahead and mandatory breach disclosure is enforced, we may see a greater increase in the number of data breaches reported; there is a risk that consumers could start to become indifferent to what constitutes a serious breach. In effect the numbers of breach disclosure events could cause “disclosure fatigue” which is as serious as no disclosure at all. The onus is on organisations to carry out risk assessment to highlight all potential vulnerabilities and ensure they have the most appropriate preventative measures in place.
“There is a risk that consumers could start to become indifferent to what constitutes a serious breach. In effect the numbers of breach disclosure events could cause “disclosure fatigue” which is as serious as no disclosure at all. The onus is on organisations to carry out risk assessment to highlight all potential vulnerabilities and ensure they have the most appropriate preventative measures in place.
“There is clearly an opportunity for organisations to raise consumer confidence by clearly communicating security credentials to help everyone become more aware of the importance of data security.”
A significant number of high profile security breaches are document based, the company adds; recent pan-European Quocirca research found over 70 per cent of organisations have suffered a print security breach, yet only 42 per cent had placed significant focus on print security. This makes it a key area to be addressed if organisations are going to minimise their risk to exposure, Canon adds. For more information, visit www.canon-europe.com/for_work/documentsecurity/
