Over one in four people are confident that their personal data has been leaked, a new study revealed.
Dublin is the most affected county at 35% of the people being affected by data breaches. One in every two people said they were targeted by spam calls or texts every month, a survey of 1,000 adults nationwide commissioned by the Compliance Institute found.
The research also found that people aged between 25 and 44 were most likely to confirm their data has been shared, with over three in ten people reporting a leak. More men than women reported they had fallen victim to data breaches (30% vs. 25%).
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Just one in five respondents said they were absolutely certain their data has never been hacked.
CEO of the Compliance Institute Mark Kavanagh said personal information about people’s lives such as their financial data, employment details, medical history, as well as confidential conversations can and often are shared with unintended recipients as a result of hacking or scams.
He said: "It is important that people take ownership of what they can do to protect their data. Simple steps like ensuring they have adequate security and anti-virus software on their pcs and laptops are crucial. Regular password changes, while they might be a nuisance are always very important.
"The findings highlight the intrusiveness people continuously face when they open their mailbox every day. This form of spamming has become a constant irritation for people, disturbing their daily routine and distracting them from their tasks."
He added that many people don’t realise that by inputting their email address into a site whilst shopping or perusing the internet, they are giving their permission to receive spam on a regular basis. "Some sites make it extremely difficult to unsubscribe from their mailing lists, or to stop the use of tracking cookies, thereby trapping people to receiving an endless barrage of unwanted junk mail."
"We highly recommend people to be mindful when sharing their details with online sites to protect themselves from spammers, and worse still the fraudsters.”
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