More than half of UK citizens worry that their personal information has been compromised, according to new research from Experian.
The credit-reporting agency has found that 54% of people in the UK believe they’ve been targeted by fraudulent online activity. That’s up from 39% last year.
“People are more aware of fraudulent activity and ever so conscious of their personal information falling into the wrong hands,” said Jim Steven, Experian’s head of data breach response.
More than a third of survey respondents said they’d had to change their password because they feared an online account had been hacked. Another 13% said they’d been told by a company they held an account with – or worked for – that their personal information may have been lost or stolen. Thirteen per cent reported that one of their online accounts had been accessed or used fraudulently by someone else, and 9% said they’d had their personal details used to commit fraud.
More than half of the survey respondents believed that it was companies’ sole responsibility to protect their personal information, and people tended to hold companies accountable when their information was breached.
“However, it’s not just down to businesses alone; we all have a responsibility to be vigilant and take measures to protect ourselves, online and offline,” Steven said. “Simple actions such as using a different password for each of your accounts and enabling two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to your accounts.”
Many companies, however, still have a long way to go to protect their customers’ information. While Experian found that 78% of companies said they had plans to react to a data breach, there was still much to be done. The report found that 34% of businesses didn’t have customer notifications prepared, and 43% didn’t have legal cover in case of a breach. In addition, 84% didn’t have forensic analysis, in spite of the fact that regulations coming into force next year may require them to provide factual information about data breaches to regulators and affected customers.
“Most companies are now making plans for the worst-case scenarios, but it seems many are neglecting fundamental parts of a data breach response and keeping people informed and reassured,” Steven said. “A response plan which keeps customers informed and offers them help in protecting their online identity can help to mitigate the damage from a data breach.”
Related stories:
IAG: The insurer hacking itself
Insurance software firm earns ISO certification
