According to a survey of more than 1,000 UK adults, two thirds (66 percent) of respondents would be concerned about their bank details being compromised, closely followed by their credit card numbers (63 percent) and national insurance numbers (40 percent). That is according to a survey by Vormetric, a data security products firm, with Wakefield Research, into the types of information British adults are most concerned about losing in the event of a data breach.
The security firm says organisations must prepare for the fact that their networks and IT systems will be penetrated by hackers at some point – as seen with the steady stream of high profile data breaches at brands such as Mumsnet, Ashley Madison and most recently, TalkTalk. Encryption, combined with strong access controls, is one of the most effective ways to protect sensitive data against this complex threat landscape. That said, and in spite of recent media discussions about the benefits of encryption and well-documented political cases, 93 percent of British adults would be ‘worried’ – and 57 percent would be ‘very worried’ – if their data was stored on an encrypted drive and stolen in a cyber-attack.
Louise Bulman, VP EMEA at Vormetric, said: “It’s hardly surprising that financial information is top of mind for British consumers in the aftermath of a data breach, as evidenced by the public outcry following recent cyber incidents at British Gas, M&S and of course, TalkTalk. The combination of credit card details, bank account information and national insurance numbers fully equip cyber criminals to generate huge sums from fraudulent activity. What’s worrying though, is the lack of understanding around encryption and how it can prevent such sensitive information from being accessed. Today, it is almost inevitable that an organisation will be hacked, and encryption remains the most viable solution to safeguard sensitive data and ensure that it is inaccessible to those without the key required to decode it. In other words, encrypted data is completely useless to the hacker.”
Methodology
The Vormetric survey was by Wakefield Research among 1,087 adults ages 18-plu in the UK between October 9 and 15, 2015, using an email invitation and an online survey. Quotas have been set to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the UK adult population. Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results. For the interviews conducted in this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 3.0 percentage points from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample.
