Malaysians see telcos more susceptible to data breaches than any other organisations

According to data from Lieberman Research Group, 59% of Malaysians surveyed expect a personal information data breach in the next 12 months at a telco. There is moderate expectation of a data breach by government (with 49% of respondents expecting a breach within a year), healthcare providers (43%) and utilities (41%) such as a power or water supplier. However, only about one in three Malaysians expect a data breach at a retailer, bank or airline.

John Kendall, security program director, Unisys Asia Pacific, declared that currently retailers, banks and airlines are the most trusted type of organisations. However, they will need to work to maintain this trust as they continue to capture more information about their customers in a bid to provide personalised services and offers. This is particularly true for airlines as they start to play a greater role assisting with border security measures.

Research also mentions that overall, Malaysians recorded a lower expectation of breaches of their personal information than most of the 12 countries surveyed, with only the US and UK lower.

The report also reveals that the majority of Malaysians are comfortable with private or government organisations monitoring publically available information on social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. But their level of comfort varies somewhat depending on the purpose of the monitoring.

Findings show that seven in ten Malaysians surveyed (71%) support monitoring social media to identify public issues or concerns, such as to inform governments about local needs or problems. And 65% are comfortable with such monitoring to help evaluate job candidates for positions of trust such as teachers or careers. Almost six in ten Malaysians also support such monitoring to detect possible terrorist activity.

In comparison with people from Australia and New Zealand, Malaysians recorded higher comfort with social media monitoring overall. This reflects a very forward thinking attitude among Malaysians regarding the potential roles and benefits of social media when analysed by trusted organisations for the benefit of the specific end user or society as a whole.

The survey, dubbed Unisys Security Insights, is based on a sample of 503 adults from 12 different countries. The study was conducted during April and May 2015 and asked consumers about the likelihood that their personal data held by seven types of organisations (airlines, banking/finance, government, healthcare, retail, telecom and utilities) would be accessed by an unauthorized person, accidently or deliberately, within the next year.