Survey: people don’t care about data breaches, but they should

Everyone should be on high alert regarding their information, especially because data breaches are happening more frequently than ever. But do people actually care? Not so much, it seems.

Research shows that data breaches are becoming more frequent. In 2023, for instance, a record number of breaches occurred – more than 3,000.

There are, in fact, so many breaches that it can be difficult or even exhausting to care. You become numb and simply don’t react anymore to the numerous data breach notifications, almost willing to outsource caring to some third party.

All About Cookies, an informational website, has surveyed 1,000 web users to gauge how the average person feels about data breaches. The research confirms that Americans are actually burned out from hearing about them.

Nearly two-thirds of internet users (65%) have received a notice that their data was included in a breach in the last year, and 54% of them reported hearing about data breaches at least once a month.

But less than half (46%) said they still checked if their personal data was included in a breach when they heard about one. Besides, 50% of respondents reported they felt “desensitized” to the idea of their information being included in a data breach.

“Hearing about breaches constantly can make people overwhelmed and produce feelings of hopelessness and a ‘why bother’ attitude, especially among people who have been told their data was likely compromised in the past but not suffered any major consequences because of the leak,” said All About Cookies.

Are the breaches the new Boy Who Cried Wolf? Well, no. People indeed are moved to act when the exposed data includes especially sensitive information such as financial records and account numbers, or private medical data.

For example, parents are surely worried after recently finding out that a breach of a health IT company exposed the sensitive data of 11,000 American children.

Identity theft can also be a massive headache to deal with. That’s undoubtedly why 97% of respondents said they would be concerned if their Social Security numbers were to be leaked.

Fifty-seven percent of respondents said they try to protect themselves by using a credit monitoring service, usually, by the way, provided free of charge by the company or organization that had been breached. Nearly the same percentage use password managers.

You can check if your data has been leaked. Find out if your email, phone number, or related personal information might have fallen into the wrong hands here on the Cybernews website.