Dive Brief:
- Breaches had less impact on consumer trust in 2024 despite an increase in cyber incidents, a December Vercara report found. In 2024, 58% of consumers indicated breaches had an impact on their trust, down from 62% in 2023, according to the survey of 1,000 adults.
- Nearly one-third of consumers said they have been affected by a security incident and had their data exposed after shopping online.
- The findings indicate apathy, according to Carlos Morales, SVP and GM of DDoS and AppSec at Vercara. “The biggest surprise is the starting of apathy towards the fact that breaches are happening,” Morales said. “When it happens over and over and over … I think people are maybe just accepting it as a new reality.”
Dive Insight:
While consumers are getting used to a world in which personal information is at risk on the internet, business leaders shouldn’t settle for apathy, Morales said.
Consumers aren’t necessarily more confident in corporate cybersecurity measures. “It's not necessarily an increase in confidence, it's a decrease in worry,” Morales said.
Breaches also have an impact on a business’ bottom line. In addition to potential class action lawsuits, companies could face loss of business, with 7 in 10 consumers saying they would stop shopping with a brand after a security incident.
The report also found generational differences, with baby boomers the most likely to shift their shopping habits.
“Baby boomers are a lot less trusting than Gen Z, and I think it's a matter of baby boomers are nostalgic to the days where you just go to a store and you buy a thing,” Morales said. “There’s no chance of theft happening there, or it is very minimal, and I think they're more impacted by it, whereas Gen Zers have been buying on Amazon from just about from birth. So they're used to it.”
A company’s response to a security incident can be just impactful as the incident itself.
“The brands that do kind of make sure that customers have an explanation — here's what happened, here's how it happened, here's why it happened, here's how it's going to be prevented in the future — I think that's important to restore some level of trust,” Morales said.
