The increasing number of data breaches and their consequences could soon hinder the growth of cloud-based mobile apps, according to a recent survey. The survey revealed 87% of consumers believe cloud-based apps are vulnerable and 54% would stop using them if hacked.
The Israel-based security firm Radware’s survey, “Mobile Application Security: Consumer Perspectives and Organizational Implications,” also revealed 85% believed cloud-based app providers should offer compensation or identity theft protection to consumers affected by a breach.
“Data breaches and hacks are not only on the rise, they are becoming commonplace,” Ben Desjardins, director, security solutions marketing for Radware, said. “At the same time, cloud-based apps are booming, offering convenient ways to expedite and simplify daily needs from ordering a meal to requesting a car with the tap of a finger. Consumers by and large don’t understand the cloud-based nature of what’s behind the tap, and so companies trying to engage with customers through these apps will bear the burden of education and remediation in the event of a data breach.”
Radware commissioned Harris Poll to conduct the survey online with more than 2,000 U.S. consumers in September on their opinions of cloud-based apps and services, and their usage of them.
Although only 33% of American said they currently use cloud-based mobile apps or services while 67% do not, they continue to grow in popularity. Fitness apps (16%) seemed to be the most commonly used cloud-based app, according to the report, followed by food ordering services (10%), transportation and financial service apps (both 8%), and healthcare (7%).
Eight percent said they use financial apps such as Venmo, which was recently in the news for not offering expected protection to users, Mint and Acorns.
According to Radware, consumers often don’t realize that the applications they depend upon daily live in the cloud and therefore many may be unaware breaches threaten their personal data. Hacks of these apps could reveal personally identifiable information such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers and checking account details.
Admitting that they may have themselves to blame for lax protection, 43% of those claiming to have experienced a personal data compromise indicated they often opt out of certain security features offered by the apps they use.
In related news, the number of breaches captured on the 2015 ITRC Breach Report totaled 629, a slight dip (2.2%) from last year's record pace for the same time period (643). Still, that represents a total of 175,638,537 records exposed.
The breach report broke down the affected industry sectors as follows: Business, 38.6%; Medical/Healthcare, 36.1%; Banking/Credit/Financial, 9.5%; Educational, 7.8% and Government/Military, 7.9%.