Mediaboss Marketing

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Connected consumers in the U.S. are reporting a growing wave of distrust across major communications channels including mobile, fixed and social networking due to fears of security threats such as viruses, spam and phishing attacks, according to new research released by Cloudmark, Inc., the global leader in carrier-grade messaging security.

The survey, conducted in conjunction with online research provider Toluna, analyzed the mobile, fixed-line and social networking habits, security threat exposure and sentiment of 1,000 U.S. consumers.

Trust in the Security of Mobile Communications Platforms Declining

The survey results show that 19 percent of U.S. respondents have less trust in the security of mobile short message service than they did 12 months ago. While previously considered a very trusted communications channel, overall, SMS ranked a distant third (15 percent) among the platforms survey respondents consider to be the most secure, behind voice (43 percent) and email (34 percent). The SMS platform holds a higher level of trust among younger users, with nearly one quarter (24 percent) of 18-24 year olds and 21 percent of 25-34 year olds naming it as the platform they consider the most secure. However, trust in the SMS channel appears to decline with age, with just eight percent of the 55-plus demographic citing it as the most secure platform.

This trend of declining trust was mirrored across fixed and social networking channels, where 41 percent of respondents reported less trust in the security of social networks and 18 percent said they have less trust in the security of instant messaging services. Meanwhile, 44 percent reported that they have less trust in the security of email than they did a year ago.

Threat Penetration across Devices and Messaging Platforms

Mobile social networking appears to be gaining significant traction, with 19 percent of 18-24 year olds and 13 percent of 25-34 year olds naming it as the communications platform they access most regularly. However, in spite of its popularity, trust in the social networking platform is low and seemingly continuing to decline: just three percent named it as the platform they trusted the most, the least of all platforms. In addition, social networking websites are second only to email as the platform on which consumers have experienced viruses most frequently (21 percent).

Messaging abuse remains the number one security threat across all major platforms 61 percent of fixed line and 13 percent of mobile users claim to have suffered spam-related problems. Despite the high profile of email and desktop threats in recent years, 75 percent of Americans have experienced a security threat on their desktop or PC. Nearly half (49 percent) of these reported incidents were due to a malicious virus while almost a third (31 percent) were attributed to phishing attacks over email or instant messaging while online. Meanwhile, 18 percent of mobile users reported that they had experienced some type of security threat on their mobile device.

Security Distrust Could Hinder Mobile Commerce

Excerpt from:
Research Reveals Decline in Trust Across Major Communications Channels – Mobile, Social Networks and Email