Australian consumers reluctant to use biometric-based security measures for ecommerce

According to data from the 2014 Unisys Security Index, Australians are more willing to have biometric-based security measures to verify the identity of passengers boarding aircraft at airports. Results shows that 75% of Australians mentioned they were willing to provide biometric information such as a fingerprint or photo so that an automated boarding gate could confirm their identities when they boarded a flight. Moreover, 71% of Australians said that they would be willing to provide personal biometric data to prove their identities as frequent travelers of low security risk.

However, the same study points out that only 33% of Australians declared they were willing to provide biometric information in order to access customised retail offers in the airport. And 63% said they were not willing to do so.

The overall index for 2014 is 106 out of 300, down 23 points compared to the last survey in 2013. This means that Australians are considered “moderately concerned”. The top two areas of security concern for Australians are related to identity theft.

The same source unveils that the three biggest changes included the percentage of Australians extremely or very concerned about a serious health epidemic occurring in Australia fell 15 percentage points to 25%. Findings reveal that the security of shopping or banking online fell 12 percentage points to 29%.

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