According to Parks Associates, 75% of heads of U.S. broadband households intend to acquire a data security or privacy service in the next 12 months. The research house says 38% of those consumers rank receiving such services bundled with their broadband service at no additional charge as most desirable, while the remaining 62% would opt to pay an additional fee for such services, either through a subscription, warranty or one-time fee.
"Security and privacy services include parental controls, malware detection, and network activity monitoring. While interest is high, consumers still show a reluctance toward recurring fees - only 27% of data security/privacy intenders would opt for a subscription model," said Lindsay Gafford, research analyst at Parks. "The challenges to securing the smart home will intensify as consumers acquire more devices, creating ample business opportunities throughout the value chain for security solution providers. Vendors can differentiate by providing security expertise and flexible solutions that keep pace with changing security requirements."
With increased device ownership, consumers show greater levels of interest for all types of data privacy and security solutions, though there is a significant deficit between interest and adoption. Among all U.S. broadband households, 63% are interested in a solution preventing identity theft, but only 19% actually use identity theft solutions.
"Consumers are struggling to understand what services are available to them, which service will actually protect their data, and which services fit into their payment preferences," Gafford said. "The service potential is immense, and broadband service providers are entering this space by partnering with data security solution providers to provide value-added services for consumers."
Other findings indicate:
- Nearly 40% of consumers do not take any action to protect themselves from unauthorized access to their connected devices.
- Only 15% of consumers strongly believe they receive a lot of benefit in sharing access to their data.
- 63% of U.S. broadband households use at least one data security service for any purpose.