WASHINGTON—A majority of Americans (64%) have personally experienced a major data breach, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center.
Nearly half (49%) feel as if their personal information is less secure than it was five years ago.
Those impacted by data breaches have experienced the following:
- Fraudulent credit card charges (41%)
- Received notices that their sensitive information, such as account numbers, had been compromised (35%)
- Someone took over their email account (16%) or social media account (13%)
- Received notice that their Social Security number had been compromised (15%)
- Someone attempted to get a credit card or take out a loan in their name (14%)
- Someone impersonated them to file a fraudulent tax return (6%)
“Pew surveyed 1,040 U.S. adults and found many Americans mistrust the institutions tasked with keeping their personal data safe,” noted Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com in Birmingham, Ala., in his analysis.
According to the research, 28% of Americans are “not confident at all” that the federal government can keep their personal information secure, while 24% of social media users lack confidence that these sites protect their data. Only 12% of Americans and 9% of social media users have a very high level of confidence that these entities keep their information safe.
“While many consumers do not trust businesses to protect their information, they are also failing to follow the best practices for digital security in their personal lives. Passwords are a major issue,” noted Hardekopf. “Cybersecurity experts recommend password management software, but only 12% of Internet users say they use this type of software, and only 3% use this as their primary password technique. Instead, 65% say they memorize their password, and 18% write their passwords down on paper.”
Other problematic behaviors noted in the Pew report include:
- 41% have shared their password with a friend or family member
- 39% use the same, or similar, passwords for many different accounts
- 25% use less secure passwords because they are easier to remember
“Many Americans are also not taking mobile security seriously—28% of smartphone users do not protect their device with a screen lock or other security feature, and nearly 10% never install the updates to their phone's apps or operating system,” said Hardekopf. “Additionally, 54% use potentially insecure wi-fi networks, and almost 20% use these types of networks to perform sensitive activities, including e-commerce or online banking.”
But there is some good news. More than half of Americans (52%) use two-step authentication on some of their online accounts, and many do use different passwords for each of their accounts.