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Cybercriminals also attack offline. What is tailgating?
As a result, 65% of consumers plan to pay more attention to the data retention policies of specific companies and brands. At the same time, however, 28% of respondents are willing to share sensitive data in exchange for more personalized offers.
– Knowledge about cyber threats is growing not only among companies, but also among consumers. As a result of attacks on famous people or mass data leaks from companies, awareness of phenomena such as identity theft is growing. As a result, concerns about whether the information shared will not be used against us at some point are growing. You can defend yourself against this by, for example, setting up additional e-mail addresses used exclusively for online purchases and using prepaid cards – says Patryk Gęborys, EY Partner, Information Security and Technology Team.
EY Future Consumer Index study
The results of the EY Future Consumer Index confirm the growing concerns of consumers about the security of the data they provide. In the case of applications, as many as 61% of respondents express concern that the collected information may be used to steal identities. This percentage has increased by 6 percentage points over the year.
Equally high results were recorded in other categories – data leakage from the enterprise (59% – an increase of 6 percentage points), selling data to a "third party" (58% – an increase of 5 percentage points) or downloading a virus (58% – an increase of 6 percentage points).
The largest increase in uncertainty (by 9 percentage points – from 43% to 52%) is related to the app’s tracking of all activities. This shows that consumers are becoming increasingly aware that sharing their information is a bundled transaction. What’s more, as many as 50% of respondents suspect companies of spying via voice-activated devices, and 54% of unauthorized monitoring of information. Despite this, as many as 33% of younger consumers and 30% of older ones still download apps because storing their payment and delivery address data makes it easier to make purchases.
Consumer concerns about the use of digital services or products (e.g. apps)
Similar concerns also apply to the collection of cookies. As many as 65% of consumers are highly concerned that information about them may be improperly stored and, as a result, stolen. A slightly smaller group – 62% of respondents – fear that the data collected about them may serve as an element of credibility during a cyberattack. This is much more than in the case of concerns about the disclosure of browsing history through the display of personalized ads (49%) or persuading to make a purchase that was not planned (36%) through better targeting.
The better the offer, the less worries
Although as many as 65% of consumers plan to pay more attention to how specific companies store their data, at the same time as many as 28% of respondents are willing to provide data that allows them to be identified in exchange for personalized offers. Over the past 3 years, this percentage has increased by 4 percentage points. A similar percentage – 24% – is willing to make such an exchange in exchange for receiving dedicated product recommendations that are cheaper or healthier substitutes. Interestingly, as many as 20% of respondents (an increase of 3 percentage points between 2021 and 2024) declare greater openness to providing data in exchange for receiving personalized ads.
– Competing on price and quality of services is the basis for the functioning of every industry. With the development of digital tools, it will increasingly be possible to build an advantage through one more aspect – digital data protection, which is a natural complement to innovation. Consumers – both individual and corporate – are increasingly aware of the risks that information leakage can lead to. Hence, companies that combine transparency and a high level of protection of stored data will gain in importance – sums up Mateusz Mazur, EY Partner, Leader of the Digital Engineering Area.