33% of Internet users have been victims of personal data theft, study shows

One in three Internet users (33%) have been victims of personal data theft. On a total of 82% of them, this a negative impact on their lives. Despite this, eight out of every ten such victims continue to use the services of the company from which their personal data were stolen.

Such results were obtained by the specialists of the Thales analytical company. The respective study was conducted in eleven countries: United Kingdom, United States (US), Germany, France, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The survey was conducted among 21,000 adults.

According to the results, primarily the UAE (48% of respondents) and US (48% of respondents) residents become victims of personal data leakage. And for the most part, financial data theft (31%) has a negative impact on users.

Also, respondents considered worrisome the fact that 11% of companies informed their customers about the data leak only after six months, and 5%—after a year. And 5% of the respondents learned about the data leak from the news.

In the opinion of 54% of those who participated in this study by Thales, companies should be forced to take data protection measures—such as encryption and two-step security—in case of leakage of personal data. A total of 21% of the respondents said that they have stopped using the services of the companies from which their personal data were leaked.

The study addressed as well the trust of Internet users towards digital services. In particular, the most reliable such sectors are considered the financial sector, health care and consumer technology, whereas the most unreliable ones are considered the media and entertainment sector, governments, and social media.

Trust in digital services was also assessed in accordance with geography, culture, and existing regulations. From this point of view, the residents of Brazil, Mexico, and the UAE trust digital services the most, whereas the French, the British, the Australians, and the Germans trust them less.