Consumers need to trust their banks are keeping their money and data safe. This is in addition to trusting there are no privacy vulnerabilities. However, only 19 per cent of respondents don’t worry about the security of their data according to Utimaco’s, a global provider of IT security solutions, Circles of Trust 2023: Exploring Consumer Trust in the Digital Society report.
Digital connections aren’t just in the mobile devices owned by 66 per cent of the world’s population. They’re in streets, vehicles, traffic systems and in dozens of places throughout our homes. In light of this Utimaco released its first edition in the Circles of Trust series in 2022, covering key sectors to understand consumer perceptions about the digital services that they use every day. Having previously focused on the UK, Spain and Germany, the new research expanded to the US, Mexico and Singapore.
Utimaco has deepened its understanding of trust in digital life. The new research studied and focused on banking, the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities and found the following key takeaways from across the world:
- Only 19 per cent of respondents don’t worry about the security of their data.
- Thirty-six per cent of respondents have been the victim of data loss, identity theft or digital fraud.
- Forty-one per cent of respondents believe that a connected world would make their everyday lives easier.
The UK believes smart tech won’t improve lives
In the UK, there was a marked distrust of digital services compared to other parts of the world. Particularly in regard to IoT devices and smart cities.
Few UK respondents could define the term ‘Internet of Things’ (20 per cent). Furthermore, they were the most likely of any group of respondents (17 per cent) to answer that smart technologies would not improve. Meanwhile, only a global average of 10 per cent of respondents felt this way. Similarly, only 21 per cent felt that they could define what a ‘smart city’ is. Compare this to 31 per cent globally, 24 per cent saw no advantages to a smart city compared with a global average of 12 per cent.
In other areas, the UK showed more encouraging signs. Only two per cent have been affected by a ‘very damaging’ digital attack. This is compared to a global average of five per cent and nine per cent in the US. They have the highest level of trust in their financial institutions to keep their data safe (72 per cent).
“We pride ourselves on driving the conversation around digital trust forward,” says Stefan Auerbach, CEO, Utimaco. “At Utimaco, our role is to create hardware and software that provides the ‘root of trust in a digital world’. Additionally, we also want to communicate to our customers about the social context of that technology.
“In short, all the security systems in the world will be more effective if end users know and trust that they are effective. We see the Circles of Trust series of research as a vital tool to temperature test digital trust around the world. It is an invaluable resource for any company working internationally.”
