New research from technology law firm Wiggin LLP shows that nearly half of the British public has no faith that businesses will be able to protect their data.
Wiggin commissioned ComRes to poll 2,040 British adults following the recent, global ransomware attacks. Only 26% of those polled were confident social media sites could manage and secure their data online. 51% had similar faith in Government departments. Only 57% were confident large corporates such as Amazon and eBay could protect their data.
The large majority (81%) of respondents said they would be reluctant to share their data with an organisation that had been hacked. 41% of respondents claimed they would stop using organisations that had been hacked and 24% said they would be likely to seek legal redress against any organisation that had suffered such an attack.
David Naylor, Technology and Privacy partner at Wiggin, said : “The NHS / Wannacry hack brings into sharp focus people’s lack of trust in the government and major corporations to keep our data secure. The majority of the population doesn’t believe the government can protect us from cybersecurity breaches and, at the same time, more than a third of people are not confident that their phone company, email provider, or online retailers will keep their data secure either. Even more – a startling 65% – don’t trust their social media platforms. It’s therefore not surprising that an overwhelming proportion of people (almost 90%) want the business community to do more to keep their data safe.”
The research found that 87% of British adults thought that the business community should be doing more to prevent cybercrime, and only 43% said they trusted the Government to keep Britain safe from cyber attack. It also found that whilst only 13% of respondents would pay cyber criminals for the return of their online data, this rose to 25% of those aged 18 – 25.
Naylor continues : “It’s particularly striking that more than 80% of people said they’d be reluctant to share their data with a company that had been hacked, and around a quarter said they’d contact the police and seek compensation. The need for business to prioritise data protection compliance and cybersecurity is clear: failure to do so will result not only in reputational harm and loss of goodwill, but it will hit the bottom line, too. With new strict data protection standards (GDPR) on the horizon as well, the potential for significant regulatory sanctions is also very real. If they aren’t doing so already, companies need to start thinking right now about how they can improve data security and demonstrate regulatory compliance on a continuing basis.”
Caroline Kean, a partner in the Litigation team at Wiggin, said : “If members of the public have a choice, they are going to go with a business that demonstrates it understands and does more than pay lip service to keeping their customers’ data secure. There will be a race to quality. The business that understands that its own reputation and consequent value is intrinsically connected with its ability to demonstrate a real commitment to protecting its clients’ data and retaining client trust, is going to win over its competitors.”
www.wiggin.co.uk
ComRes interviewed 2,040 British adults aged 18+ online between the 17th and 18th May 2017. Data was weighted to be representative of all British adults aged 18+ by age, gender, region and socio-economic grade. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council (BPC) and abides by its rules. Full data tables can be found on the ComRes website, www.comresglobal.com
Wiggin is a law firm focusing exclusively on Media, Technology and Brands/IP. The firm advises clients on the financing, exploitation and protection of their creative and commercial assets in these sectors. Wiggin’s clients range from leading businesses in broadcast entertainment, music, sport and publishing through to platforms, content retailers, gaming and technology companies and early stage entrepreneurs.
Wiggin’s Gaming and Betting team won the Legal500 UK 2017 firm of the year for Crime, Fraud and Licensing. In 2016, Wiggin won Legal Week’s Innovation, Future of Legal Services Award. In 2015, Wiggin won Legal Business’s Boutique Law Firm of the Year Award, Managing IP’s UK Copyright Firm of the Year Award and FT Innovative Lawyer’s Most Innovative law firm in IP Award.
