Report: 33% of global consumers are victims of data breaches via hacked personal data in the company

Thales’ “2022 Thales Consumer Digital Trust Index” revealed that consumer trust in online organizations’ ability to protect their data is misaligned with reality. One in three consumers globally has already suffered a data breach from a company that has their personal data.

The report sheds light on the latest global data breach trends and the serious impact they have had on consumer trust across industries, including consumers’ likelihood of continuing business with an organization after the incident.

Are consumers too trusting?

Today, organizations no longer ask themselves if a data breach will happen, but when. Despite organizations’ awareness of the current cyber security landscape, the findings highlight that this awareness does not necessarily transfer to consumers. While 33% of consumers globally have been the victim of a data breach, 82% of consumers continue to trust, to some degree, that online digital service providers will protect their personal data.

However, 82% of data breach victims saw a negative impact on their lives.

Location can affect consumer confidence. Fractures are experienced at different rates around the world. Nevertheless, consumers in countries with lower frequencies of violations were not necessarily more trusting than consumers in countries with higher frequencies. The United States has one of the highest percentages of consumers who are victims of data breaches (48%). Still, consumer confidence is higher in the US (80%) than in regions that experience fewer breaches, such as Germany, Australia and the UK.

Consumer confidence in the security of their data also varied by industry. The financial and healthcare sectors inspired the highest confidence (but still only 42% and 37% respectively), with media/entertainment and government receiving the lowest (12% and 14% respectively).

Data breaches may not reduce consumer confidence, but they do affect how consumers view their role in data protection. Victims are more likely to take additional precautions to protect personal information.

Breach also affects what consumers expect from organizations, with 54% believing that companies should be forced to adopt mandatory data protection controls, such as encryption and two-factor authentication, after a data breach. More than a fifth of consumers stopped using a company that experienced a data breach.

Methodology

Over 21,000 adult consumers in 11 countries and five continents were surveyed in the Thales 2022 Thales Consumer Digital Trust Index. The report was carried out by Opinium, in collaboration with the University of Warwick.

Read the full report from Thales.