Stephen and Chey Cobb: Independent Researchers: Only 7.6% of Brits say they trust tech firms with personal information, and that's a problem for all of us

So, it’s May, 2020, and we humans are struggling to cope with a global crisis of unprecedented scope and scale, despite having unprecedented levels of technology at our disposal. Why are we struggling? One factor could be this: less than 10% of adults in the US and UK trust tech firms to protect their personal information.

That's according to a survey I commissioned around the middle of the month, a full account of which can be found in this article on Medium.

To rein in COVID-19, and future pandemics, people need to be able to share their personal information without fear that it will be misused or abused.

I think this pie chart reflects that fear. It shows the US results but the corresponding UK pie chart looks very similar: very few people say Yes when you ask them this question: “Do you trust tech firms to protect your personal information?”

Respondents could answer Yes, No, or Not sure. Less than 1 in 10 respondents answered Yes (7.6% in the UK, 8.9% in the US). More than half said No (55%). Just over one third said Not sure (36%). Who were these people? Adults in the US (n=756) and the UK (n=514).

Why is there such a lack of trust? I think that the Malware Factor has a lot to do with this. People don't trust tech firms to protect personal information because of the massive scale at which malware has enabled such information to be compromised and abused. Companies and governments just don't seem to have the ability to prevent this, either because of a shortage of concern or funds or skills or understanding, or an overabundance of criminal activity, or all of the above.

Ok, but what can we do about this?

My own opinion is that the overabundance of criminal activity, while not the whole problem, is a huge part of the problem. Yes, it's true than many organizations could do better at cybersecurity, but it's also true that the governments of the world have massively failed their citizens when it comes to malware-enabled cybercrime. This failure is so huge that it's now compounding the problems created by a deadly pandemic. Maybe, now that lives are very clearly on the line, more people in positions of power and influence will begin to take the Malware Factor more seriously.

But what would that look like? How does taking the Malware Factor more seriously at the highest levels translate into action? I'm going to list three suggestions. You may not like them. You may even scoff at some or all of them. But I'm already used to that, as I said in this blog post and Medium article from 2017 (same story, two different places). FYI, I'm still fairly sure I'm right.

1. International cooperation and global treaties are the only way to make a serious dent in cybercrime and cyberconflict, and the citizens of the world should push their governments in this direction. I realize this is going to be hard while three of the biggest malware-making countries are still run by Trump, Putin, and Xi, respectively—but that is no reason not to try.

2. Cybersecurity products and services should be made available at lower or no cost.

As I've been saying for more than a decade now, information system security is the healthcare of IT/ICT. Just as profit-based healthcare is, in my opinion and practical experience, a bad idea, so is people making large fortunes from protecting the world's digital infrastructure—as opposed to a decent wage. Besides, a profit-based approach to securing ICT has thus far failed to make any lasting dents in the cybercrime growth curves (see chart of Internet crime losses, from this IEEE blog post by Chey Cobb and myself).

3. We need to consider an end to broadcasting and bragging about new and interesting ways to gain illegal access to information systems. Justifying this as a way to improve security and reinforce the message that it needs to be taken more seriously might have been valid at some point in the past, but that validity has been seriously eroded. Fully open, freely accessible, in-depth research on things that enable ethically-challenged individuals or governments to seriously undermine our collective future is not, in my opinion, a good idea. (Think of someone making and distributing a version of COVID-19 that doesn't give victims a tell-tale cough—cool?)

I'm happy to hear more suggestions, or your thoughts on what's wrong with these. Also happy to hear about any moves in these three directions. (I am already familiar with the work of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace—still hoping they take up the idea of an Comprehensive Malware Test Ban Treaty.)

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