What is the responsibility of data collection and privacy?

According to KPMG, the firm recently surveyed 2,000 Americans and 250 decision-makers at organizations with over 1,000 employees about security, privacy, and data. As the report points out, there is a wide gap between how businesses and the general public view data collection ethics.

It is too easy for business leaders to be confident:

In the KPMG report, the business executives are increasing their collection of data.

• 70% of respondents said that data from consumers collection increased over the past year.
• 62% of respondents said that their businesses should take more steps to safeguard the personal data of customers.
• 33% of consumers said they should be more aware of their data.
• 29% of respondents said that their company often employs unethical methods of data collection.

Business leaders could be a bit smug about their organization’s ability to deal with a breach of data. Ninety-two percent of surveyed leaders believed they were ready for a data breach, while 95% of respondents said their organization is very secure with security measures for data. However, many employees claimed that they were not receiving sufficient education.

This study indicates a gap between the business’s management and its employees. For example, only 47 percent of full-time employees and 42 percent of part-time employees said they had been trained on password security. The percentages are lower for data protection, email security, privacy policies, and phishing scams training.

Data collection ethics questioned by consumers:

A large portion of the U.S. general population is becoming increasingly skeptical of the collection of data. Respondents to surveys expressed increasing anger, even towards their employers.

• 86% of respondents are worried about the privacy of personal data.
• 68% of respondents are concerned about the volume of information being gathered.
• 40% don’t believe in the ethical data collection practices of companies.
• 30% do not want to give out personal information regardless of the reason.
• 13% aren’t sure they can believe in their employer’s practices for data collection.

It’s important to note that people perceive data collection differently in different industries. According to a separate survey of data collection conducted by McKinsey, 40% of the respondents thought the financial and healthcare sectors are the most reliable regarding their data and privacy security. In comparison, only 10% of respondents reported the most trusted media, consumer packaged goods, and entertainment companies.

The Age of Covid and Data Collection:

Public concern is likely to increase because of the COVID-19 pandemic. An IBM investigation into data breaches concluded that remote working caused by the disease affects the speed of response to breaches.

“At organizations with a greater than 50% remote work adoption, it took an average of 316 days to identify and contain the breach,” according to an IBM Security Intelligence analysis of the IBM report.

“Compared to the overall average of 287 days, increased levels of remote work appeared to make containing a breach take nearly a month longer.”

Since the pandemic started, remote workers have expressed worries about the lack of privacy-related training on data. They fear they could be held responsible if an incident of data loss occurred.

Best Practices for Data Collection:

Are there any ways to bridge gaps in trust? The KPMG report offers a variety of suggestions for business leaders to convince consumers to return.

• Transparency is a must: Three-quarters of respondents requested that companies be more transparent with regards to how they use their personal information.
• Allow consumers to have greater ability to control: Consumers expressed interest in deciding how often companies share their information and looking at data that the company has already gathered on them.
• Data is made anonymously: Anonymizing data preserves the value of data from consumers for the business without risking private information that is protected.
• Be accountable: Half of the surveyed respondents said they didn’t know how to secure their information. A majority (88 percent) of them said they would like companies to lead the way in developing data accountability policies.

In the end, companies must take action ethically whenever data collection is not working. The majority of consumers who were polled said they didn’t trust companies to secure their personal information. If a data breach does occur, don’t attempt to conceal it. Create a catastrophe recovery strategy in place, and outline the steps you took to address the public’s fear.

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