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Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/fulldisclosure/0,3800014102,39168773,00.htm

Data security: Brits do care
Faith in biometrics big in Europe...

By Natasha Lomas

Published: Wednesday 10 October 2007

Safeguarding customer data should be a priority for UK companies - because consumers here place great store on how businesses treat their info, according to research.

Out of eight European nations, UK nationals stand out as the most concerned their data is kept safe.

Eighty-one per cent of Brits polled by Unisys said an organisation's ability to keep their data safe is a key trust-building attribute. This compares to 42 per cent of French respondents, 40 per cent of Belgians and 35 per cent of German consumers.

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The UK also leads the way in believing inadequate data privacy protection leads to an erosion of customer trust. Seventy-six per cent of Brits feel this is the case, followed by 62 per cent of consumers in Spain and 58 per cent in France.

The import placed on data security by UK consumers is in line with silicon.com's Full Disclosure campaign (see grey box) - which has called on the UK government to bring in legislation to ensure organisations that suffer a breach of security must disclose the leak to affected customers.

Brits are also the most concerned that the IT services they use are reliable, the research claims. Seventy-five per cent of UK consumers said dependable IT is important in building their trust, compared to 67 per cent of people in Holland, 36 per cent in France and a mere 28 per cent in Spain.

The research also reveals the majority of Europeans believe it is acceptable for trusted organisations - such as banks and government agencies - to use biometrics in order to verify a person's identity. Eighty-nine per cent of Belgians trust biometrics to be used in this way, followed by 82 per cent of Brits and 65 per cent of Spaniards.

The research was conducted by the Ponemon Institute on behalf of Unisys and polled 3,669 adult-aged consumers in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK.