Data Breaches Widespread, According to UK Study

Sixty-one percent of marketers have had a data breach, and 38% say it has happened more than two times in the past year, according to a new study.

In contrast, less than half (43%) of data protection professionals report that their organizations had a data breach and only 14% say that a data breach occurred more than two times.

Cause for alarm? Perhaps, if you’re an e-mail marketing services provider. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of marketers and 66% of data protection professionals would consider bringing their email marketing campaigns in-house to ensure greater protection over personal data, per the 2008 UK Study on Email Marketing Practices & Privacy from the Ponemon Institute.

If they do so, they’ll be bucking current trends. Sixty percent of marketers and 58% of data protection professionals outsource to reduce costs and improve efficiency. But half of those surveyed that experienced a data breach pinpointed the loss of data to a third party, such as a vendor, business partner or contractor.

And the data breaches are directly tied to companies’ willingness to consider bringing operations in-house: Fifty percent of data protection professionals and 51% of marketers believe the cause of the breach was related to the outsourcing of personal information to a vendor, business partner or contractor, with an additional 7% of data protection professionals and 13% of marketers unsure.

UK marketers should take their data breaches more seriously: Ninety-two percent of data protection professionals but only 55% of marketers say it is important that consumers trust an organization to adhere to its privacy commitments. In fact, 45% of marketers say it is not important or irrelevant.

Of course, marketers may be downplaying it because they see security and privacy concerns as hindrances. Only 45% of UK marketers and 13% of UK data protection professionals say that privacy requirements hinder their organizations’ marketing practices. Of those, 91% of marketers blame the opt-in and opt-out requirements. Of the few data protection professionals who admit privacy requirements can be a burden, 84% agree with the marketers that opt-in and opt-out reduces the number of customers who can be contacted.

However, even though fewer marketers believe that it is important for their customers to trust their organizations’ privacy commitments, marketers (24%) are more likely than data prtection professionals (19%) to believe that superior privacy practices could be a competitive advantage

Outside of data breaches, respondents were more sanguine about their data-based activities. Eighty-seven percent of data protection professionals and 69% of marketers feel they are in compliance with privacy laws and regulations. However, 25% of marketers are unsure.

How prevalent are security lapses? Sixty-one percent of UK marketers have had a data breach; 38% say it has happened more than two times in the past year. Fewer than half of UK data protection professionals (43%) report a data breach in their organization, and only 14% say that a data breach has occurred more than two times.

The Ponemon Institute surveyed 403 data protection professionals and 499 marketers in the UK.