How do you feel about your data privacy in the age of COVID-19? Do you feel in control of your privacy or like it’s a lost cause?
Because new data out of Cisco says fewer consumers in 2020 feel they can adequately protect their personal information today than in 2019. Those who feel positively about their privacy have dropped from 57 per cent in 2019 to 52 percent in 2020.
Of course these new figures come within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, around 56 percent of Americans work remotely at least some of the time (this figure is expected to hit 70 percent by 2025), and all of us are giving out more personal information than ever before in a bid to stop the pandemic. The risks of both these pandemic-driven activities are real. And the data stacks up:
- In 2020 60 percent of respondents reported being worried about the safety of their personal data when connecting away from the office.
- Forty-nine percent said they don’t feel they can adequately protect the personal information they’re sharing. They cite three reasons:
- They don’t know what companies are doing with their personal data (no transparency).
- They feel they have to sacrifice their data privacy in return for a service (lost cause).
- They think their information is already ‘out there’ anyway (it’s too late).
Having just over half of the 2,600 adults from 25 countries surveyed in 2020 feeling positive about their data privacy is not a great result. There’s obviously still a long way to go in getting privacy and trust right for consumers around the world.
But it’s not all bad news. Cisco found most people feel positive about tightening privacy regulations and that there’s still a strong cohort of privacy actives—people who care about privacy and will act to protect it. Let’s grow that number!
The overall finding is that none of us wants companies to drop the ball on privacy despite the challenges of COVID-19. But people aren’t convinced they won’t.
If you’re not feeling great about your data privacy right now, add MySudo to your privacy toolkit. MySudo is the world’s only all-in-one privacy solution.
