WASHINGTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. consumers
rate national security in relation to war or terrorism as their top
security concern, though fears over viruses/malware and hacking are
rising dramatically, according to the new Unisys Security Index™
that surveyed more than 13,000 consumers in April 2017 in 13 countries. The global study
gauges the attitudes of consumers on a wide range of
security-related issues.
Highlights from the U.S. results include:
- National security in relation to war or terrorism rated as the
number one security concern, with 68 percent seriously concerned
(i.e. "extremely" or "very concerned"). This marks a 44 percent
increase since the last global Unisys Security Index in 2014, when
47 percent of respondents were seriously concerned.
- Concerns over viruses/malware and hacking rose dramatically,
with 56 percent of surveyed Americans seriously concerned. This
marks a 55 percent increase since 2014, when 36 percent of
respondents were seriously concerned.
- The overall Unisys Security Index for the U.S is 169, which is
considered a serious level of concern, up from 123 – which was
considered a moderate level of concern – in 2014. This marks a 37
percent increase in Americans' overall security concerns since the
last survey. The index is a calculated score out of 300 based on
concern about eight specific issues within national, financial,
internet and personal security. The survey ranks concerns from zero
to 300. One hundred means "somewhat concerned," 200 means "very
concerned" and 300 means "seriously concerned."
- More Americans are seriously concerned about identity theft (61
percent) and bankcard fraud (58 percent) than they are about their
own personal safety (39 percent).
- There is clear differentiation demographically with overall
security concerns, with 18-24 year olds registering substantially
higher concerns than 55-65 year olds and those with lower income
registering substantially higher concerns than those with higher
income.
"Americans are feeling an acute loss of control when it comes to
all different types of security," said Bill
Searcy, vice president, Justice, Law Enforcement and Border
Security for Unisys and a former FBI deputy assistant director.
"National security has risen to the top because Americans feel they
cannot control what is happening around them. At the same time,
Americans' highest level of personal concerns center on identify
theft and bankcard fraud. Again, this is because consumers feel
they have less personal control than they should or used to."
U.S. One of Five Outliers
Globally, the 2017 Unisys
Security Index is 173*, considered a serious level of concern, the
highest since the global study began in 2007. Overall, while people
in developing** countries had the highest levels of concern in
2017, concerns increased fastest since the 2014 survey in
developed*** countries (except for Germany, where concern decreased during this
time).
The U.S. results differ from those of the majority of countries
in the study, which showed that consumers in eight of the 13
countries surveyed rated identity theft or bankcard fraud as their
top concern. Germany, Netherlands, the U.K. and the U.S. ranked
national security as a bigger concern than identity theft or
bankcard fraud, while natural disasters was a top concern in
Colombia.
"The U.S. results line up with the global results in the sense
that overall security concerns among consumers in all countries
surveyed are not only high but rising significantly," said
Michelle Beistle, chief privacy
officer for Unisys. "The main difference between the U.S. and most
of the countries surveyed is that U.S. respondents are more
concerned with national security than identity theft or bankcard
fraud, whereas the opposite is true if you take the 13 countries
surveyed as a whole. Regardless, the implications of the study are
both clear and global: anxiety over security is at an all-time
high, and the rise shows no signs of abating."
Unisys Security Index: 10 Years and Counting
Unisys
Corporation (NYSE: UIS) launched the Unisys Security Index – the
only regular snapshot of security concerns conducted globally – in
2007 to provide an ongoing, statistically robust measure of concern
about security. The index covers changing consumer attitudes over
time across eight areas of security in four categories: national
security and disaster/epidemic in the National Security category;
bankcard fraud and financial obligations in the Financial Security
category; viruses/hacking and online transactions in the Internet
Security category; and identity theft and personal safety in the
Personal Security category.
The 2017 Unisys Security Index is based on online surveys
conducted between April 6-18 of
nationally representative samples of at least 1,000 adults ages 18
and older in each of the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New
Zealand, Philippines, the
U.S. and the U.K. The margin of error at a country level is +/-3.1
percent at a 95 percent confidence level and 0.9 percent at a
global level.
"Security goes beyond 'bits and bytes' – truly holistic
solutions require the support and trust of people, as they are also
customers, citizens and employees," said Searcy. "Unisys began the
global Unisys Security Index in 2007 to provide insight into
consumer attitudes about a broad range of security issues in order
to help organizations respond to the demands of a changing security
environment. As an IT company long known for building leading-edge
security into everything we do, it is imperative that we understand
how consumer concerns are evolving over time so we can continue to
build the right solutions that our clients can leverage in meeting
their needs."
Download the full report of U.S. and global results
here.
To download the Unisys Security Index infographics or more
information, click here.
About the Unisys Security Index
Unisys has conducted
the Unisys Security Index – the only recurring snapshot of security
concerns conducted globally – since 2007 in order to provide an
ongoing, statistically-robust measure of concern about security.
The index is a calculated score out of 300 covering changing
consumer attitudes over time across eight areas of security in four
categories: national security and disaster/epidemic, in the
National Security category; bankcard fraud and financial
obligations, in the Financial Security category; viruses/hacking
and online transactions, in the Internet Security category; and
identity theft and personal safety, in the Personal Security
category. The 2017 Unisys Security Index is based on online surveys
conducted between April 6-18, 2017 of
nationally representative samples of at least 1,000 adults in each
of the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New
Zealand, Philippines, the
U.S. and the U.K. The margin of error at a country level is +/-3.1
percent at 95 percent confidence level, and 0.9 percent at a global
level. For more information on the 2017 Unisys Security Index,
visit http://www.unisys.com/unisys-security-index.
About Unisys
Unisys is a global information technology
company that specializes in providing industry-focused solutions
integrated with leading-edge security to clients in the government,
financial services and commercial markets. Unisys offerings include
security solutions, advanced data analytics, cloud and
infrastructure services, application services and application and
server software. For more information, visit www.unisys.com.
Follow Unisys on Twitter and LinkedIn.
*The 2017 Unisys Security Index score shows a 30-point
increase over its score of 143 in 2014, the last time Unisys
conducted the index on a global scale. Five points of the 30
points are due to the addition of new countries to the
index.
**The Unisys Security Index defines a "developing"
country as one in which the gross domestic product per capita is
measured at $12,000 or
less.
***The Unisys Security Index defines a "developed"
country as one in which the gross domestic product per capita is
measured at $12,000 or more.
RELEASE NO.: 0620/9515
Unisys and other Unisys products and services mentioned herein,
as well as their respective logos, are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Unisys Corporation. Any other brand or product
referenced herein is acknowledged to be a trademark or registered
trademark of its respective holder.
UIS-C
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SOURCE Unisys Corporation