Over the course of 2020, the use of online services has accelerated due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
As the world adapts to new ways of living, we wanted to understand just how consumers globally are currently navigating the online landscape, how the pandemic has shaped their behavior, and the impact of cybercriminals.
With this in mind, we surveyed 2,600 online consumers globally about issues such as their online shopping habits, brand perceptions, cybercrime and counterfeiting to form the basis of our latest barometer, “Navigating the New Normal Online”. In our latest webinar, we shared the key findings from the research, exploring what they reveal about the current online landscape and how both consumers and brand owners can get the most from it safely.
Consumers have become desensitized
When it comes to cyberattacks, there appears to be a growing desensitization among consumers with 30% of data breach victims saying they were unsurprised when it happened to them. Meanwhile, nearly half (48%) of those who haven’t been affected expect to be hit by a data breach at some point in the future.
These incidences can have a huge impact on brand perception and cause reputational damage as over half (55%) of consumers believe that companies aren’t doing enough to protect their data.
Increases in online shopping
It’ll come as no surprise that COVID-19 has had a profound effect on consumer behavior with 37% of consumers increasing the frequency of their online shopping. However, what’s perhaps unexpected is that this shift looks set to be long-term for 32% of consumers.
Brand protection
Amid the growing use of online services, more than a quarter (28%) of consumers have unintentionally bought a fake product online. This hints at the need for increased awareness among consumers of how they can protect themselves online and verify authenticity. For savvy brand owners, this means working with an expert partner to ensure this process of verification is a simple and straightforward one.
How we can help
As the fight against cybercriminals intensifies in a post-COVID-19 landscape, at OpSec, we can help you put the safeguards and solutions in place to protect your websites, data, and business, and retain customer trust.
Keen to find out more? If you missed the webinar, you can play back the recording here at your leisure – or alternatively, download a copy of our barometer “Navigating the New Normal Online” now to discover more of our findings and how we can help you enhance your brand protection.
