A recent report from Thales Group reveals that over 80% of consumers worldwide have stopped using an online brand in the past year due to concerns about data privacy. The report found that consumer trust in digital services is generally decreasing or staying the same, even in industries with strict regulations like banking and healthcare. Of the 13 sectors evaluated, most showed a decline in trust compared to the previous year, with none receiving an approval rating higher than 50%.
The report highlights that the increasing demand for data exchange in return for services, combined with a lack of transparency, is eroding trust.
This decline in trust follows the fact that nearly one in five consumers were told their personal data was compromised last year. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit, recorded 3,158 data breaches in the U.S. in 2024, nearly matching the previous year. The number of breach notices rose by 211% from 2023, mainly due to five large breaches, each affecting over 100 million people.
Some major breaches included UnitedHealth in January, where a cyberattack on its Change Healthcare subsidiary compromised the data of about 190 million people, over half of the U.S. population. Another breach involved a cybercriminal group stealing personal data from more than 500 million Ticketmaster customers in 2024.
According to Thales’ research, banking is the most trusted industry for protecting personal data, with a 44% approval rating. The government is the only sector that saw an increase in trust, with 42% of global citizens now saying they trust it with personal data, up from 37% last year.
Thales conducted the survey with over 14,000 consumers across 14 countries. Asking about their online relationships with brands and services, privacy expectations, and how brands can build trust.
