New Survey Finds Deep Consumer Anxiety over Data Privacy and Security

85 Percent of Consumers Say Businesses Should Be Doing More to Actively Protect Their Data

A new survey shows that 78 percent of U.S. respondents say a company’s ability to keep their data private is “extremely important” and only 20 percent “completely trust” organizations they interact with to maintain the privacy of their data.

The poll underscores the public’s view of the obligation that organizations have to handle data responsibly and protect it from hackers.

A new online survey, conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of IBM, found deepening consumer anxiety over data privacy and security. In the poll, 78 percent of U.S. respondents say a company’s ability to keep their data private is “extremely important” and only 20 percent “completely trust” organizations they interact with to maintain the privacy of their data. The poll underscores the public’s view of the obligation that organizations have to handle data…

The online survey of 10,000 consumers, conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of IBM, found that:

• 75 percent will not buy a product from a company – no matter how great the products are – if they don’t trust the company to protect their data;
• 73 percent think businesses are focused on profits over addressing consumers’ security needs;
• 73 percent indicated it is extremely important that companies quickly take proper actions to stop a data breach; and
• 60 percent are more concerned about cybersecurity than a potential war.

“Increasingly, we are seeing companies around the world trying to balance providing personalized services to consumers, while maintaining privacy,” said John Kelly, IBM Senior Vice President, Cognitive Solutions. “Getting this right requires companies working closely with each other and, importantly, with governments, to ensure the right protections are in place.”

IBM has been a vocal supporter of strong data privacy and security practices for decades. Recent actions include:

• In 2014, IBM published an open letter to customers regarding government access to data;
• In 2015, IBM supported the U.S. Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which provides protections from liability for organizations that share information on cyberattacks;
• In 2015, IBM shared its 800TB collection of information on security threats to help organizations collaborate faster and more effectively to battle cybercrime;
• In October 2017, IBM issued Data Responsibility @IBM to publish details and obligations about how the company handles clients’ data;
• In 2017, IBM signed the EU Data Protection Code of Conduct for Cloud Service Providers, guaranteeing protection over and above the minimum legal requirement for protection of data in the cloud.

Harris Poll Survey Methodology:

Global Overview: 

This survey was conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of IBM between March 20-26th, 2018, among 8,461 adults ages 18+ across 7 countries: the US (n=2126), UK (n=1032), Germany (n=1020), Brazil (n=1143), China (n=1101), India (1013), and United Arab Emirates (n=1026).  This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.