Socially aware?
As businesses embrace social media, the British public is concerned about the sites' ability to keep their data safe, more than any other type of organization.
According to a recent online YouGov survey, conducted for web security firm Websense, just 14 percent of Brits surveyed were ‘very' or ‘fairly' confident about social media sites keeping data safe, with almost 80 percent ‘not very' or ‘not at all' confident.
The research is based upon the response of 2107 adults between 31 January and 2 February.
The public trusts medical professionals and financial institutions the most when it comes to data security, according to the survey, while they are most suspicious of social media sites and mobile phone retailers.
Here is a table listing the percentage of people that were ‘very' or ‘fairly' confident in organizations' abilities to protect data.
Organisation type |
Percentage of public ‘confident' in data security |
Medical professional - hospitals/doctors |
63 |
Financial institutions -banks/insurance |
53 |
Central government - HMRC, DVLA etc |
47 |
Utility providers |
38 |
Online retailers |
37 |
Local councils |
37 |
High street retailers |
32 |
Mobile phone providers |
26 |
Social media sites - Facebook, Twitter, linkedIn |
14 |
"The threats to data are real and the British public is well aware of this," said Andy Philpott, regional vice president, UK and Ireland for Websense.
"While public perception of data protection appears low, with only two out of the nine organisations ranking above a 50 percent confidence level, this doesn't have to be the case. We would urge all organisations to ensure they're truly protecting their confidential data - which includes the personal information of the British public."
...which of course is an expected reaction from an internet security firm.