2018 has been the year of the data breach, but how are consumers reacting?

An article review.

Data breaches are nothing new, as a quick look back through our archives will show, but 2018 may be the year that the general public became fully aware of them. Following the Equifax breach, which potentially exposed more than 100 million people, and the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal it may be harder to find someone who hasn’t been exposed in one way or another…but how is that influencing people’s behavior?

One recent poll tried to answer that question, and its results suggest organizations should be concerned. The poll, conducted by Ping Identity, shows the majority of respondents would have their trust in an organization deeply shaken–and perhaps lost forever–following a data breach. Over three quarters said they’d stop engaging with an organization online, and more than a third said they would stop using an organization’s services entirely.

With more than half the respondents stating they’re more concerned about their personal information now than they were in the past, and with more media (and legislative) attention being focused on data breaches, it’s safe to say that the true cost of an incident has no place to go but up.

Original article by Macy Bayern, writing for TechRepublic.