Consumers questioning the safety of personal information

by Steve Ragan - May 2 2008, 11:34

A new Harris Interactive study shows that despite placing personal information security at the top of their list, U.S. adults are still placing their information at risk. On top of that, of those surveyed by Harris, eighty-seven percent feel that personal information is slightly secure or not secure at all.

Although personal information security ranks high in priority for most consumers, many are still unaware of how to protect it. (IMG:J.Anderson)

The Harris survey showed a clear response in adults, personal information should be protected. This is a priority for over eighty percent of respondents. The problem, according to Harris, fifty-one percent of the adults who make it a priority are unaware of the risks many innocent activities place them in. For example, entering a sweepstakes or filling out a warranty card could lead to the loss of personal information, including a person’s name, contact details, income and credit history.Other risky behaviors according to the survey included donations to political campaigns, requesting information about products, or offering up personal information to a website without understanding their privacy policy. The policy will often spell out that your information is sold or “shared” with “partners” to offer you similar information or services.About one in four adults are not aware that providing their personal information to a web site without reviewing its privacy policy can lead to their information being used or shared without their permission, Harris said.Finally, eighty-seven percent of adults believe their personal information, such as name, address, email, age, income, credit rating and purchasing preferences, are only somewhat, slightly, or not at all secure.The cause for the doubt could be all the news and information that has blanketed the media over the last year. When people see millions of records lost or exposed in news headlines the trust level gets lower.The Harris Interactive survey was conducted on behalf of ProQuo, a web-based company that helps consumers guard their information by offering choices over how they use it.

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Bill WeissMay 2nd, 2008 - 19:56:43

Identity theft is on the rise and much of it comes from users running peer to peer applications like Limewire. Most peer to peer applications provide open access to the files stored on your computer. It is very easy to find income tax returns that were filed last month and you see the complete return including SS#, and bank routing information. The users are duped into sharing and don't realize the risks they are creating.

We at Safemedia track over 650 peer to peer application daily and developed a network security appliance to protect against inadvertent file sharing of confidential information.

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Consumers questioning the safety of personal information

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