[Singapore] New research from cybersecurity experts Utimaco uncovers vast regional disparities in consumer trust in digital security

The new edition of the ‘Circles of Trust’ series, a new whitepaper from Utimaco, reveals Singapore’s cybersecurity readiness and fortifies digital security is essential as the city state transforms into a Smart Nation.

Aachen, Germany, 5 July 2023 - Utimaco, a leading global provider of IT security solutions that is celebrating its 40th year pioneering trusted cybersecurity and compliance solutions and services to customers across the globe, has released a new whitepaper, ‘Circles of Trust 2023: How The World Perceives Digital Risk’, that takes a deep look at how consumers view trust in an increasingly digital world.

The digital revolution is upon us, and global individuals and businesses must adapt and use technology to harvest the benefits of digitalization. Digital connections aren’t just in the mobile devices owned by 66% of the world’s population – they’re in streets, vehicles, traffic systems and in dozens of places throughout our homes. In today’s experience economy, consumers expect banks to go beyond keeping their money and data safe – they need to protect privacy vulnerabilities as well.

In light of this Utimaco released its first edition in the Circles of Trust series in 2022 focused on a sample of the United Kingdom (UK), Spain and Germany, covering key sectors automotive cybersecurity, the public and the health sector to uncover consumer perceptions about the digital services that they use every day. The research found a central contradiction of digital life: consumers were very enthusiastic about digital offerings, from connected vehicles to digital health services, but they were equally wary of security risks around these digital services.

This year’s research found these central contradiction remains, but by expanding the geographic scope to the United States of America (US), Mexico and Singapore, Utimaco has deepened its understanding of trust in digital life. The new consumer research studied and focused in on banking, the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities and found the following key takeaways from across the world:

• Only 19% of respondents don’t worry about the security of their data.
• 36% of respondents have been the victim of data loss, identity theft or digital fraud.
• 41% of respondents believe that a connected world would make their everyday lives easier.

In Singapore, there is an interesting view towards digital security among respondents. Although more than half Singaporean respondents (53%) only worry a little over trust in the digital services, there is a low rate of respondents who do not worry at all (4%). Just last year in 2022, some S$660.7 million — 5% more than the previous year — was lost to scams in Singapore, many of which were digital scams. This signifies a disturbing trend where more could be at risk if perpetrators gain unlawful access to data and manipulate advanced tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) to launch more sophisticated attacks at scale.

Equally worrying, when polled whether Singaporeans feel knowledgeable enough to make an informed decision about digital security, a combined 20% responded No, or did not know if they could make an informed decision. While this is a minority, there is undisputed resolve that those who lack the confidence or familiarity in digital security should ideally empower themselves with this knowledge, as establishing trust and having robust risk management processes are vital to safeguard day-to-day livelihood as well as business decision-making.

Singapore has a strong ambition in becoming a world-class, tech-driven Smart Nation. With this transformation, IoT devices and security will rank vitally in the city-state. More than half of the respondents (53%) in Singapore have never been a victim of data loss, identity theft or hacks related to a smart home device. The key is, not yet. Correspondingly, the majority of respondents (65%) indicated fear and concern that smart devices, including smart vehicles and the Internet of Vehicles (or IoV), can be hacked. The quick transformation of Singapore into a Smart Nation opens a huge threat where digital security in IoT devices is a huge potential area for perpetrators to create havoc, thus digital trust awareness and empowerment is vital, more urgently than ever.

“We pride ourselves on driving the conversation around digital trust forward. At Utimaco, we see our role as being not just about creating hardware and software that provides the ‘root of trust in a digital world’, but also communicating to our customers about the social context of that technology. In short, all the security systems in the world will be more effective if end users know and trust that they are effective,” says Stefan Auerbach, CEO, Utimaco. “We see the ‘Circles of Trust’ series of research as a vital tool to temperature test digital trust around the world, and an invaluable resource for any company working internationally.”

The latest edition of the ‘Circles of Trust’ is released in the same year that Utimaco is celebrating its 40th year pioneering trusted cybersecurity and compliance solutions and services to customers across the globe.

To download your copy of ‘Circles of Trust 2023: Exploring Consumer Trust in the Digital Society’, please visit: https://utimaco.com/survey-how-trust-works-digital-world