Consumers’ contrasting opinions towards biometric adoption shown by Entrust report

A new report by digital identity firm Entrust shows strong support among consumers for the adoption of biometric solutions, but also widespread privacy concerns and questionable practices.

Released by the firm on International Data Privacy Day, the State of Consumer Data Privacy Survey collected responses by 1000 adult consumers who own a smartphone, half based in the U.S. and the other half in the U.K.

The report findings highlighted that a majority of consumers would be willing to share their personal information with an app in exchange for more personalized services (64 percent) and for more transparency and control over their data (61 percent).

Moreover, 83 percent of those surveyed said they would be at least somewhat comfortable in using or storing biometric data with apps and services.

“As digital life accelerates, organizations and end-users alike demand seamless, secure experience, without putting their data, identities, and privacy at risk,” said Cindy Provin, senior vice president and general manager, Identity and Data Protection at Entrust.

Despite this, however, many consumers who participated in the survey (79 percent) have also expressed privacy concerns.

Of those, 64 percent said their awareness about data privacy has grown over the past 12 months, attributing their concerns to news stories about attacks and security breaches (60 percent) and targeted ads based on their behavior (48 percent).

Despite a majority of those interviewed claimed to be taking active measures to protect their privacy, however, 43 percent said they do not carefully review the terms and conditions before downloading a new app.

“It is imperative that business leaders ensure that they protect consumer data with strong encryption and high-assurance, cloud-based authentication while educating their customers on data protection best practices,” Provin explained. “Entrust offers a comprehensive portfolio of data protection solutions – and the deep crypto security expertise organizations need to minimize threats and enable a foundation of trust for digital life.”

The blog post on the State of Consumer Data Privacy Survey is part of a series by Entrust dubbed #DataPrivacyDiaries.

The next installment will take place on Safer Internet Day on February 9, 2021, and will explore how consumers and businesses can collaborate on making the internet a safer place.

Article Topics

biometric data  |  biometrics  |  consumer adoption  |  data protection  |  data sharing  |  digital identity  |  Entrust  |  mobile app  |  privacy  |  smartphones